


Nothing In The 'Verse

by dongyrn



Category: Firefly
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alliance Operatives, BestGorramSeriesOnTV, Blue Hands, Crimes & Criminals, F/F, F/M, Family Feels, Firefly References, Gen, Multi, Original Character(s), Other, Planets, Reavers - Freeform, Romance, Space Battles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-09
Updated: 2017-12-01
Packaged: 2018-04-14 21:33:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 77
Words: 449,500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4580886
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dongyrn/pseuds/dongyrn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Follow Captain Danielle Grant and her family and crew of the Firefly transport <em>Fortune's Favour</em> as they travel through the 'Verse and live, love, fight, and survive. Thrillin' heroics, epic gunfights, feng li flyin', and a healthy dose of femslash lemons. Timeline follows the series, the BDM, and the LotW comics.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Episode 00: Prologue

Bernadette. 12 years pre-War.

Dani walked into the smoky bar, pausing, and looked around expectantly. It was easier for her than most to canvas the patrons as she stood just a little over 1.8 meters, tall for most women, not to mention spacers. She adjusted the collar of her Academy-issued jacket and moved out of the doorway, oozing confidence in her walk. _Just keep projecting that_ , she thought to herself. The reality was that she was as jittery as a newborn foal she saw in a zoo once when she was young. Dani wasn’t used to dating at all really, much less a blind date set up by a friend-of-a-friend.

Seeing a motion out of the corner of her eye, Dani looked over to see a petite and curvaceous girl waving to her. She settled down across the cute brunette, smiling in relief. _Hey, maybe the evening won’t be so bad after all._ The girl across from her extended her hand, a natural-seeming grin stretched across her freckled cheeks. “Hi, you must be Dani. I’m Bethany, but all my friends just call me Beth. So you’re a hotshot pilot-in-training, eh?”

“That’s right,” Dani smirked, squeezing her hand gently. “Nothing in the ‘Verse will keep me from my dreams. I’m going to be the best gorram pilot in the fleet, you wait and see.”

* * *

 Jiangyin. 10 years pre-War. 

Dani lay under the sheet, a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. _I feel so gorram useless_ , she thought morosely.

“Stop feeling useless,” came the quiet, loving murmur next to her.

Dani looked over into the brilliant green eyes of her wife. “You know me too well, Beth. How am I supposed to feel, though? You have a nice job lined up here, and I’m up to my elbows in grease at that crummy Blue Sun postal mechanic’s job. I should be the one taking time off.”

Beth reached over and stroked Dani’s cheek softly, tucking her shoulder-length brown hair behind her ear. “I know, honey. But we have to face the facts. The training accident made you sterile.” Dani felt another twinge of pain at the mention of the crash that ended her opportunity at the Academy. “And besides,” Beth continued, “What we have saved up will only cover the artificial insemination with our DNA. You still want two, right?”

“Yeah,” Dani sighed. “It’s a good size. It was nice having a brother growing up.”

Beth smiled and nodded gently. “I agree with you. Though my brother Mike moved out with our father when I was pretty young, it was great having Maribelle at my side.”

Dani smiled back. “Yeah, it’s been great getting to know Mike and his family here. His girls are so cute. You think we could have two girls?”

“For you,” Beth murmured, “anything.”

* * *

 Jiangyin. Start of the Unification War. 

“You know I understand the why. I just don’t have to like it.” Beth was trying valiantly to hold her tears back, mostly for the sake of their two girls. Rain was a very serious and quiet 9-year-old, and Caliope, while usually a very bubbly 6-year-old, had joined her sister in staring wide-eyed at their parents. They knew something big was going on.

“Mike’s already left, I can’t just do nothin’,” Dani muttered, almost pleadingly. Over the past ten years, her Core accent had been slowly eroded away by living out on the Border planet. “I know I c’n make a dif’rence. An’ Julie an’ the girls c’n spend time with you, make sure everythin’ is ok…”

Beth sniffled quietly as Dani trailed off. “I know honey, don’t you worry about us. Just stay safe, and come back to us as soon as you can. I love you.”

Dani gathered her family into a crushing hug as if she could mold their very scent to her. “I love you all so very, very much. Nothin’ in the ‘Verse will keep me away from you, I swear it.”

* * *

 Battle of Sturges 

Dani gritted her teeth as she tried to get just a bit more maneuverability out of the CL-64 Cargo Lifter. It still felt overly ponderous, but she still managed to dodge the Alliance cruiser drifting out of control.

“ _Cao_ (fuck)!” exclaimed the stocky engineer sitting in the jump seat behind her. “How in the hell didya ‘void that?”

“ _Yu gong yi shung_ (determined effort, or where there’s a will there’s a way),” she barked back at him. “Tom, get back there an’ gimme more power fer this _lun dong shi_ (piece of crap) or we’re not gonna make it back!”

Tom unbuckled himself with deft hands. “I’m on it!” he shouted over his shoulder.

Her copilot just stared at her in awe. “I swear, I never met anyone with a callsign as apt as yours. Those wounded in the back owe you their lives, Angel.”

Dani smirked, sweat running down her face. “We ain’t outta the woods yet…”

* * *

 Battle of Du-Khang 

“All right people,” the Browncoat fleet officer started, pacing in front of the seated pilots. “This is a standard mission for our auxiliary wing: Get the supplies to the front line and get the wounded back here. Anti-air is pretty heavy, and there are a number of gunboats prowling overhead we haven’t been able to eliminate. Not gonna lie, it’s going to be dicey.”

“Just a day like any other, right Commander?” Dani piped up from the back row.

“Just fly like a madwoman, same way you always do Angel, and you’ll be just fine,” he chuckled. He swept the assembled pilots with a steely gaze. “Get to your ships!” he finished abruptly.

“Well, at least we got ourselves a nicer boat this time ‘round,” Tom panted at Dani’s side as they raced to the dilapidated Shu Fu transport resting in the middle of a collection of other motley light vessels.

Dani’s wingman, Rick, laughed at her other side. “Hey, an’ least they ain’t issued us garbage scows yet! Way we keep going through ships, that’s all we’ll have soon!”

“Speak fer yerself, Ricochet,” Dani smirked. “Stop takin’ those canyon routes so tight an’ you might keep a ship flyin’ fer longer’n a month!”

“Aw, but I like the bankin’! How d’ya think I got my callsign?”

Dani rolled her eyes, already climbing into her transport and up to the bridge to settle in, while Tom headed back to start the engine sequence. Despite Ricochet’s jest, Dani had no copilot as there were more ships than experienced pilots to go around. The rate of attrition was high and not getting any better, even for unarmed ships such as they were running.

 _Game time_ , she thought grimly as she settled in behind the controls, waiting for the green lights. _C’mon Angel, ‘nother flight ‘nother day, stay alive an’ stay frosty._

Two green lights burned to life on her console, indicating her dual engines were fired and ready to send her ship hurtling across the battlefield, straight into the mouth of hell.

 _Here we go_ …

* * *

 Battle of Serenity Valley 

Dani slumped back in her chair, exhausted beyond belief. She’d never pushed herself so hard or flown for so many hours straight before. She knew her beloved Firefly Mark I had several holes in the hull, enough so that it wouldn’t break atmo anytime soon. But she had managed another run, came back with several wounded soldiers, and best of all, the ceasefire announcement came over her comm on the way back. Just in time too, as she was getting seriously peeved at that one very persistent Alliance gunship that seemed to lie in wait just for her. _Still flyin’_ , she thought determinedly. _Bugger never got a piece of me_.

With a groan, Dani unbuckled her restraints (with the way she flew, they were mandatory for any of her crew and passengers) and stumbled out of her ship. She’d gotten attached enough to this one that she actually christened it the _Bonnie Bethany_ after her wife back on Jiangyin. _Hope I c’n hang on to th’ old girl a while longer_ , she thought wearily.

“Angel!” She turned at the shout and walked over to the very small group of pilots and engineers, including her own Tom as well as Ricochet. _So few of us left_ , she thought morosely. _Only six of us pilots, an’ of those Ricochet an’ I are th’ only ones from the start._

The others were talking excitedly, waving their hands about in agitation as she approached. “Hey now, what’s the deal folks? Why ain’t we grabbin’ some well-deserved rack time?”

“I’ll tell ya why!” Tom exclaimed heatedly. “Ground crew just let us know, all flights’re grounded due to the cease-fire!”

“Oookaaay,” she drawled out. “I know the lack of sleep is catchin’ on up to me but how ‘bout one of you geniuses lay it out in plain language fer me.”

“Just this,” replied another flier. What was Hawk’s real name? she wondered absentmindedly. Diyu (hell), he only joined with them when they landed on Hera. “The top brass are letting our soldiers rot on the field while they work out terms,” he continued. “No supply, no medicine, no retrieval of wounded.”

That snapped her wide awake instantly. “ _What_?” she practically shouted. The others jumped back a bit; while Angel could get excitable up in the air, streaming Mandarin profanity at the Alliance who tried to shoot her down, on the ground she was usually as calm as a glacier.

Dani whirled around, searching for ground crew. Sure enough, they were all gathered around heating units on the edge of the field, making no move to load new supplies now that all of the wounded had been offloaded from the previous trip. She marched determinedly towards the group with a steely look in her eye, the others following her.

“You bunch! Get yer _pigus_ (asses) in gear an’ get these ships loaded!”

“Um,” replied one of the ground crew intelligently. “Sorry ace, no can do, we’re all grounded.”

“You _bun tyen-shung duh ee-dway-ro_ (stupid inbred sack of meat) just get it done! All of ‘em, resupplied an’ refueled! My authority!” Dani then stomped back to the approaching pilots. “Hawk, any other pilots in the barracks?”

“I think so,” he replied hesitantly. “I don’t know many who would go against direct orders-”

“Right,” she barked, and whirled around yet again, stomping over to their housing unit on the base. Ricochet, Tom, and a few others followed her, more confidently this time as they saw what she was going for.

Dani burst into the barracks and tried in vain to round up some enthusiasm for her impromptu rescue mission. Understandably, all the pilots were just as exhausted as she and displeased with being woken from the first decent sleep in days.

“Don’t let it get to ya, Angel,” Tom drawled as they made their way back to the field. “We’re with ya.”

“That’s good to hear,” stated an authoritative voice from behind them. Standing with a disapproving frown on his face, General MacArthur gestured to the Military Police arrayed behind him to take the flight crews into custody. “Makes it much easier to sort out the guilty parties.”

“General, sir,” Dani tried to plead. “Please, you cannot possibly-”

“That’s enough Captain. You are all under arrest for disobeying a direct order. In wartime, that’s treason, people. Get them out of my sight.”

* * *

 Independence Flight Base Alpha, Brig. Unification Day. 

The door opened, throwing searing light across the eyes of the malnourished prisoners. They hadn’t seen or heard from their jailers in days now. Each cell occupant shielded their eyes, hoping for some sort of relief at last.

All except for Dani. She stayed curled up on her cot miserably, consumed with guilt over having led her fellow squad-mates into incarceration and for letting down the soldiers whose lives were her job to save. It was the reason she had joined up in the first place, to make a difference. _An’ now_ , she thought, _I rot inna cell, fergotten an’ ruttin’ useless_.

Gradually Dani became aware of the murmurs of her cell mates as each door was unlocked. She looked up blearily, taking far too long to recognize the Alliance uniform of the soldiers releasing the prisoners. _So that’s it, then_ , she thought, depressed. _Just like that. We lost_.

“Move on, people, make a line,” the soldiers barked repeatedly, not showing any degree of concern or malice towards the newly-freed prisoners. As she stumbled, confused, into the light of day, she saw lines of now ex-Browncoats, staring dejectedly forward. The lines inched slowly along until Dani was at the head of hers and she gave her name and serial number to the Alliance military clerk sitting at the table. “Grant, Danielle. Captain,” the official confirmed in a monotone, checking off her name on a list. “Here are your honorable discharge papers. Please proceed to the auditorium,” she continued in a bored tone. “Next.”

Dani shuffled confusedly towards the auditorium, luckily finding a seat next to Tom who seemed to be as dazed as she was. Neither spoke as an Alliance Colonel approached the podium.

“As you should all know by now, the Independent Command has surrendered. Part of the agreement of this surrender was an amnesty for troops. As you may have noticed, your discharge papers are classified as honorable.” Dani looked down at the papers in her lap for the first time, realizing their significance. Her treason would not be on her record.

“We are all citizens of the Alliance and you will have the full privileges of citizenship. You will receive an Alliance Ident Card, and have the option to be chipped with it nor not, same as any other citizen. If you have any other identification, including dog tags or papers, please have them ready for the next set of clerks through the doors behind me.

“You will be released to your home system and can make your way from the central staging area to your home planet. The Alliance will provide transportation for the initial leg of your journey. You will receive your back pay within the next few months. Any Independent scrip you now hold will only be valued for the next sixty days and may be exchanged for Alliance coin or scrip. After sixty days all Independent scrip will be demonetized.

“Any questions?”

Tom leaned over to Dani as the ex-Browncoats started to rise and move towards the next stage in their release and whispered morosely, “Happy Unification Day.”

* * *

 Jiangyin. 1 month post-U-day. 

Home, finally. It had taken an entire month to make her way through the behemoth bureaucratic system of the Alliance military to get to New Melbourne in Red Sun, and then from there to Jiangyin. She had no way to send a Wave ahead either as she was flat broke after the steerage-class final leg. She walked determinedly up the dusty road, a shine in her eyes.

She was not, however, expecting to see her sister-in-law Maribelle at the door. “Dani!” the blonde exclaimed. “You’re home!”

“Yep, took some time but I finally got here,” Dani explained briefly as she walked across the threshold and into her home. “You takin’ time off from the Long Reach? How’re my girls?”

Maribelle opened her mouth hesitantly but was interrupted by simultaneous squeals of “ _Kaasan_ (Mom)!” as her two daughters belted from the back room and pounced on Dani joyously.

Dani didn’t even try to contain the tears of joy that streamed down her face. “My God, you’ve gotten so big! What’s yer mother been feedin’ y’all?”

Rain looked up at her with a face far too serious for a 14-year-old. “ _Kaasan_ , Mom is sick.”

At a loss for words, Dani looked over to Maribelle, who was nodding her head sadly. “What? But… When… What happened?”

Maribelle disentangled Dani from her daughters gently. Dani didn’t put up much resistance as ice seemed to have flooded her limbs rendering them completely numb. “It happened about six months ago. Normally we’d get her to the Core for treatment, but transportation from here was limited due to the war, as are medical supplies out here… and most of the doctors were serving in the military anyway….” She steered Dani towards the bedroom.

Dani stared at the figure beneath the sheets of her bed. Beth had the pallor of a ghost, and her usual vibrant smile was barely seen past the grimace of pain. “Honey… you came back…”

“Nothin’ in the ‘Verse, babe. I told ya,” Dani whispered in a broken voice as she laid her hand over the paper-thin flesh on Beth’s arm. “Ain’t nothin’ in the ‘Verse would keep me from you…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NOTES: The mandarin is taken from several disparate sources, and yes it’s not always authentic. Sometimes I’ll use it phonetically, sometimes not. Roll with it.
> 
> Also, apologies for ending on such a down note, that’s why I’m posting Chapter 01 immediately hereafter to keep it more upbeat. Hope you like, and please comment!


	2. Episode 01: Beginnings

Jiangyin, 5 years post-U-Day

Dani stared at the Cortex screen. _Still not a gorram thing_. She’d been flying with Blue Sun postal for five years now, a mind-numbingly boring route, mostly inter-system and sometimes not even breaking atmo. Such short trips were done solo, which often suited Dani’s temperament just fine. And she’d put in for one job transfer after another, anything to get her doing some real flying again.

Truth was, she reflected, she was awfully lonely. She’d lost Beth three months after the war’s end. Of course, the back-pay arrived a month after that. She enjoyed the hell out of her girls and any time she could spend with them was a blessing, but between them and her job, there was very little time for friendship.

 _Not that I’d know how ta go ‘bout makin’ friends no more_ , she thought darkly. Seemed nowadays she mostly just kept to herself, even after all this time. _Gorramit, I need ta get out sometime_.

And it wasn’t like her girls couldn’t take care of themselves. Rain was now nineteen and learning to fly. She could have been in the Academy by now. _If’n they allowed daughters of ex-Browncoats in th’ Academy. If’n we lived in the Core still. If’n I didn’t hate everything that th’ Alliance brass stood fer._

She grunted irritably, making an effort to steer her thoughts away from that path that would take her down to the dark place that she knew would never really heal. The pain of it all never really went away, it just lessened in severity. _Kinda like losin’ my best friend to a treatable disease._

Dani exhaled in disgust and stood up abruptly, heading into the small kitchen to make lunch. She could have afforded a bigger house with the money from her military service. In fact, she could have gotten away with not even working for some time. But she couldn’t stop flying, even if it were as piddly a route as she usually got…

Dani stopped in her tracks. A commercial was playing on the main Cortex screen that the girls were seated in front of. Only Cali was watching it really, Rain had her nose buried in one of the fics she loved so much scrolling on her personal unit. The advertisement was rather cheesy, and Dani was surprised that the quality rated prime-time Cortex viewing, but that’s not what had caught her attention. It was the bright letters marching across the screen calling for adventurers of all types to attend the next auction on the moon of Ita, where 'classic' ships of all sizes could be had.

She sat down, hard, in the chair at the kitchen table and simply stared into space, her mind working furiously.

A bang at the door announced the entrance of the girls’ adoptive aunt. “Heya!” Kelly called out cheerily as she moved inside to plant kisses on the heads of the girls.

“Aunt Kelly!” both girls cheered. They seldom got to see Kelly nowadays as she seemed to always be running off and traveling the ‘Verse in her little one-person skiff. She had a restless soul, she always claimed, but since she lost her good friend Beth she made a special effort to come by for a visit whenever she was in-system.

Kelly spent a little time conversing with the girls but seemed to eventually notice Dani sitting motionless at the table with a far-off look in her eye.

“Dani!”

The lanky brunette sat upright, startled, as Kelly poked her head into her line of vision. As she only came to a meter and a quarter, she didn’t even have to lean down. “Girl, I called your name three times. What’s gotten into you?”

“Hey sweetie,” Dani replied sheepishly. “Just… ponderin’ somethin’.”

“Oh?” she inquired.

“I think…” Dani said hesitantly. “I think mebbe we need a change.”

* * *

 Later that evening.

“Girls,” Dani started. “We need to talk.”

Rain and Cali looked at each other with their chopsticks frozen halfway to their mouths. In the way that the two sisters were known to do, they passed volumes of information between them in that single glance, and both brought their hands down. They then looked at Dani expectantly.

Dani was momentarily at a loss as to how to begin sorting through the convoluted swirl her thoughts were in. _Just start at the beginning_ , her inner voice chided in a tone suspiciously like that of Beth.

“Okay,” she began. “You know I ain’t happy with the job none. Or things in general.”

“We know _Kaasan_ ,” Cali chirped into the break. “But we’re tryin’ ta keep you entertained when yer home!”

She choked down the lump in her throat at Cali’s words and Rain’s solemn nod of agreement. _Merciful Buddha, I love these two so much, I don’t deserve ‘em._

“I know honey, but you shouldn't hafta keep my spirits up no more, I should be over this funk an’ movin’ on with life. I think what we need is a change. You girls up fer it? You wanna go on an adventure with me?”

Both the teenaged girls grinned excitedly. “You know we’d go anywhere with ya,” Rain chuckled. “But that there’s a loaded question. Where to? Fer how long?”

“Well… fer the where I was thinkin’ ‘bout up there.” She pointed upward. “Into the Black. An’ as to the how long… I was thinkin’ ‘bout makin’ this a permanent adventure.”

Cali looked puzzled as she shifted her ever-present Panda hat up atop her head. Her two long braided pigtails pushed back as well over her shoulders.

Rain, though, seemed to pick up right away as was usual. _Girl c’n be too perceptive sometimes fer her own good_ , Dani thought with a smile.

“You want us to fly with you. Onna ship. D’ya wanna leave this home, sell off what we gots?”

Cali’s eyes widened as Dani nodded her agreement. “Yep, that’s the idea. Start over, together. Mebbe round up some more of our family scattered ‘cross the ‘Verse. What d’ya think?”

Though she said nothing, Dani could tell from Rain’s expression that she was already in wholeheartedly. But her oldest _nu’er_ (daughter) was withholding comment, waiting for Cali to process the news.

“So…. Okay. So we’d pack up what we want, sell off our home? Would I get to see my friends again? What about schoolin’?”

“Well _baobei_ (treasured one), for schoolin’, we c’n work somethin’ out, but I gots a feelin’ ya might wanna get some real-life experience. You love workin’ on machines, shoot you take better care of that old junker Rain drives you ‘round in than I could. Mebbe you could learn ‘bout carin’ fer somethin’ a lil’ bigger?”

Cali’s eyes glowed at the thought. She loved taking things apart, seeing how they worked, what made them tick. Fortunately, she had a gift for putting them back together again in the proper order because she could be a little scatterbrained at times. So long as she didn’t wait too long on it, she could remember where she put all the extracted parts in question.

“An’ as fer Tobi an’ Choji,” Dani continued. “I’m sure you could still Wave ‘em, an’ we’d get ta visit sometimes mayhap. They gots their own families, though, an’ both boys have their own lives. You ain’t gettin’ sweet on one of ‘em, arya?” she asked skeptically.

“Ugh! No!” Cali exclaimed disgustedly. “You know I ain’t interested in any of that kinda stuff. They’re just my friends. And yeah, I c’n always Wave ‘em… I gots one more question, though.”

“Yes?”

Both girls turned to each other, grinning, and Rain piped up. “Where ya gonna get a ship?”

Dani returned their grin good-naturedly. “Well, it just so happens,” she said, turning around her personal Cortex unit so they could view what she’d been pouring over the last few hours. “They’re auctionin’ off some nice boats over on Ita. I figure we sell what we c’n an’ pack the rest up. Yer Uncle Mike could sell our house fer us, I know the Chengs down the street have been lookin’ to get somethin’ bigger, mebbe he c’n talk to ‘em.

“An’ then we take a shuttle to Ita. Start our adventure together. It’s a big risk, but I think the three of us could handle anythin’ life throws at us. What d’ya think?”

Cali was practically bouncing in her seat and even the usually stoic Rain had a huge grin splitting her face in two. “Yes!” they both shouted in unison.


	3. Episode 02: Finding A Home

Jiangyin. Grant homestead.

Dani looked around at her room, mentally organizing what came with, what needed storage (at least temporarily with Mike, until they had a place to put them), and what she could do without. There wasn’t a whole lot of Beth left, over the years Dani’s style had gradually taken over, but there were a few items. A travel poster for Sihnon, a destination Beth always wanted to get to. Some trinkets. And, of course, the jewelry box.

She smiled as she looked at it. It was such a small thing, a wooden ball with a flat surface, carved with some sort of animal from Earth-That-Was she was never quite able to place. _Why would sucha rotund creature have sucha long nose? Evolution was odd_. The top twisted off to reveal their wedding rings. She eschewed jewelry for the most part nowadays but wouldn’t part with the little box for any reason.

Sighing, she knelt down by her bed and withdrew a medium-sized metal box. Inputting the combination to a crude lock at the top, she opened it and removed the worn leather holster, still smelling faintly of engine oil and sweat, and then looked at the bottom contents.

The Ares Predator II was a deadly-looking pistol, all sleek lines and black molded polymers. It was also a bit worn from five years of constant wear. _Heh, worn like me, I s’pose_. Nestled in the foam next to it were three magazines with the .40 caliber ammunition already loaded. She hadn’t really practiced since she got out. _Diyu_ (hell), she was lucky to still have the thing, when the MPs took her away she hadn’t expected to see it again. Instead it and the holster were nestled in her trunk at the foot of her bunk bed. “Guess not all the MPs were happy with MacArthur, neither…” she mused out loud.

“Who’s MacArthur?” piped a cheery voice from the doorway.

She smiled and replied over her shoulder, “Ain’t nobody of consequence, sweetie.”

Cali bounced into the room and then onto her bed. “Oooh, shiny! That yer gun?”

Dani stood up and belted the holster around her waist, buckling the leg strap, then leaned down to retrieve the Ares. “Yep. Ain’t taken it out in a spell. Figured it’s time to let it see the light of day ‘gain.”

“Shiny!” Cali repeated. Then, looking around innocently, she drawled out “Sooo...”

“Yeeeahhh…?” Dani drawled back.

“I’m gonna be a mechanic, right?”

“Yer gonna learn to be one, sure.”

“So’s that means I get a tool belt, right?”

Dani glanced at her, nonplussed. “Um, yeah, I s’pose so…”

“An’ tools?”

“That’s generally whatcha find onna tool belt, yeah…”

“Shiny!” Cali piped again, bouncing back off the bed and out of the room, her long pigtail braids flapping behind her.

Dani just shook her head in amusement and got back to her packing. Rain poked her head in shortly thereafter. “Kaasan?”

“Hmm?”

“Do I get anythin’ shiny?”

Dani barked out a laugh. “How ‘bout a flight cap an’ vest?”

Rain grinned. “Yeah, that’ll do.”

“Go pack,” Dani shooed her away. “Daylight’s a-wastin’, an’ the shuttle leaves in the mornin’!”

* * *

En route to Ita, orbiting Whittier in the Kaldissa system

“Don’t look like much,” Cali complained, her nose pressed against the small porthole by their seats. The moon looked so tiny compared to the other planets. She wasn’t really complaining, this was the first time she’d been off-planet and she was positively bubbly over the prospect of seeing the ‘Verse.

Rain rubbed her head affectionately through the panda hat. “Don’t hafta be. It’s a giant scrap yard. It’ll have what we need. Right?” she quirked an eyebrow at Dani sitting on the other side.

Dani smiled back, a little ball of nervous butterflies moving through her gut. “You betcha.”

She looked forward again, trying not to let the doubts consume her. This whole venture was so unlike her, something so compulsive, selling off their property without even a home to move into… _Ah well, fortune favors the foolish_. She started humming an ancient song from Earth-That-Was. Beth had gotten her hooked on the widely different tunes. One of the things she made sure to bring was her personal Cortex unit with her music collection. _Need to start thinkin’ on names fer the new ship. I s’pose somethin’ will jump out at me once we see one we like_ , she mused to herself to distract her from the doubts.

* * *

Ita. Hi Lo Used Shipyard.

Dani and the girls strolled through the line of ships of various pedigree and rust. She mused over the name of the shipyard while they walked. Was it a play on High and Low? Was it the owner’s name? She shook herself mentally, focusing back on the dubious hunks of metal lining both sides of the long path. There weren’t many other customers, as it seemed most of the ‘adventuresome’ types had better ways of obtaining their rides.

“Hey, that’s a big one,” Cali remarked, pointing.

“That’s a Trans-U. I don’t think I’d have the money to get ‘er spaceworthy, much less keep ‘er in th’ air,” Dani replied distractedly.

“Oh. How ‘bout that one, I like the lines!”

Dani smirked. “A Keppler? Yeah like we could afford that, lookit the tag chalked on the side.”

“Oh, right.” Cali skipped ahead.

Rain walked next to Dani, her long brown hair bobbing in a ponytail behind her. _She looks more like Beth every day_ , Dani thought.

Suddenly Dani stopped in her tracks as she spied an outline in-between the Trans-U and another unidentifiable lump of metal (and she prided herself on recognizing most ship types; this one though really looked to be decomposing on the spot). Her mouth hung open in astonishment.

Rain stopped a few paces ahead. “ _Kaasan_?”

When she didn’t get an immediate reply, Cali headed back to join them.

“Kaaasaaannn…?”

“Um. Yeah. That’s…” she whispered, then cleared her throat. “That’s a Firefly Mark III.”

“That?” Cali asked dubiously, pointing at the lump of rust that shifted slightly on its own, billowing up a small cloud of debris.

“No, _that_ ,” Dani pointed and then strolled rapidly and with a purpose between the other ships.

The three women walked around the squat fuselage, under the outboard engines hung low in maintenance mode, and then peered up at the bridge, perched on top of a long, ungainly neck.

“Looks like a weird bird,” Cali remarked. Rain nodded in agreement, though she seemed to be entranced by the ship.

“That, girls, is the big sister of the Firefly I last flew in the war. Ship like that, run ferever if’n ya treat ‘er well, give ‘er proper attention, give ‘er love.” Dani stepped forward to run her hands along the hot metal. “This… this’s what we’ve been looking fer. It’s in our price range, an’ it’s a gem hidden ‘mongst all the refuse. This’s our new home.”

“You sure?” Cali asked, still a bit skeptical. She was hoping for something a bit sleeker with engines that could outrace pirates like in her favorite vids.

“Oh yeah,” Rain breathed. “I see it too. This’s the one.”

Cali grinned at the other. “Alright then, what are we waiting for?”

* * *

Ita. Firefly Mark III Transport.

Dani stood on the bridge of her ship. _My ship_. She was almost giddy with excitement. Granted, it was tempered by the fact that there was nowhere to sit on the bridge as the seats were all missing.

Rain and Cali clanked up the gangway behind her to join her on the bridge. “So,” Cali started. “Engine’s pretty. We’re missin’ a few things, though.”

“Like any sorta furniture,” Rain muttered.

“Alright,” Dani declared decisively. “Let’s start a list, what we need ta get before we c’n get offa this rock. I have somewhere I think we c’n go ta get ‘er overhauled, but I gots to make a few Waves first.” She plopped down to the grating and leaned against the dusty pilot’s console, the girls joining her on the floor.

“So. Three flight seats fer the bridge. Two shuttles. Beds fer the cabins, mebbe some chairs an’ desks. Dining table an’ chairs. Didya take a peek at the number two hold? The sales guy said it usedta be a medical ship, anythin’ left in there?”

“Nope,” Rain popped the end of the word. “Gutted. There’s still the framework fer lil’ rooms in the back, an’ some struts an’ stuff holdin’ the stairway up, but that’s pretty much it.”

“Okay,” Dani mused. “I got some ideas ‘long those lines… but it c’n wait till Osiris.”

Both the girls perked up at the name of the Core world. “Osiris?” Cali squeaked.

“Yep,” the lanky woman smirked. “Hopefully. Like I said, gotta make some Waves first. Let’s take a stroll ‘round th’ other side of the yard, see what parts they gots.”

* * *

Ita. Hi Lo Used Shipyard.

“Yeah, I think we c’n help ya there,” remarked the greasy little salesman, puffing a cloud of noxious smoke in the air. Dani tried valiantly to hold her breath. _At least the stench of the smoke covers up the stench of ‘is aftershave_.

The portly man scratched at his poor attempt at a beard. “Yeah, yeah. Got a lot back here from a renovated liner, plenty of old beds an’ chairs an’ the like. Won’t be able to match much, but should have whatcha need.”

Dani glanced back at her daughters who were standing a respectable distance upwind. “Right. An’ ‘bout the flight chairs? Oh, an’ d’ya carry any tools an’ such?”

“Tools we gots,” he blew out in another cloud, obscuring his features briefly. “And yeah, plenty o’ flight chairs, should have some that’d even fit yer lil’ boat. Hey, yeah, I gots two right here, they were yanked from ‘nother Mark III we sold last month. Real beaut, that one, great condition. Ya need one more, right?”

Dani nodded, hoping he’d finish soon. Breathing again was looking to be pretty nice.

“Yeah, got ‘nother one here,” he mused while looking at his handheld. “Came offa an old Mark I Firefly though…”

Dani’s face broke out in a smile and she barked out a laugh. She immediately regretted it as she bent over in a coughing fit. The salesman slapped her back sympathetically. “Yep, dust here’ll get to ya.”

She glared over at her children who made no move to help. _Traitors_ , she muttered to herself. _Gonna hafta work on that captainy respect thing_.

Able to breathe again, she straightened back up and wheezed, “Yeah, that chair’ll do just fine.”

* * *

Ita. Firefly Mark III Transport.

Dani looked around her bridge again from her new chair. It fit her body perfectly, just like the seat from the _Bonnie Bethany_. Granted, the headrest molding wasn’t as comfortable as the regular Mark III seats, and the vinyl was a bit worn, but it hugged her butt like a spooning lover. “Whoa, where’d that come from?” she murmured to herself humorously.

Rain entered the bridge to interrupt her introspection. “So, which chair is mine? Or do we just rotate when we’re pilotin’?”

Dani looked at her console. “Well, this seat on the left is normally the Capt’n’s chair, an’ th’ one on the right is the pilot’s. I prefer this side, just usedta flyin’ from this seat really. Plus, it’s my chair,” she smirked. “So, that one’s yers.”

“Shiny!” Rain exclaimed, plopping down and spinning around. She then looked down at her own console. “Hmm. Lotta buttons. Bit more’n I’m used to.”

“No worries,” she replied. “You’ll get the hang of it in no time.”

They turned around at the clanking sound approaching the bridge. Dani murmured to Rain, “At least she’ll never be able ta sneak up on ya ‘gain.” Rain grinned back, nodding.

“Hi!” Cali piped as she climbed the steps, her new tool belt fastened around her waist with several tools (including a couple of wrenches of the same size, Dani noted with amusement) swinging from their loops. “Watcha doin’?”

“Gettin’ ready to join you in th’ engine room,” Dani replied rising from her seat. “Ya ready to make this bird fly again?”

* * *

Ita. Firefly Mark III Transport.

Dani was back in her seat again, sweat and grime staining her overalls. She leaned back tiredly and listened to the stream of Mandarin profanity that flowed through her handheld. It was echoed with vehemence from the floor beneath her as Rain crawled through the maintenance tunnel, trying to find the short in the wires. Suddenly her diatribe cut off and she squealed in triumph. “Found it!”

“‘Bout gorram time!” came the high-pitched shout from her current chief mechanic. Dani just rolled her eyes in exhaustion. _When did my lil’ girls start cussin’ like sailors?_  she wondered, not able to summon the energy to make a fuss. _‘Sides_ , she mused, _they’re my crew now, an’ I s’pose they’re entitled to the fringe benefits._

She jumped slightly as her console sparked. “Sorry!” came a muffled voice from below. “Got it now!”

The lights on the bridge sputtered to life… and then went back out. The stream of Mandarin expletives continued again from both sources. Dani closed her eyes. _Gettin’ too gorram old fer this_ gou se _(crap)_.

* * *

Ita. Blue Sun Cortex communications hub.

Dani stepped aside to let the elder gentleman move out of the Cortex booth. She took his place and punched in a few numbers that she’d looked up before leaving Jiangyin.

A broad, flushed face filled the screen a few moments later. “Tommy’s Salvage Yard, what c’n I…  Angel???”

She smiled wearily back at the welcome visage. “War’s been over fer some time now, Tom. Just call me Dani. How’re things?”

“Fantastic! Shiner’n shiny!” he exclaimed. “I own my own business now, an’ gotta kid on the way ta boot!”

“Whoa now, back on up,” Dani said, wide-eyed. “Ya got married? Who’d you find ta put up with ya?”

“Har har, smartass. You call after all these years just ‘cause ya missed givin’ me a hard time?”

“Nope,” she smirked back. “Was wonderin’ if that shiny business of yers could help me an’ mine out…”

Fifteen minutes later, the details worked out to both party’s satisfaction, Dani closed the connection, waited a beat, and then entered another set of numbers she was much more familiar with.

“Hello!” chirped the face that now filled the screen. “Dani! How are you an’ the girls doin’?”

“Well enough, Julie,” she responded. “Gotta ship, gettin’ ‘er goin’ again. Mike around?”

“Sure thing! _MIKE_!!!!”

Dani winced. The power of Julie’s shout was not diluted in the least over the Cortex. She laughed to herself quietly. _I s’pose we all develop a decent set of lungs raisin’ kids._

Mike’s grizzled face soon replaced that of his wife’s. Beth’s older brother looked more like a wild woodsman from the frontier than the mechanical genius he was. _Cali likely got the genes from ‘im_. “Hey girl!” he greeted.

“Hey, old man,” she responded. “So we gots ourselves a boat. Firefly Mark III. It’s a beaut.”

His shaggy beard, streaked with grey, twitched into what she interpreted as a smile. “That’s shiny. Nice solid boat. Flew onna few of those ‘tween bases. _Diyu_ (hell), even set foot on one of the gunboat-style ones. Solid,” he repeated.

“Sooo…” she drawled out. “We’re hopin’ ta get off-planet soon. On our way ta Osiris to get ‘er refitted proper-like. Could use some help with that.”

Mike gave a grunt. “You know Julie don’t like me ta be away fer that long. She’s been that way ever since I got back from the war.”

“So bring ‘er with ya,” Dani argued. “An’ I ain’t talkin’ ‘bout just a short-time job. I mean both of ya. Ship out with us.”

“Ship out with you?”

“Crew, Mike. I want y’all on my crew.”

“Huh…” he trailed off speculatively. “Both the girls’re gone, Kacy in th’ Navy,” Dani kept the grimace off her face, “... an’ Emily in University. Gots nothin’ really tyin’ us down… lemme talk ta Julie ‘bout it. When’re ya plannin’ on droppin’ by again?”

“Might be a few days still. I’ll Wave ya when we know better.”

“‘Kay,” he replied distractedly, the wheels in his head almost visibly spinning. They said their goodbyes and Dani exited the booth for the next woman in line. She had a rather self-satisfied expression on her face. _Hook, line an’ sinker_ , she thought. It was, appropriately enough, a favorite saying of Mike’s.

* * *

Ita. Firefly Mark III Transport.

“ _Kaasan_!”

Dani swore as her head bumped the underneath of the console she was crawling under on the bridge. “What?”

“We need a name!” Cali exclaimed brightly as she bounced up the short stairs, Rain trailing behind at a more sedate pace.

“A name?”

“Fer the ship! We need a name! I vote fer _Panda Express_!”

“Shocker,” Rain muttered good-naturedly.

“Already gots one picked out,” Dani replied, pulling herself out and reaching for her handheld.

“You do? Wait, what is it? We don’t get ta vote onnit?”

“Sorry peanut, my ship, I get ta pick the name. Fortune favors the foolish…”

She found what she was looking for and turned the screen around so the girls could read it. “What’s she wearin’? And what’s in her hands?” Cali peered intently at the small screen. “Oh, I recognize that now, it’s from one of Mommy’s old music albums she liked!”

Centered on the screen, displayed on a red background, was a woman in a flowing white mantle, with a strange hat and crown combination on her head. On one hand was what Dani recalled to be a cornucopia, symbol of plenty, spilling credits or gold coins. In the other was a staff topped by a wheel of some sort. And stretched across the top, in bold script, was a name.

 _Fortune’s Favour_.

* * *

 


	4. Episode 03: The Refit

Osiris. Entering atmo.

“Engine room!” Dani shouted into her comm. “I could really use some engines right ‘bout now!”

Two streams of Mandarin cursing answered her, one high pitched, one much lower.

“Well,” she said calmly. “I think I know where the two of you picked up the cussin’ from.”

Rain looked sideways at her nervously. “Should I go back there?”

“Nah,” she replied. “They gots it. I got confidence.”

“Um,” Julie squeaked behind them from the doorway. “Are we s’posed to be approachin’ the landing field this quickly?”

“Nope,” Dani answered cheerily. “But that’s just ‘cause we’re fallin’ so fast. Should get engines back online soon. Might wanna go strap on in.”

Julie gave another squeak and ran back to the galley where the jump seats were located.

“Don’t be mean to her none,” Rain chided. “This’s ‘er first time flyin’.”

“Might be ‘er last,” Dani replied. Her smirk turned into a full grin as the amber lights on her console turned green and the wailing alarms, which, to be honest, she had tuned out by this point, silenced.

“See? Shiny! Um, brace yerself.”

Dani fired the engines and they were pressed into their seats by the rapid deceleration, followed soon thereafter by a hard thunk of landing.

The bridge lights flickered a bit… and then everything went black.

“ _Gou se_ (crap).”

“You were saying?”

“Oh, _bi zui_ (shut up).”

* * *

Osiris. Tom's salvage yard.

“So, Osiris,” Dani’s voice echoed in the dark of the cargo bay, bouncing off of the silent walls. “This’s the Core, so there are a few things ta keep in mind. Firstly, don’t ever walk off alone, it’s a big place an’ a big city hereabouts.” She pulled at the right side of the powerless bay door.

“Second,” grunted Mike from the other side, his portly body struggling with the door. “Everythin’s more expensive. Everythin’. Don’ go gettin’ all shiny-eyed over the first thing ya see. And lemme take a look at it ‘fore you buy, I’ll tell ya what’s _gou se_ (crap) an’ what’s decent.”

“And thirdly, this’s Alliance territory. Behave,” Dani finished as the door creaked open enough for them to fit through. Mike abandoned his efforts and squeezed through the gap, the rest of the crew following into the sunlight.

Dani watched Julie, Rain, and Cali stroll off towards the shops just outside the yard where they had landed. She noticed that one of the establishments was a general spacer outfitting store. _I still owe Rain a flight cap an’ vest_.

“Hey hey kiddo, welcome to my humble yard!” Tom waddled across the expanse between an office building and where Mike and Dani stood together. “So that’s yer new baby, eh?”

“Tom!” Dani cheered as she bumped the proffered fist. “Looks like married life agrees with ya, at least yer waistline!”

Tom barked a deep laugh. “Yeah, it’s the pregnant thing, she won’t finish anythin’ I make fer her, so’s I end up eatin’ it. Can’t let good food go ta waste none!”

“I heard that,” Mike answered appreciatively.

“Tom, my brother-in-law Mike. Mike, this is my old war buddy Tom, flew with me throughout the war. Kept my pigu (ass) from fallin’ outta the sky.”

The two exchanged mutual grunts of acknowledgment. She could tell they were going to get along just fine. “Right, so let’s go see how much work we can give you,” Dani continued.

“Shiny. Um, ain’t there s’posed to be lights on?”

“Yeah, ‘bout that…”

* * *

Osiris. _Fortune's Favour_.

The three stood on the bridge together, looking around the dimly-lit area. “Yep, all very doable,” Tom remarked. “From whatcha done shown me so far, we need a full refit of yer ‘lectrical system fer starters…”

“Rain’ll be pleased not ta do anymore crawlin’ ‘round the ductwork,” Dani chuckled.

“Lessee,” Tom continued. “Complete refurbishment of th’ engine, air scrubbers, water recycling, an’ ‘lectrical system… I c’n getcha good deal. Oh,” he mentioned off-handedly. “I also gots a lil’ surprise for ya, hidin’ in the back of my warehouse.”

“Shiny, I like surprises,” Dani grinned. “Oh, and one more thing. I want speakers on the bridge."

"Huh?"

"You know, fer music. I wanna play music. On the bridge."

"I don' get it."

"Tom, did the terraforming fry yer brainpan? Speakers! Can ya do it’r not?"

"Yeah, yeah, no need to be snarky, I'll make it happen..."

* * *

Osiris. _Fortune's Favour_.

“So, we’re meetin’ up with my _meimei_ (little sister) an’ her family?” Mike asked as he stood outside on the _Favour_ ’s ramp, puffing away on a cheap cigar.

“Yep,” Dani answered, waving away the fumes. “Ya really gots ta smoke that _gou se_ (crap)?”

“Hey, I’m offa the ship, I know the rules,” Mike replied indignantly.

“Gorram straight, keep that stuff outta our air recyclers.”

“So, the Bilkes? How didya convince ‘em to join up?”

“Weren’t too hard, actually,” Dani replied, making her way to the shop that had caught her eye earlier, as she had noticed that the other women had entered that same store. Mike walked beside her, still puffing away unabashedly. “They’re pretty fed up with Persephone. Cory could get a mechanic’s job easy enuff, but it won’t pay much. His catering business never really took off, an’ Maribelle just don’t have the schoolin’ to do much more’n be a volunteer nurse.”

“Thought she had all that experience with Long Reach?”

“She does, and it does count for somethin’, just not in the Core or even onna Border planet like Persephone. Out onna Rim, she’d likely be the primary doctor fer a whole township.”

Mike grunted in acknowledgment and flung his cigar to the ground before heading over to enter the store.

“Um, Mike?” Dani said nervously, seeing a few Alliance patrolmen giving them the stink-eye.

“Oh, yeah. Core-world. Been awhile.” He crouched down, retrieved his cigar, and disposed of it in the proper receptacle across the street.

Dani just smirked at him as he crossed back over.

* * *

Osiris. _Fortune's Favour_. Next day.

“Uncle Cory an’ Aunt Maribelle are here!” Cali shouted up the stairs to where Dani was working on the hinges to her quarters. The thing squeaked something fierce whenever she opened the hatch. _Must be outta ‘lignment_. She put her tools away and hurried down the stairs to the bottom of the cargo bay where her girls were hugging two very excited little boys.

“Aunt Dani!” the two youngsters squealed as they rushed her as soon as her foot set on the floor.

“Oof!” she exclaimed. “Y’all been practicin’ yer tackle just fer me?”

“You bet!” the one with the curly red hair replied excitedly.

“Are we really gonna fly on this with you?” asked the blond.

“You bet,” she replied with the same inflection. “Girls, why doncha show L.T. an’ Junior the bridge. I’ll show their parents ‘round.”

Once safely extracted from their embrace, Dani stepped back so they could pull their cousins along. L.T. took the lead, his red hair bouncing with glee, and Junior was close behind.

“Leonard Thomas! Cory Junior! You listen to your cousins and don’t get into anything!” called the petite blond from the doorway.

“We will Mom!” they chorused.

“Was that a ‘we will listen,’ or a ‘we will get into everything’?” Dani chuckled as she pulled Maribelle into an embrace.

“Likely both. God, it’s good to see you, Dani, it’s been too long.”

“Yeah, it has. But we’re remedyin’ that now, right?” She looked over to the man standing next to Maribelle, slightly taller and with red hair a shade darker than his younger son. “How have ya been, Cory?”

“Well enough,” he answered with a quiet smile. “Better now, honestly.”

“Well, that’s a good start!” Dani grinned. “C’mon, I’ll show y’all around.”

She led them away from the airlock and into the middle of the cargo bay. “We gots the lights runnin’ now, Tom hooked the power up to ‘is yard so’s we c’n get work done.”

“So, didn’t have power before?”

“Not so much. Landin’ was interestin’,” she laughed. “Okay, not much to do here, we gots the basic structure to carry all sorts of cargo. I’m gettin’ some steel rods to place in the gratin’ upright, we c’n stretch webbin’ ‘tween ‘em to divvy things up, stack ‘em up high, an’ keep ‘em from rollin’ about.

“Back through here,” she continued, walking through the hatch in the rear of the bay, “is the second bay. Now normally there’d be a full med bay inna ship of this particular model. It’s been pretty well gutted, though, an’ I had a better notion for it after talkin’ it over with Mike. Speak of the devil,” she added as Mike strolled over from where he was setting up a welding rig.

After they passed around greetings, and the two siblings ribbed each other good-naturedly, Mike picked up her explanation. “Figured we’d take most of this space, make it into a nice workshop. Fully decked out with presses, saws, lathe, the works. I’m puttin’ in a gunsmith workbench as well, we could do our own fixin’ an’ modifications. Way we figure,” he grinned, “we could make a whole mess of shiny coin just by flyin’ out to a Rim planet, ploppin’ ourselves outsida town an’ settin’ up shop. Fix their tools, trucks, whatever.”

Cory smiled back appreciatively. “Very nice,” he commented in his Core-bred accent. “I can see where this would be extremely valuable in the right places.”

Dani let Mike get back to work and led them further into the second hold. “So we’d put a wall up here to give us a small lounge. Nice big Cortex screen, some comfy couches. There’s a head right here with a shower, it c’n be used by the rear crew quarters.”

“Rear quarters?” Maribelle inquired.

“Yep, see back here, these would normally be outfitted as passenger dorms, an’ you c’n see someone tried ta start in on that. Usually find ‘bout seven rooms set up, but we did some changin’ ‘round. The walls still need a lil’ work, but we already gots most of the furnishin’s in place.” She led the way to the right-hand side.

“Bottom two on the right we converted inta one big room, that there’s where Mike an’ Julie are staying. Above that we merged the two tiny rooms inta ‘nother single, an’ made it a passenger room.” She continued over to the left side. “Same deal with the bottom rooms, made it inta one decent-sized suite, an’ this one’s y’alls.”

Maribelle and Cory peered in. “Definitely bigger than the bunk I had in the Navy,” Cory grinned.

“I ‘magine so,” Dani replied. “Now, up top we kept the two small rooms fer the boys, they each get their own.

“Oh, they’ll be thrilled!” the small blonde smiled.

“Now, fer the center rooms. Top one we pretty much kept intact, it’s the second passenger dorm. Fer the bottom, we moved the wall back a bit ta make one narrow room, figure on setting up a hydroponics lab, get some fruit an’ veggies growin’. Julie’d be in charge of that, she gots the greenest thumb ‘round. An’ the final room, Maribelle, will be yers.”

“Mine?” Maribelle inquired, and she slid the door back.

“Yep, this’ll be our infirmary. Ain’t gotten all the parts yet, wanted ta wait till we could get some decent Core-made equipment, an’ wanted you to get some input innit as well. Figure a nice bed, mebbe a small MedComp fer ya to work on.”

“That’s… wonderful Dani. Really, it’s more than I could have imagined. So I’m to be the ship’s doctor?”

“All official-like on the papers, even,” Dani replied with a smile.

Cory cleared his throat. “So, I was wondering, um, how do you see me fitting in?”

“Let’s talk ‘bout that,” she answered as they made their way up the back steps towards the engine room. “I’d like you to be the Chief Engineer, while Mike takes on the role of Chief Mechanic.”

“Okay, I’m confused. What’s the difference?” Maribelle asked.

“Here’s what I’m thinkin’. Cory, yer in charge of th’ engine room, that’d be yer domain. Mike’d have the rest of the ship system’s, includin’ the workshop. Now, I ain’t sayin’ it’s cut an’ dry. You’d help out where needed, Mike would come lend a hand with engine work. An’ Cali is gonna be an Assistant Engineer, also helpin’ out where she can. She gots th’ aptitude, just needs some experience.”

Cory nodded. “Makes sense. I’d like to see Cali work before she gets her hands on the engine.”

“Oh, don’t worry about that none,” Dani laughed. “How d’ya think we got from Ita to Jiangyin?”

The three proceeded to check out the engine room and then moved across to the galley where Julie was sitting and greeted her.

“Cory, I was also thinkin’ you could be the official cook,” Dani mentioned. “I mean, we could all help out, take turns and whatnot, ‘specially when it came to cleanup, but I’d like you to put all that culinary talent to use.” Cory nodded in agreement, smiling.

Passing the hatches leading down to the other crew dorms, Dani called out their occupants. “Mine’s on the right next to the stairs, Rain next to me by the bridge. Cali is across the way in the middle.”

“What about the other two?” Maribelle inquired.

“Well, the one up front is smaller, an’ is just an extra room right now. The rear one is a double, an’ I gots plans fer that,” she answered mysteriously, leading the way onto the bridge where the sounds of space combat rang out. “Permission to come aboard?” she called out humorously.

“Permission granted!” Rain laughed back. “Though you might wanna ‘bandon ship, we’re almost set upon by Reavers.”

“Not a chance!” Junior piped back from the captain’s chair. “We can outrun those dirty _hundans_ (bastards)!”

“Junior! Language!” Maribelle scolded as the rest of the crew on the bridge tried to contain their laughter.

“Sorry, Mom,” he replied with the barest trace of apology.

“But they are, aren’t they?” inquired a suddenly serious L.T. from Cali’s lap in the pilot’s chair.

“Well, yes dear, but we don’t call them that.”

Both Rain and Cali rolled their eyes where Maribelle couldn’t see and Dani gifted them with a stern look. “Right, if’n we’re able to avoid the Reaver scum for a bit, how ‘bout some lunch?”

* * *

Osiris. Capital City.

Dani leaned back in her seat of the Mule, letting the wind whip her loose hair back. “I like yer pick, old man. This’s a decent ride.”

Mike smirked at her from the driver’s seat. “I know, right? Even got a discount onnit. Didn’t know you could whine so well ‘bout the lack of heated seats.”

Dani laughed, putting her arms up and feeling the air move across her bare arms. “I may not be the con man y’are, but I c’n pull a decent guilt trip. Motherhood will do that fer ya.” Rain gave a laugh of her own from the back seat.

Mike steered the SL-3820 All-Terrain Flying Mule into the used shuttle lot, their destination. Dani looked over their ride appreciatively. It was an extended cargo model, seating four comfortably, 6 in a pinch, and more if they crowded into the cargo bed. It could carry a metric ton of weight. She really didn’t miss the heated seats all that much, especially since there were so few planets with the colder climates to warrant such luxury.

As Mike pulled to a stop, Dani and Rain hopped out and approached the sales office. “You do the talkin’ ‘gain?”

“Yep, I gots this.”

* * *

Osiris. _Fortune's Favour_.

“Well, at least the Mule is nice,” Rain commented as she entered the top floor of the Favour from shuttle number one.

“ _Bi zui_ (shut up),” Dani replied from across the gangway, closing the hatch behind her on shuttle number two. She briefly considered sealing it with a welding torch but decided that would be counter-productive. She wasn’t sure what chemical disinfectant was used by the previous owner, but it reeked. The harsh smell permeated throughout the shuttle and made her eyes water.

Still, at least it flew well. They quickly determined over the comm that the shuttle Rain flew had some sort of misalignment in the wings. It vibrated like it was getting shook apart by wild horses. _Should be okay outside of atmo_ , she thought somewhat optimistically.

“Look at it this way,” she continued as they walked towards the bridge. She glanced down as the cargo bay doors opened and Mike drove the Mule inside. “They were cheap, compared to the other prices here in the Core. An’ we c’n work around their… quirks.”

Rain raised an eyebrow. “An’ why wazzit we couldn’t wait till we were off of a Core world ta buy ‘em?”

“Because… reasons. _Bi zui_ (shut up).”

* * *

Osiris. Tom's salvage yard.

“Alright, Tom,” Dani called out into the dark warehouse. “I’m here. Now, what’s this surprise of yers?”

Tom popped out from behind a stack of hull plates, surprisingly nimble for a man of his bulk. “Oh, yer gonna love it. Right back here!”

Dani followed him to the gloomy rear of the building. “Can’t see a gorram thing in here,” she grumbled.

“That’s ‘cause it’s my Black Market stash. Get it? Black? ‘Cause it’s so dark?”

Dani just groaned and rolled her eyes. Obviousl, Tom’s sense of humor had not improved. Such unflattering thoughts were dashed away when Tom produced a hand torch and illuminated the long object on the shelf in front of them.

“Is that… Tom izzat what I think it is?”

“Yep! Normally a Firefly Mark III would have a flare launcher in the rear but yers was dismantled. So instead we gots this little beauty. “

“It’s… it’s a gorram mine launcher,” Dani said breathlessly.

“That it is! Got it offa military salvage, lazy Alliance salvagers missed it, so I picked it up an’ waited fer the right person ta come along. That, sweet cheeks, would be you.”

Dani ignored the jibe, instead thinking on the whole new set of possibilities this opened up. “Wait a tic. Is this legal?”

“Um. Technically? You ain’t allowed a gun’r anything that fires an explodin’ projectile. But, still speakin’ technically, this’d drop mines. Sort ofa dif’rence.”

She snorted in amusement, still spinning the wheels in her head. “Okay, so I could equip it with EMP mines, keep bandits offa my _pigu_ (ass). It wouldn’t be obvious none, not too much larger’n the flare launcher. Looks like, what, 500-pounders?”

“Got it in one,” Tom replied cheekily. “And it’ll carry four at a time. I c’n rig up an aiming program on the bridge, could be used from any station, give ya crosshairs an’ everythin’, it’d calibrate for atmo or in the Black.”

“Tom, I could kiss you.”

“Now, now, I’m a married man and ‘sides which, I know yer just teasin’ me. I ain’t girly enuff fer ya.”

Dani snorted even louder in response.

* * *

Osiris. _Fortune's Favour_.

“Alright copilot, how’re we lookin’?” Dani inquired, as she glanced to her right.

Rain was wearing her new flight cap, already adorned with several buttons and pins she brought from home and found in the stores. Her vest, in a matching black, also had a patch on it from Osiris. She decided that she’d get a patch for every planet that she made landfall. _I promise ta fill that vest up fer ya sweetie, you won’t regret puttin’ yer faith in me._

“Looks good, Capt’n,” Rain answered in what she considered an official voice. “Everythin’s online, lights’re green, preflight checklist completed.”

Dani picked up the mike next to her seat and dialed into the yard. “Tower, this is Firefly transport _Fortune’s Favour_ , requesting clearance for departure.”

Tom’s cheery voice came back quickly, “Permission granted _Favour_ , pleasure doin’ business with ya. Next time ya need some work done, you come right on back, hear?”

Dani grinned before replying. “Nowhere else in the ‘Verse I’d rather trust with my girl, Tom. Thanks again, and best of luck to ya.”

“Same to you, girl, safe flyin’!”

Dani switched her channel over to the shipwide channel. “Attention crew. Please prepare for liftoff. Engine room, be ready for full burn once we break atmo.”

“Engine room, roger that!’ Cali piped back.

“So,” Dani turned to Rain, her brows raised. “We gots a hold full of parts to deliver to a friend of Tom’s on Londinium, right where we need ta head next anyways.”

“ _Kaasan_ , ain’t Uncle Keith an’ Aunt Jess on Londinium?”

“Ah, you got it! That’s where we’re headin’ next, yep. I’m hopin’ I c’n talk ‘em inta joinin’ us.”

“Um, but Uncle Keith an’ Aunt Jess both were part of th’ Alliance. Uncle Keith even fought ‘gainst Browncoats. An’ you ain’t talked to ‘im since the end of the war. Ya really think they’d wanna come with us?”

“Never said it’d be easy. But in any case, this talk is long overdue.” She stared off into space for a moment, daunted by the task ahead. By contrast, what they’d been through so far seemed a cakewalk. She gave herself a shake and looked over to Rain again. “So, you ready to take ‘er up?”

“Me?” Rain asked in an unusually high-pitched voice.

“I trust ya, sweetie. You gots this. Take us on up, I’ll be right here to help if’n ya need me.”

Rain wrapped her hands around the controls determinedly and pulled the lever to rotate the engines into their liftoff position. With quick, deft hands she had the engines roaring and the _Favour_ gained altitude quickly.

“Landing gear,” Dani murmured the reminder quietly.

“Oh, right,” Rain answered quickly and pulled the appropriate lever. “Breaking atmo in five… four… three… two… one…”

And then the rush of sound around the ship cut off as the blue skies switched to the inky Black. Rain looked over, grinning exuberantly.

“Nicely done.” Dani praised quietly, returning to look out the front screen as the sun set behind Osiris.

“Glad to get back into the Black?” Rain inquired perceptively.

“Nothin’ like it, Rain. No feelin’ like that of bein’ out here, and nothin’ in the ‘Verse c’n keep me away from it.”


	5. Episode 04: No Drama Like Family Drama

En route to Londinium.

Half an hour after liftoff from Osiris, Dani moved back to the galley to get a cup of tea. _Funny_ , she mused as she walked down the corridor, _never could acquire the taste fer coffee none, even after servin’ in the war_.

She stopped abruptly at the spectacle in front of her. Mike had a cloth laid out across the table and had broken down what seemed to be a hunting rifle older than herself. The table she had purchased on Ita was huge, filling up most of the space, with mismatched seating for fourteen. Sitting on either side of Mike were the two boys, grinning enthusiastically as Mike explained how to properly clean and reassemble the gun. _Yep, all sorts of educational opportunities fer the kids on board_ , she chuckled to herself.

As she was passing the table she noticed a scope on a separate cloth. In contrast to the rifle, it looked to be much newer, with a video-capture port. It was easily worth ten times that of the gun. “Ya put that scope on that gun?” she queried.

“Heh,” Mike laughed, “I c’n ping a can at five clicks with this baby. Worth every platinum piece. An’ the rifle looks old ‘cause, well it is. But they don’ make ‘em like this no more.”

“That’s ‘cause it’s an antique,” Dani jested as she poured herself a cup of the tea someone, likely Julie, had left on the stove. “Hey, make sure this pot is secured ‘fore we land in a few hours.”

“Yep, will do,” Mike waved distractedly as he worked the gun oil into the firing mechanism.

Dani continued back to the engine room where Cali was chatting happily with her Uncle about seemingly random engineering trivia. She knew that was just the way her brain worked, though. Give her enough time and she’d circle back around to the topic that was the original intent. Cory was organizing the tools in his kit, listening to Cali with a patient smile. Dani quirked her mouth slightly at the sight of Cory in his Alliance-issued grey coveralls.

“Hey Cory, nice toolset there,” Dani remarked, sipping her tea.

“Oh, thanks, one of the few belongings I have that’s worth much anymore. My Dad got them for me when I graduated from the Academy’s School of Engineering. Good Core-world quality craftsmanship.” He held up a socket wrench proudly.

“Mmm,” Dani replied noncommittally. _I’m really gonna hafta get over this antipathy towards anythin’ Alliance, get it outta my system ‘fore talkin’ to Keith._

Leaving the two greasemonkeys to their play, though Dani doubted Cory ever let grease touch his pristine clothes, she moved back into the galley to wash her cup out. She noted with amusement the contrast in Mike’s clothes. His coveralls were permanently grease-stained and she could never remember him wearing a clean pair as long as she’d known him. The boys were still chatting excitedly on either side as he held the rifle firmly while running a cleaning snake through the barrel.

Dani continued on and dropped into her bunk. She walked over to her desk and sat down. It was a nice, heavy thing, might have been some purser’s desk from that liner refit from Ita with lots of nooks and crannies, lots of little drawers, all easily secured for onboard a ship.

She looked at the Sihnon travel poster hung up with care to the right of her desk and lost herself in memories of talks with Beth about traveling the ‘Verse together.

* * *

On approach to Londinium.

“Alexis Shipyard, this is Firefly transport _Fortune’s Favour_ , requesting landing clearance,” Dani spoke into her mike.

“ _Fortune’s Favour_ , this is Alexis Shipyard tower. Permission granted for landing pad delta. Please follow the beacon down.”

“Roger that tower, thank you.”

Dani glanced over at Rain. “Okay if’n I take ‘er on down?”

Rain looked a little relieved. “Sure! I think mebbe I could use a lil’ more practice ‘fore I try landin’ on sucha small target.”

Dani grinned back, “Try on top ofa buildin’ sometime. All sortsa fun.”

Still grinning, she ignored her eldest daughter’s incredulous look and brought her ship in for a smooth and uneventful landing.

“Alright,” she said unstrapping. “Let’s get things rollin’.”

The two pilots joined the rest of the _Favour_ ’s crew in the cargo bay where the ramp was already lowering to an overcast but mild day. “Mike, c’n you take over here? Get these parts into the yard where they need ‘em, an’ load up the scrap metal fer the return trip. I gots a lil’ side trip to make. Hopefully be back by nightfall.”

“No problem, Capt’n,” Mike grunted. “We gots it covered.”

Dani stood on the ramp, watching the ground crew and what looked to be a foreman approach the ship. Rain walked up next to her elbow. “ _Kaasan_ , you sure ya don’ want me to come with?”

She smiled down, appreciating her concern. “It’s okay sweetie, I’ll be fine.”

Adjusting her belt (naturally, her gun was left in her quarters; the part of Londinium she was traveling to she’d get dropped in the slam before she could say “boo” if she was carrying), Dani strode off determinedly towards the yard entrance and the public transport beyond.

* * *

Londinium. Freedom Towers.

Dani tugged at her brown leather flight jacket nervously and straightened her hair. She knew she stuck out like a sore thumb in this place but even with the raised eyebrows she wasn’t called out. _Too_ gorram _polite_ fer _their own good._ She briefly entertained another smirk, cleared her throat, and knocked firmly on the door in front of her.

She heard movement inside and knew she was being scrutinized. Her biggest fear was that he’d see who it was and simply not open the door. Just refuse to acknowledge her existence. But after a brief pause the door was flung open and Dani saw the incredulous face of her brother for the first time in over a decade.

Her younger brother still wore his hair in a military crew cut but she knew that was just the way he liked it, simple to maintain. She realized with a start, practically being nose-to-nose, that she may be a couple of centimeters taller than him now. _Mebbe all those heavy packs lugged ‘round durin’ the war weighed ‘im down_. Green eyes matching her own stared back in shock. If she wasn’t suddenly at a loss for words herself, she’d find his state of speechlessness funny.

“...Dani?” he finally whispered.

“Hey, Keith. How ya been, _didi_ (little brother)?”

Hesitantly, Keith moved towards her, and then they were enveloping each other in crushing hugs, the years falling away, all the doubts fleeing from her mind.

She heard a noise from behind Keith and looked up to see a beautiful, elegant woman with Asian features. “Oh, sweet Buddha, Dani!”

“Hiya Jess,” she waved weakly at her sister-in-law.

Once inside and seated around the glass coffee table in the living room Dani clutched her tea, the doubts coming back again. Neither had spoken since she’d entered the apartment and the silence was getting a little unnerving. She cleared her throat uncertainly.

“So, I know it’s been a spell. An’ I know I shoulda… come sooner. I just…” She trailed off.

“Danielle, honey, listen,” Jess started, a concerned look on her face as she glanced between her husband and Dani. “We’re… we’re so very sorry about Beth. I know a simple card wasn’t enough, and we wished we could have gotten away… but Keith was, well…”

“Still deployed,” Keith finished in his quiet but deep baritone.

Dani’s eyes shot up. “Um, sorry? I thought ya mustered out on U-Day?”

“I did,” he replied. “And then mustered right back in. There was a lot of cleaning up to do, and the special forces were just the people to do it.”

“Right,” Dani murmured. “Cleanin’ up. I’m sure there was quite a ‘mess’ left.”

Keith grunted in exasperation and leaned forward. “No, listen to me. Because you deserve to know the whole story. It’s only fair since I know yours already.”

Dani didn’t think her eyebrows could climb any higher up her forehead but Keith was surely giving them a workout today. “Ya do?”

Keith just gave her a smirk, so very similar to the one that usually graced her face. “Special forces, remember? Few secrets I couldn’t unearth. Like why you dropped off the radar at the end of the war.”

“Right,” Dani repeated herself stupidly. Of course, he knew. _So, what’ll it be, pity fer my plight, or disgust fer not followin’ orders?_

“Dani… you were completely in the right.”

Okay, at this rate her eyebrows were going to get stuck in this position.

“I’m serious,” Keith continued, seeing the incredulous look on her face. “I was there, on the other side obviously, but being the valuable unit we were, they pulled us out. Lots didn’t, on both sides. Lots of needless deaths. Why do you think I fought for the Alliance?”

Startled by the quick change in gears, Dani just blinked at her brother. “Um. ‘Cause ya live in the Core?”

Keith just sighed and sat back again. Jess leaned over and clasped his hand. “Order. I wanted to keep order in the ‘Verse, keep the peace, and sometimes the only way to do that is to create a little more chaos. And that’s all war is, bloody chaos all over the gorram place.”

Keith sighed again and looked off into space. Dani knew what he was seeing, the same thing she always did when she got that look in her eyes. Friends long gone who they wanted to remember and places they’d rather forget.

“I signed back up after the war because there were still reports of Browncoats who wouldn’t lay down their arms. They called themselves rebels still but they were just terrorists at this point. If your cause laid down arms, you do the same or you’re breaking the law, and you lie outside the system of justice.”

Dani got a cold feeling in the pit of her stomach, imagining the sorts of ‘cleaning’ her brother really had to engage in. Keith sat silent for almost a full minute before continuing.

“I can’t give you all of the details or even the planet where this occurred. But it was a situation like many we’d undertaken, a terrorist cell was located and we were called in by the brass to eliminate them.

“The problem this time was the location. It was a Rim world, which normally weren’t bothered with, but rumors were that they finally tracked down one of the war criminals to this cell. He was supposedly holed up with his men in an apartment building, heavily fortified. We’d take losses getting in, even as good as we were. It was decided just to blow the place, few strategically placed charges, whole building would come down and not damage the others around. Nice and clean, better than a missile.” Keith was speaking mechanically at this point, almost reciting, his hand clenched even tighter with his wife’s. Dani didn’t move, didn’t speak, afraid to break the moment.

“So I’m the mule in this case, got the explosives to get into place, marked the best spots. Scoping out the windows, making sure nobody was watching. And then I see a little girl poking her head between the curtains on the third floor, just trying to get some sunlight before she was quickly pulled back.”

The horror slowly dawned upon her as she realized why he was reciting this almost like a confession. Dani knew this couldn’t end well.

“So I went back to camp. Told them. I refused the order. Explained the certainty of civilians inside. Brass didn’t care, they couldn’t let the war criminal get away. So I was relieved and the building came down anyways, even without me.”

Keith sighed heavily, seemingly weighed down by the memories. “And the _diyu_ (hell) of it was, they went back in to search the rubble, and yeah they found the ex-Browncoats. But no trace of the war criminal. He was never there.”

Dani just stared at her brother, unable to comprehend the pain he was feeling. _Wait, you do doncha? The responsibility fer so many deaths you tried to prevent, an’ failed?_ Was that what he was trying to convey?

“Keith…” she started.

“I was a Sergeant Major at this point. Pretty gorram high on the chain, and a hero to boot. They couldn’t court-martial me. But I was quietly ‘encouraged’ to leave military service, and advised not to seek further government employment. So I’ve been drifting along from one contractor after another, unable to secure the clearance to do anything with the knowledge I have. It’s enough sometimes to make me want to throw my hands up and become a merc.

“So yeah, you understand what I’m trying to say now, right? I get it. I understand you. And I understand what you did, what you’ve been through, even though I was mad as _diyu_ (hell) with you before, all during the war. I’m just so sorry I couldn’t find the courage to tell you all of this at some point in the past few years. I’m sorry, _jiejie_ (older sister).”

Dani just looked blankly at her brother as he stared crestfallen back at her. This was so unlike the cocky, arrogant youth she had left behind to attend the Academy. She looked down at her hands, taking a deep breath, and looked back up with a smile on her face.

“Alright. So, _didi,_  c’n we start over?”

Hope dawned across his face and Jess smiled brilliantly next to him. “Yeah,” he said. “We can do that. How much time do you have on-planet? Are you working something, or on vacation?”

“Well, ‘bout that, I gots a bit ofa story to tell, with a proposition at th’ end…”

* * *

Londinium. Docks.

Dani walked back into the yard in the twilight hour, the sun setting at her back. She was emotionally exhausted, but it had been such a good talk, getting things out into the open, and for the first time in awhile when she thought of her brother she felt a weight lift off of her back.

Though both Keith and Jess were happy for her venture, they were hesitant to join at the drop of a hat. Both had ties on Londinium, jobs and friends that they couldn’t just uproot and leave. She could understand that well, the only reason she’d been lucky enough to collect the crew she had was that all their ties were to each other. _And_ , she mused, _our ties are likely to get stronger together_.

But yes, she couldn’t be upset with their initial refusal. They’d pass through Londinium again and Dani promised to bring Rain and Cali along the next time. Keith and Jess expressed amazement at how big they’d gotten as well as their responsibilities on the ship.

Dani strode up the ramp and entered the combo to unlock the smaller door inset into the cargo ramp. Opening it, she saw her two daughters clustered around a crate in the bay, boxed in by heaps of scrap metal and whispering excitedly.

“What’re the two of y’all up to?” she inquired.

“Nothin’!” they chirped in unison.

“Riiiight…” she drawled. “Fine, know what? It’s late, I can’t bring myself to care none, so long as the ship still takes off in the mornin’, we’re good. I’m off to bed.”

Rain poked her head up. “ _Kaasan_? How did it go?”

“It went well, really well. Tell ya ‘bout it tomorrow. ‘Night, girls.”

“‘Night!” they chorused and went back to their plotting.

* * *

Londinium. _Fortune's Favour_ , prepping for launch.

“Okay people, let’s lock things up, we gots a schedule to keep,” Dani announced, walking from the machine shop towards the front of the bay and the stairs leading to the bridge.

“Hey, Capt’n?” Mike ventured, hand poised over the controls to shut the airlock. “Looks like ya gots company.”

With a light feeling in her heart she practically skipped past her mechanic and skidded to a stop. Standing at the bottom of the ramp, with bags at their feet, were Keith and Jess.

“So,” Keith smiled. “I hear you have some crew openings?”

“Ya know, I just might, An’ a nice large cabin saved fer the two of y’all.”

“Good thing,” Jess smirked back, Keith’s influence plain to see. “Because I have this sweet job lined up for us to pick up luxury items on Osiris and deliver to Persephone.”

Dani threw back her head and laughed. “Gettin’ started already, Cargomaster?”

“Oooh, is that what I am? Excellent. I am the Master. Remember that, buddy,” she punched Keith’s arm lightly.

“And what do you have me doing? “ Keith asked. “Loading boxes?”

“Nope,” she replied with a smile. “I’m thinkin’ First Mate. Oh, and security. Think you c’n keep our home safe?”

“ _Jiejie_ ,” he said, displaying the trademark Grant smirk, “nothing in the ‘Verse will get past me.”

“Alright, alright, enuff with the jibes, you gotta tell me what’s in the case,” Mike ordered as he shouldered past Dani. He pointed to a long black case at Keith’s feet.

“What, this? Just my HK G38 state-of-the-art modular assault rifle. Military version of the Callahan models.”

“That legal?” Dani asked. Seemed to be she had to ask that question quite a bit.

“For me, yeah. One of the strings I have left to pull, got me the paperwork and permits for this little baby. Sweetest gun you will ever fire.”

“Sweet Buddha, don’t get him started, we’ll be out here all day,” Jess rolled her eyes with a smile.

“Hey, ya had me at ‘assault rifle’,” Mike looked at the case appreciatively, as if he could see past the outer layer. “I think we’re gonna get along just fine.”

“Alright folks, inside we go. Mike, get ‘em settled fer me an’ I’ll go get us on our way ta Osiris.”

Dani was grinning like a loon as she entered the bridge and plopped into her chair. “I take it Uncle Keith an’ Aunt Jess joined us?”

She looked over at Rain, who was grinning back infectiously. “You bet, _baobei_ (treasured one). We gots a full crew now. Let’s get underway an’ see what the ‘Verse has to offer.”

“Aye, Capt’n.”

Dani picked the mike up, dialing up the yard. “Alexis Shipyard, this is Firefly transport _Fortune’s Favour_ , requesting clearance for departure.”

“Roger that _Favour_ , you are cleared and your exit vector has been sent. Good flying.”

“Thank you Alexis tower, hope to see you again soon.”

Rain gripped the controls tightly, preparing for liftoff, while Dani switched over to the inter-ship.

“Attention crew, we gots a full house an’ a full cargo bay. Prepare fer departure.”

Turning to her daughter, she gave a smile.

“Punch it.”


	6. Episode 05: Making A Name

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **TRIGGER WARNING** for mention of **RAPE**

En route to New Melbourne.

“Fish.”

“Say ‘gain?” Rain asked from the pilot’s seat.

“Fish. You asked what was cool ‘bout New Melbourne. That’s pretty much all there is ‘sides a shippin’ hub. Fish an’ fish-related activities,” Dani smiled at her daughter affectionately. “I know you wanna patch to add to yer collection, but just be forewarned, it’s likely gonna have a fish onnit.”

Rain looked down at her vest, nonplussed. “Mebbe I’ll put it on my back.”

Dani barked out a laugh and moved out of her seat. “You gots the controls?”

“Sure thing, Capt’n.”

Dani moved back to the galley where she followed the sounds of boisterous conversation. Jess was at her seat on the left of the table towards the head, entertaining some of the crew with a telling of a story from her days in Alliance Supply. Her hair today was caught up in an intricate swirl of a bun, held together with silver chopsticks. She admired the effect but knew there was no gorram way she could pull something like it off.

Keith sat across from his wife, smiling and chuckling along with Maribelle and Julie. The two boys were, for a change, not tearing across the breadth of the ship, instead quietly reading in the nook below the observation dome.

Catching Julie’s eye, she nodded over to the boys. “Yer doin’?”

The retired teacher smiled back. “Yep. Found some interestin’ stuff on the New Melbourne underwater adventures. They’re entranced.”

Dani laughed and shook her head at the older woman. “Hey, if’n they get it inta their heads to slip off ship an’ go divin’, I ain’t goin’ in after ‘em.”

Her chuckles broke off as three distinct torrents of Mandarin cussing issued from the back of the ship. Her eyebrows shot up as she turned to Maribelle.

“Don’t look at me,” she exclaimed. “That’s Cory alright, but I’ve never heard him so worked up before. Well,” she amended. “I think maybe the boys may have set him off like that a time or two.”

“I c’n only ‘magine,” Dani resumed her chuckling. She started to move towards the engine room, if nothing else to make sure any physical fighting was moved to the cargo bay and not around the precious engine when Cali bobbed into the galley, her panda hat askew and braided pigtails bouncing behind her angrily. _C’n hair really be angry?_ Dani mused whimsically.

“ _Ching-wah tsao duh liou mahng_ (frog-humping son of a bitch)...” she muttered, before looking up and noticing Dani standing before her. “Oh! Hi, _Kaasan_!”

“Um, peanut,” Dani started affectionately. “What’s gotten you so worked up? An’ why are th’ other two-thirds of my engineers still cussin’?”

“Oh! Well, lemme explain that…”

A good ten minutes later Dani’s eyes had started to glaze over. The rest of the crew had stopped their conversation and were just looking on in amusement at the diminutive teenage mechanic, flapping her arms about in outrage, occasionally pushing her panda hat back up on her head when it fell over her eyes. Dimly she realized that she no longer could hear Mike or Cory shouting, but that could just have been because time itself stopped.

“...An’ that’s when I said, ‘No, ain't nothin’ wrong with yer grav boot. Grav boot's just fine. Problem is, the reg couple's bad.’ An’ so I fixed it. An’ I was right!!!” she finished exultantly.

Realizing she had come to her conclusion finally, Dani noticed the others behind her applauding softly. Cali beamed at them, but Dani just shot them a dirty look that said, _not helping here_.

Turning back to her youngest daughter, who was now looking up at her Captain with an expression of innocence so pure Dani was surprised a halo didn’t spontaneously sprout from beneath the panda hat, Dani remarked, “So why’re yer Uncles Cory an’ Mike so bent outta shape?”

“Oh, that.” Cali looked down, abashed. “I kinda just made the fix, while the engine was still runnin’, and it coulda caused a bad blowback…” She looked back up excitedly. “But it didn’ none! Everythin’s shiny now!”

Dani looked down at her feet, but seeing no inspiration there looked around the room instead. The members of her crew were looking anywhere but at her. _Yeah, I really need ta start workin’ on the captainy-respect thing_. “Okay, peanut. We’re gonna walk back to th’ engine room, yer gonna ‘pologize to yer uncles, an’ then we’re all gonna have a talk ‘bout safety in th’ engine room so’s we don’ all blow up. Sound good?”

“Sure thing, Capt’n _Kaasan_ , ma'am!”

* * *

On approach to New Melbourne.

“Time to get a landin’ pattern, it gets pretty busy ‘round here,” Dani remarked, entering the bridge.

Rain looked up from her console. “Remind me ‘gain, what’re we carryin’ this trip?”

“Nets.”

“Nets?”

“Yep. Nets. Fer fish. ‘Cause that’s all there is on New Melbourne.”

“Honestly _Kaasan_ , I think it’s unhealthy to hold in so much aggravation. Tell me how ya really feel ‘bout New Melbourne.”

Dani snorted in amusement and reached for her mike.

“New Melbourne approach, this is Firefly transport _Fortune’s Favour_ , requesting clearance to land at the central terminal.”

After a pause, the reply came, “Standby, Firefly transport.”

Dani rolled her eyes and adjusted the flight path to enter a high orbit. “Like I said, gets pretty crowded. Might be here awhile.”

“So,” Rain commented into the silence. “What’re we pickin’ up here?”

“That’s an excellent question, an’ one I’ve been meanin’ ta pose with’r Cargomaster.”

“Well, ask away,” Jess replied brightly as she entered the bridge, Keith on her heels. “What did you need to know?”

“Cargo,” Dani answered, “an’ the dispensation of such into our hold. Gots anythin’ lined up?”

“Of course! Have I let you down in the past month?”

Dani laughed, “No, course not. So what do we gots?”

“Fish!” Jess proclaimed.

With a groan, Dani slumped against her console dejectedly as a peal of laughter issued from Rain’s lips.

“Firefly transport, this is New Melbourne central tower. Permission to land granted, please follow the beacon down. “

“Do we hafta?” Dani muttered.

* * *

New Melbourne. Landing field.

Dani stood by the ramp of the _Favour_ , watching the crates of freeze-dried fish roll on inside, pushed by workers who smelled, quite frankly, of fish. _Hmm, I wonder if’n I get one of ‘em to walk ‘round shuttle number two, th’ odors might cancel each other out…_

Her fanciful musings were interrupted by Jess striding up, a foreman at her side. She finished signing the papers and looked up. “Captain, do you want to look things over?”

Dani smiled at the consideration. “No worries Jess, I trust ya. I’m just gonna check on the bridge an’ make sure we’re ready to lift off in our allotted slot.”

Heading up to the bridge, she passed Mike who was trailing a fishing line with several large specimens of aquatic creatures. “Mike,” she stopped him. “Where on earth were ya fishin’ from?”

“Oh, just got back with the boys onna fishin’ trip. Took shuttle number one. The boys loved the bumpy ride. Wanted ta get somethin’ fresh fer Cory to use tonight.”

“Oh, okay. Good deal.” Dani moved on past, thoughts buzzing through her head. _So does shuttle one now smell of fish? Am I gonna hafta eat fish tonight? When did he leave? How did I not notice a shuttle was missin’? Should I be annoyed that he left without askin’?_ The answer to the latter was a definite _no_ , she decided quickly. She trusted her family and crew, she was not their den mother, so long as everyone was on board when they were ready to fly, no harm. _Should start a checkout an’ checkin system, though, would suck to leave someone behind on a planet_ …

She was so busy with her thoughts she didn’t notice the light blinking from the Cortex link on the bridge at first. When she did, she quickly reached over to log on. _Hmm, a call fer me, from… George Summers? Where do I know that name from…_

Her questions were answered immediately when she connected and saw the raven-haired aristocratic face looking back. “Hawk?”

“Hey there, Angel, was hoping you’d remember me,” he answered.

“Honestly, I’d fergotten yer real name. An’ please, just call me Dani.”

“Good enough, Dani. Listen, my wife Miriam and I are in a bit of a jam, one that requires a captain with her own ship and can appreciate the value of discretion. I heard from Tom that you might fit the description. Can you come to Ariel?”

“Oh, um, lemme check…” The cargo manifest had their freeze-dried fishy cargo heading to Londinium. “Sure, we’re headin’ Core-ward. We c’n be there in ‘bout a week.”

George sighed. “Okay, the delay can’t be helped. Please, make as much haste as you can. I’ll send you the address. And… again, I cannot stress this enough, discretion is key.”

“No worries, George. I’ll shave as much time off it as I can,” she promised. Saying their goodbyes, she logged off, and then sat back bemusedly.

“If I was a suspicious type, which I am,” a deep voice rumbled from behind her, “I’d be concerned about a set-up.”

Dani quirked the corner of her mouth. “Stop lurkin’, Keith. It’s creepifyin’.”

“That even a word?” he inquired as he moved fully onto the bridge and sat in Rain’s chair.

“‘Course it is. I said it didn’ I? And yeah, it seems a lil’ fishy. More so’n our cargo. Wanna come along with?”

Keith gave a dark smirk. “Would’nt miss it for the ‘Verse.”

* * *

Ariel. One week later. (Thereabouts.)

Dani and Keith strolled down the street together. Though neither the career spacer nor the former spec force trooper looked to be visibly armed, most people gave them a wide berth.

“Stop that,” Dani chided. “Yer scarin’ the locals.”

“What?” he rumbled innocently. “I’m just walking here.”

“Yeah, walkin’ like yer on yer way to a beat-down. Ease up, _didi_ (little brother). ‘Sides, we’re here.”

They stopped and looked up at the imposing mansion. Dani looked at the address, checked it against what George had sent, and checked it again. “Yep. This’s the place.”

“Huh,” Keith remarked. “Didn’t tell me your war buddy was loaded.”

“Didn’t know none.”

“Huh,” he repeated. The siblings looked at each other and then strolled together up the walk.

Dani reached up and rang the doorbell. It was answered by ( _You have got to be kiddin’ me_ ) an honest-to-God butler. “Yes?”

It was amazing how much condescension could be fit into one syllable, Dani mused. _Guess it’s a Core ability I never picked up on_.

“Yes, Capt’n Danielle Grant, here to see George Summers. This’s my first mate, Keith Grant.”

“Hmmm… yes. You and your husband may follow me.”

“Brother,” Keith grunted irritably. Dani had no comment as she was busy trying to contain her laughter at the whole spectacle.

The pompous butler led them to the study where George was seated at his desk, a woman seated on a sofa to the side of the room. Dani noticed George was outfitted with Core finery but he seemed to wear it a bit uncomfortably. The woman, his wife Miriam she presumed, wore her finery like a station in life. She was elegant and refined, enough to give Jess a run for her money. But Dani immediately picked up on the fact that, though she was trying to conceal it, Miriam was deeply worried and had been crying recently. _Interestin’_ …

George stood as the butler announced “Mr. and Mrs. Grant,” much to Keith’s annoyance. He shouldered his way past and the unperturbed butler closed the door behind him.

Dani received the hug George proffered, recognizing the tenseness in his shoulders but not commenting on it. Glancing at her brother, she had a feeling he had picked up on it too.

“George,” Dani began as they sat on a sofa, facing George as he moved next to his wife. “This’s my brother an’ first mate, Keith.”

“A pleasure, a pleasure. And this is my wife, Miriam.”

The two hosts looked at each other uncertainly, as if unsure where to begin. Not wanting to sit through the usual pleasantries she remembered from growing up on Bernadette, Dani spoke up first. “George. You said ya wanted ta see me?”

His head whipped about, almost startled. “Yes, yes, Dani, thank you for coming… We have a bit of a situation that we hope you can handle…” He hemmed a little more.

With a sigh, Miriam spoke up for the first time. “What George is having trouble coming out and saying is that our daughter Arrietty is missing.”

Dani’s eyes widened slightly. She wasn’t expecting the conversation to go in that direction.

“We believe she was, in fact, kidnapped,” Miriam continued. “As you might have realized, George was not born into this station, whereas I was. I met him shortly after the war ended, and, quite simply, we fell in love. “ She looked at George with a wan smile, and he returned it lovingly. “My parents wanted a suitor appropriate to our station, so we… faked a few things so that he seemed to be from a higher place in society.”

She looked back at the siblings. “We haven’t heard anything yet, but there’s a distinct possibility this is the work of someone from my past who wants to make trouble for us. Arrietty is eighteen, old enough to want to experience life, and she signed up for missionary work on Three Hills in the Georgia system. But,” she paused, “she never arrived.”

“Okay,” Dani interrupted gently. “Have you considered other possibilities? That she left voluntarily, or that this’s a case other than a personally-directed vendetta kidnappin’?”

Miriam grimaced slightly. “Yes, we considered the first. But we could confirm that the ship never arrived. The mission had several other teenagers on that ship, and they all went missing as well. As for the latter point…” she trailed off tearfully. “I’d rather assume it was a rational being I could deal with, than the alternative.

Dani glanced at her brother who had been silent up to this point. He nodded slightly, indicating his acceptance of the facts and the job. “Alright, Miriam, George. We’ll do what we c’n, but I ain’t makin’ any promises. C’n you send the details of the ship, it’s departure an’ projected arrival, an’ any other information you c’n think of?”

“Certainly, certainly,” George responded with a warm smile. “And I have a line of credit set up for you. Please, feel free to draw from it for fuel, any other expenses you need. It should be good up to twenty thousand credits. Keep your receipts, please.” He ended in a small voice.

Dani’s eyes bulged slightly at the amount of credit being extended. She hadn’t discussed payment yet and now was almost afraid to do so. Keith came to her rescue, though.

“We’d like to discuss payment terms if you please,” he rumbled politely but firmly. “Agreement for payment of any fees associated with the search, repairs incurred during such activities and situations that would allow for partial payment.”

“Yes, yes, of course. We understand. Here, let me draw something up…”

Walking back to their ship, Dani broke the silence first. “So.”

“Yeah.”

“Sucks.”

“Yeah.”

“Ya picked up some negotiatin’ skills from yer wife?”

“That I did.”

“Hmm. Okay. Good talk.”

They shared identical smirks and made their way back to the ship.

* * *

Shipping lane between Ariel and Three Hills.

“Not sure what we’re lookin’ fer,” Rain complained quietly.

“Well, I know it’s a lil’ bit of a needle inna haystack, ‘specially with a well-travelled shippin’ lane, but the fact of the matter is there ain’t been anyone on this route since the _Lazarus_ went missin’. It’s only been a month, an’ not many fly all the way here from the core.”

Dani looked up from her screen and continued. “Yeah, the ship might’ve been taken whole, but if’n that ain’t the case there may be some clues left behind.”

Rain gave a very Keith-like grunt and returned to her own scanners. “You think this was a kidnappin’?”

Dani sighed quietly. “No, but I’m hopin’ it’s just pirates. Lil’ too far out from usual Reaver activity. So, pirates.”

Rain looked up sharply. “Reavers? Seriously?”

Dani gave another sigh. “Sweetie, when one spacer tells a tale, you ‘an pass it off as legend an’ starin’ at the Black fer too long. When a whole mess of ‘em confess to the same thing with the same amount of detail… you start to think mebbe there’s somethin’ to it.” She glanced up at Rain again. “I don’ know what to think fer sure. But I ain’t willin’ to discard the possibility.”

She looked back at her screen again and after a moment Rain did the same to her scanner, muttering darkly in Mandarin.

* * *

Just outside of Three Hills.

“Got somethin’!” Cali called out maybe an hour later. She and Jess had just come up to give Rain and Dani a break maybe a quarter of an hour ago. Dani rushed to her side from where she was resting at the navigator’s station.

Peering over her shoulder, Dani noted the bearing and composition and edged her aside to make a slight course correction. “You do indeed peanut, well done. Let’s see if’n we caught anythin’.”

“Fishing metaphors, Captain?” Jess teased.

“Oh, _bi zui_ (shut up).”

* * *

Same little spot in the Black. Some time later.

The crew of the _Fortune’s Favour_ , minus Julie and the boys, were gathered around the debris in the cargo hold collected by Cory and Keith in spacesuits. They were each poking through what they could find.

“So,” Dani summed up. “The _Lazarus_ was mostly intact. We know somethin’ latched on an’ tore its way free in a very messy-like manner, which caused the Lazarus to experience a hull breach. An’ th’ only bodies ya found were crew?”

Keith grunted in affirmation. “No passengers. It was sloppy but effective. No gunfire I could see, but the ship itself was unarmed.”

“Engines.”

The crew looked up at Cory’s quiet word. He seemed startled that he had even spoken but continued. “It was bugging me, the state of the engines. But I think I get it now - the other ship used an EMP on the engines, shorting them out.”

“Okay then,” Dani said just as quietly. “Pirates.”

“And,” Keith picked up the narrative again, “I think I know where they’re from. I need to do a little research to be sure, but I can see enough in this debris to tell what’s from the pirate ship, like this piece here.” He held up what seemed to be an outer airlock hatch lever.

Dani took it from him and turned it over in her hands. “ _Tai-kong suo-yo duh shing-chiou sai-jin wuh duh pee-goo_ (shove all the planets in the universe up my ass),” she exclaimed quietly. “It’s from a Trans-U. Ruttin’ ancient things but discreet. Good cover fer a pirate, unarmed but it c’n come with a magnetic grapple. Could that be rigged as an EMP charge as well?”

Cory nodded in agreement. “Sure, it’d be easy enough.”

“Right.” Dani dropped the piece of debris and stood up, dusting off her pants. “Keith, go do yer research. In case you’re right, what course should we be settin’?”

Keith gave a smirk. “Jiangyin.”

Dani just stared at him. “ _Gao yang jong duh goo yang_ (motherless goats of all motherless goats),” she exclaimed in disbelief. She looked at Mike who was just as stunned. They watched Keith move up the stairs and followed.

* * *

Jiangyin. Night.

Dani crouched on the hilltop alongside Keith, Mike, and Jess. Mike was setting up his scoped rifle, tweaking a few dials before he grunted and started peering through to the compound below them about a mile away. Keith, for his part, was checking his gear, both the wicked-looking assault rifle slung across his arm as well as the Ares Crusader select-fire machine pistol on his hip. It was the big brother to Dani’s sidearm and she had given it an appreciative look while on the shuttle ride over.

“You can’t have it,” Keith said quietly while patting the sidearm in its holster.

Dani gave a snort. “What, arya Rain now? How d’ya know what I’m thinkin’?”

Keith just graced her with a look, as if to say _Really?_ and then went back to his obsessive gear-checking, this time moving on to his wife.

Dani just snorted again quietly and made sure her own Ares was snug in its holster but ready for drawing if she needed it. In her arms was her favorite shotgun, a SPAS 22 with a collapsable stock, now extended. It normally resided in an alcove next to the cargo bay airlock.

“Why do you even need a shotgun by the door?” Jess inquired, looking at Dani over Keith’s head as he bent to check her harness.

“Fer uninvited guests,” she replied snarkily.

“Get that many?” Jess grinned.

“No repeat offenders, that’s fer sure,” Dani replied to the quiet laughter of the others.

Dani leaned back and absorbed the moment. They were about to go into danger, yes, but they were all professionals of a sort. Jess, while not exactly combat-trained, was possibly the most athletic woman Dani had ever laid eyes on and could sprint faster than it would take to track her with a rifle. She also had a husband who took their marriage vows very seriously and made sure she was equipped to handle anything that came their way. Dani had no worries on that front, Jess handled her Beretta 101-T light semi-auto pistol, an anniversary gift from her husband, with efficiency and ease.

She also felt comfortable with Mike on overwatch. She knew what an excellent hunter he was, and though she was slightly worried about his rate of fire with an old bolt-action, she knew if he needed to fire that rapidly the _gou se_ (crap) had really hit the fan.

As for Keith, to be honest, she was slightly intimidated by his demeanor. Under the calm exterior was a ruthlessly efficient killing machine, government-trained, who could likely kill the other three of the group with one hand behind his back. Blindfolded. Hopping on one leg. Possibly even giving them a running head start. _Okay, mebbe not Jess, that girl was freaky-fast_.

Moving up to the summit of the hill to join Mike, Keith quietly conversed with him, likely going through some possible scenarios, exit points, and the like. Dani adjusted the earpiece of the communicator that Keith was nice enough to equip her with. She activated her mike and spoke quietly into it.

“Mama Bear to nest, how do things look?”

“Honestly, if’n yer Mama Bear we should be a cave or somethin’. A nest just don’t work.”

Dani growled quietly, which must have come through because Rain responded quickly and without the snark this time. “All clear on the scans. No activity here or yer location. Um, over.”

She laughed quietly to herself. _Mebbe I should try growlin’ more often_. Looking up, she saw Keith give the signal, and the three crew from the Favour moved silently down the hill.

Between their approach and the compound was a very large tarp, stretching over an area larger than their own ship. From the scans earlier Dani knew it was a Trans-U, half-buried in a pit and below the camouflaging tarp. She still couldn’t comprehend how these _huh choo-shung tza-jiao duh tzang-huo_ (filthy fornicators of livestock) managed to stay hidden right under the noses of a populated Border planet. And her home turf, to boot.

The three shadows skirted around the partially submerged ship and approached the squat compound. They knew from earlier scouting that there were one main entrance and one back one. The latter was their target.

Keith held up his hand, three fingers raised, as they crouched by the door. He counted down, and with his fist closed, he knocked. Violently. With his boot.

A startled guard fell off the chair he was sleeping on but was quickly dispatched by Keith’s boot knife. The three moved quickly inside to where they hoped the offices would be.

They didn’t get far before they startled another guard who managed to get his gun up. He never got the chance to fire it as he slumped to the floor, a neat red circle right between his eyes.

Keith holstered his pistol and shouldered his rifle. “That’s done it, everyone will have heard that. Let’s move.”

The compound started showing signs of life as the residents stirred to the fact that there might be intruders. It was a measure of their complacency and cockiness that the response was slow and unorganized. Three more pirates were killed before Jess gave a shout and moved to a door down a side corridor.

“This should be it, cover me!”

Keith stayed out in the hallway while Dani swept the room. Finding it without occupants she stood over Jess as she worked on the terminal.

“Ha, they not only left the thing on, they left themselves logged in. Sloppy, sloppy, boys…” Jess giggled under her breath as she skimmed through the files. “No, no, wait… yes. Yes! Got it. Downloading… Okay, let’s go! Exit exit exit!”

Keith’s rifle barked in the doorway. “Right, moving out,” he said calmly.

They walked single file, Keith leading followed by Jess and then Dani watching their rear.

Until they rounded a corner into a group of pirates, armed to the teeth. It was difficult to tell which group was more surprised, but Keith reacted faster, opening fire and pushing the others back around the corner.

“We need to go back! Get to the next corner Dani, make sure it’s clear!”

Dani ran ten meters back to the previous corner and peeked around. Just as quickly she pulled her head back as a shot whizzed by her head. “Nope! Gimme a sec!”

“What? Dani, find another route!” Keith barked.

Dani held up her finger as she waited for a pause in the suppressive fire coming from behind. Then she spun out suddenly and fired three times, very quickly.

“Okay, we’re good, let’s go!” She proceeded to run down the corridor to the next junction. Jess and Keith followed but paused at the three corpses, each with an eye shot out.

“Well, _cao_ (fuck). When did you learn to shoot like that, _jiejie_ (older sister)?” Keith exclaimed.

Dani’s only answer was to smirk over her shoulder as she ran towards the back door. She paused briefly, and whispered into her communicator, “Mike, you covering? We’re ‘bout to exit.”

“One sec,” came back, then a single sharp retort. “Clear,” was the laconic reply.

The three crew spilled into the night, gathered up Mike, and headed for the shuttle, with the pirates still trying to figure out what the heck happened.

* * *

Jiangyin. _Fortune’s Favour_.

Most of the crew were gathered around the _Favour_ ’s galley table. All the returned ground team were gratefully drinking coffee except for Dani who was handed a cup of tea by Maribelle. “Thanks, sweetie,” she said gratefully.

“So,” Dani continued, “from tonight’s activities, I’m guessin’ that the kidnapped victims weren’t in the compound? That was the signal ya gave, right Jess?”

“Right,” she nodded firmly. “Records state the entire, er, ‘loot’ from the _Lazarus_ was sold to a buyer on Hera.”

“Really, Hera? Well, alright then, I’ll go fire things up. Cory, start up the sequence, please. Oh, an’ Julie?” Her sister-in-law looked up expectantly. “Make sure ya thank yer parents fer the use of their land. T’was awfully convenient on this side of the planet, bypassin’ official-like channels.”

“Will do,” she replied easily.

Dani headed up to the bridge, a sense of urgency fueling her actions, but she couldn’t avoid thinking about the night’s activities. She sat at her station and, after a moment's pause, brought up her list of music from Beth’s collection. Scrolling through, she selected a likely candidate, and soon the obscure vocals were drifting through the speakers.

 _Whatever comes, comes tomorrow_  
_I wanna jump, don’t care where I land_  
_No one can stop me, here I go_  
_Damned if I do_  
_Damned if I don’t_  
_I’m gonna do whatever I want_

As she was humming along, waiting for the green light to lift, she heard Keith’s gravelly baritone from behind her. “So, you think you’re any more damned than I am?”

“Nah,” she spun around easily. “Just been awhile, that’s all.”

Keith quirked an eyebrow. “Really? And where exactly was it you learned to shoot like that? Flight school?”

Dani just grinned back at him. “There’s flight school, an’ then there’s Flight School.”

Seeing the green lights out of the corner of her eye, she spun back around and started the thrusters up.

Keith gave a grunt, recognizing that the conversation was over for now. Both siblings were cognizant of the fact that it wasn’t over for good.

* * *

On approach to Hera.

“Alright people,” Dani spoke over the mike. “‘Member, we’re not here to cause trouble yet. Let’s play it nice an’ cool an’ subtle-like. We’ll make it dirty if’n we need ta, but hopefully, it won’t get ta that point. Maribelle, prep the infirmary. Cali an’ Cory, y’all gots th’ engine room, Mike th’ airlock. Everyone else keep to the galley fer now. Landin’ in three.”

She dropped the mike back into the holder and looked over to Rain. “You sure yer okay landin’?”

“No problem,” she returned confidently. “I gots this, been practicin’, an’ ‘sides, it’s a nice open field.”

“Okay,” Dani smiled and gave her a pat. She then moved down to the bay where Keith and Jess had brought the Mule down from the suspension brackets and were prepping it to move out as soon as the _Favour_ touched down and the doors opened.

Mike spoke up from his station by the door, “Sure you don’ want me along none?”

“Nah,” Dani smiled in response. “You just keep the homestead safe fer our return. We gots this.”

Mike grunted in acknowledgment and then again as the thud reverberated throughout the ship, indicating a landing. He quickly got the doors open and the Mule sailed out into the morning light, Keith driving, Jess in the back and Dani taking shotgun, literally.

* * *

Hera. Unnamed farmstead.

The Mule cruised up to the gates of the farm at the coordinates indicated and they went on through without pausing. As they pulled up to the front of the large manor in the center of the fenced-in area, several ranch hands walked out onto the porch.

“Y’all gots business here, else you best be on yer way,” said the largest of the hands. The others turned to each other and snickered.

Dani raised her eyebrow at Keith. “Subtle approach?”

Keith looked over at the hulking man who stared back with a leer. “Pretty womenfolk with ya, boy, think mebbe you don’ deserve ‘em. Mebbe I’ll make a sweet lil’ playthin’ outta one.” The rest of the hands outright laughed nastily.

Keith slowly swiveled his head back Dani. “I’m thinking… not so much.” He then climbed out of the Mule, mounting the steps up to where the big brute waiting, his hands clenching and unclenching. Dani and Jess settled in to enjoy the show.

To say the large fellow was outmatched was, well, a gross under-representation of the facts. Perhaps on the level of calling the core of a sun a little warmish.

Keith grinned up at the man as he mounted the last step. The ranch hand was taken back a bit and opened his mouth, perhaps to offer another jibe, but he never got the chance. With a series of jabs and punches, Keith had the man lying on the ground with blood streaming from his nose and his right arm at an unnatural angle. He likely would have been screaming obscenities had his jaw not been broken, as it was he was just squealing in incoherent pain.

With his trademark Grant smirk, Keith looked up at the others. “Next?” he asked calmly.

It is perhaps understandable the haste at which the rest of the ranch hands evacuated the porch, some vaulting over the rail to escape behind the manor, some through the door, and one poor panicked soul through the window. Keith glanced back at the women still in the Mule and said, his voice still eerily calm, “Be right back,” as he strolled into the manor.

“No worries, we’ll just keep watch out here,” Dani replied airily and then shared a giggle with her sister-in-law. She leaned back with her feet propped up on the dash, resting her shotgun lazily across her stomach.

Wasn’t too long before Keith returned, dragging a babbling mouse of a man behind him. “Found the owner,” he grunted as he was unceremoniously tossed off the porch and onto his backside. Dani put her feet down and hopped to the ground alongside Jess.

“Well now,” Dani drawled out. “So this’s the big bad slave owner.”

The mousy little man got even more panicked if it were possible. “N-n-n-nnoooo,” he practically wailed. “In-indentured only! I-I-I only take…” he sputtered off as Dani got down on her haunches and glared at him, not saying a word.

“O-okay,” he stammered. “M-m-maybe some of ‘em, they- they might not have been on the up-and-up, but it was all in g-g-good faith, I swear it!”

Dani just rolled her eyes and Jess gave a sigh of exasperation. “We’re wasting time here,” she said as she examined her manicured nails. “If he can’t tell us where they are, just kill him and we’ll look around ourselves.” Dani raised an eyebrow at the nonchalance at which Jess spoke, but Keith, still behind the squirming man, just grinned in amusement.

“No no no, I’ll help! See, I’m very helpful! I’ll show you where that batch went! Honest!” He leapt up and started to scurry to the large barn next to the manor house.

“Not so fast,” Keith grunted as he snagged him by the collar. “Let’s stay nice and close, eh?” The three crewmembers let the man proceed them into the barn, where they were greeted by… nothing.

Keith’s grip tightened on the man’s neck. “Johnny-boy, you best not be wasting our time here, or leading us into a trap.”

“No!” Johnny squealed. “It’s right over here!”

He moved over to a pole, moved aside a panel, and pressed a button. In one of the empty stalls, the floor began to rise, revealing a lift underneath.

“Okay then. No tricks, right?” Dani peered into the lift.

“No! None!”

The three climbed aboard and hit the button to go down. When they reached the bottom, at least two stories underground, they were met by a few more of the ranch hands from up top, as well as a couple of more merc-looking grunts. Keith didn’t give any of them a chance to react, just pointed the business end of his rifle in their mid-sections. They quickly got the hint and dropped their weapons. He then herded the lot ahead of him into the noise and gloom of a moderately-sized sweatshop. Some women and men were seen as well as a goodly number of children. Walking between the rows was a gaunt-faced, pale man.

“Johnny!” he barked. “What’s the meaning of this intrusion?”

“Um, visitors, Mr. Barklay, sir!”

The man, Barklay, took in the scene in front of him and puffed his chest out indignantly. “You have no right to be here. What, you got someone working for me that you don’t think should be? These are all indentured servants. They are paying off their debt to me.”

Dani, however, had been scanning the faces and finally settled on a pale girl four rows up. “Ceptin’ mebbe fer that one, eh?” she smirked, pointing. The girl’s face lit up with hope.

“What?” Barklay sputtered. “No, you have no reason to-”

“Arrietty?” Dani cut him off. The pale girl nodded and stood up hesitantly. Dani walked over to her and pulled her out of the row of sewing machines. “Who else from yer ship’re here?”

Arrietty pointed a trembling finger at the two girls next to her. “Ana, and Debbie.”

“Right, you three, with us.” Dani started back down the aisle, girls in tow.

She was almost up to Barklay when another small face turned up to look at her. Dani saw the face behind the mass of brown curls and stopped in shock.

“Sara?”

* * *

Jiangyin. Two years pre-War.

Dani looked across the room at the three girls playing games on the Cortex unit. She smiled at the sounds of their laughter. Turning to the woman across the table she replied to her earlier question.

“Yes, I know you gots to follow ‘im. Or leastways you think you do. But you know he’s always been like this. He ain’t never satisfied, drifting from one job to the next, one con to the next. An’ now he wants y’all to move off-planet? To Shadow?”

Beth reached over, and Dani grasped her wife’s hand, sighing. “I know, I know, it’s a lost cause.”

The woman across didn’t answer, just looked down at the table morosely. Dani turned back to look at the children. The girl in the middle was in between both of her girls in age, but they were all fast friends and had been since birth.

“We’re all gonna miss Sara very much.”

* * *

Hera. Unnamed farmstead. Today.

Dani shook herself from her recollection. It was undeniably her and it was confirmed by the girl’s trembling “Miss Dani?”

She would sort out the hows, the whys, and everything else later. Right now she had a course of action. Not taking her eyes off of Sara, she proclaimed, “This one comes too.”

Barklay sputtered even more, “No! I forbid this, you can’t just walk in here-”

Whatever he was about to say was cut off as Dani’s arm whipped out, pistol in hand, to point unerringly at his right eye. She never took her eyes off of the girl in front of her.

“Come along now, okay sweetie? “ she quietly prodded.

Sara nodded her head and moved in line with the other three girls. Dani finally looked at Barklay, and what he saw made him take a step back.

“Don’t you ever, ever think of comin’ after any of these girls again. _Dong ma_ (understand)?”

Barklay just nodded nervously. Keith spoke up from the room’s entrance, “I think we need to get moving people. More reinforcements moving in, we’re about to go from not-subtle to downright bloody.”

Dani and Jess hustled the girls between them, up the lift and onto the Mule. Keith tore out of the property, Jess by his side with Arrietty, Dani in the back with the other girls. She held Sara’s hand tightly, still not believing what happened.

As they crossed the gate, Dani turned to Sara and held her cheek with her other hand. “Sara, sweetie… I know it’s a lot to take in right now… but what happened? You were on Shadow, ain’t nothin’ survived that bombardment durin’ the war…”

Sara looked up with tears in her eyes. “Almost nothin’,” she said quietly. Dani just held her for the rest of the ride.

* * *

En route to Ariel.

As soon as they were aboard the ship, Dani had Rain leave atmo and then replaced her on the bridge so she might join Cali in welcoming their friend back from the dead.

Sitting in her chair on the bridge, after having just Waved an ecstatic George, Dani reflected on the pain she felt when she heard of Shadow’s bombardment. While she didn’t feel any special loss as to the rest of Sara’s family, she clearly remembered the sweet little girl that was as much her own daughter as Rain and Cali were.

Footsteps behind her woke her from her reverie. She turned to see Keith enter the bridge, cross over and plop himself in Rain’s chair.

“Got your course set?” he inquired. Dani nodded in reply.

“I’ll keep watch. Go talk to her.”

Dani smiled her thanks and as she started to leave he asked over his shoulder, “She special to you?”

“Yeah,” she replied, turning back briefly. “Like family.”

Dani walked back towards the galley where all four rescued girls were wrapped in warm blankets, given hot tea, and generally fussed over by Maribelle and Julie like mother hens. Jess watched it all with amusement by the kitchen, keeping the pot warm and bringing over refills when asked.

Cali and Rain were ensconced on either side of Sara as if their presence there would keep her from leaving again. Dani poured herself a cup, winking at Jess, and wandered over to the table to sit across from Sara.

“So, sweetie,” she began hesitantly. “What happened to ya?”

Sara stared down at her tea. The rest of the galley fell silent in anticipation.

“Okay.” She said finally, her voice a pale whisper of her usual bubbly voice that could rival Cali’s. “I guess I’ll start at the beginnin’.”

She sat up a little straighter and looked Dani in the eye. She was startled to see something move behind her eyes, something dark, as Sara started to recollect the past.

“So we moved to Shadow,” she began. “We lived there a few years ‘fore the war started. Everyone was so fired up fer Independence, but my dad, well you know ‘im, didn’ see any profit none innit. Kept hisself out an’ so did my big brother, though in his case it was just laziness.” As the memories flowed, Sara looked back down at her cup.

“One night, don’ rightly recall when exactly, I woke up under a pile of rubble. I could hear the screamin’ from my neighbors next door, but I couldn’t move none. Then more bombs started droppin’, I s’pose, an’ I blacked out. Woke up the next mornin’ to sunlight filterin’ in through the cracks in what’d been my roof.

“Took me three days to dig myself out. ‘Nother two days to find my family an’ give ‘em a decent burial.”

Dani tried to keep her face impassive but neither Rain nor Cali even bothered. They just held on to Sara, tears streaming down their faces quietly.

“So I dunno how long I survived on there. I know the water was bad, but there weren’t nothin’ else to drink. And yeah,” she looked up at Dani again. “Pretty sure that’s why I stopped growin’. Came in handy later. But I’ll get to that.”

The more she talked, the stronger she seemed to become, confidence filling her voice as she recalled the story of her survival. Dani glanced around and noted that except for Keith and the boys, who must have been put to bed already, the rest of the crew was in attendance, listening silently and respectfully.

Sara cleared her throat gently and Dani looked back at her as she began again.

“I was raped five times. By the second I learned to keep a shiv on me, an’ they didn’ live long after their guard was down. After the fifth th’ other survivors left me alone, I weren’t worth the risk.” Dani heard several soft gasps at her calm announcement but she wouldn’t look away from Sara. She knew this was taking a toll on her to admit but let her draw strength from her own gaze, unwavering and not judgmental.

Sara smiled slightly in gratitude and acknowledgment. “Sometime after U-Day, an Alliance survey ship touched down. They were amazed by the fact that any survivors existed but weren’t prepared to help any. I stowed away on the ship an’ got off on Persephone.”

She paused to take a sip of tea. “Got into some gangs there. Weren’t any easy livin’ but at least I had food an’ water. Learned how ta take care of myself on the street. How ta disappear, become invisible. My size was useful. I could fit where most of the bigger boys couldn’t, squeezin’ through. Made a pretty good burglar,” she mentioned with a little bit of pride.

And then she sighed again, looking back down. “An’ then I robbed the wrong house, got caught by the Tong. In a way that was better, ‘cause they recognized my skills an’ supported me better’n the gangs did. But then there was also the fights ‘tween Tongs. Won’t get into the details any,” she murmured distractedly, “but it was a busy time, tryin’ ta stay alive.”

She finished her tea in one long gulp, set it down, and looked Dani in the eye again. She could see the steel in her backbone that had been missing from when she found her in the sweatshop. Dani wondered what they must have done to try and beat that steel out of her to make her more compliant.

“So, that lasted as long as my Tong sponsors did, which was mebbe a year, mebbe more. They collapsed, I gots captured, an’ then sent ta Hera to pay off one of the Tong bosses’ debt.

“An’ then you found me,” she finished, looking up at Dani expectantly.

Dani hesitated, not wanting to say the wrong thing. What would this poor, broken yet unbowed girl expect from her? Could she get away with sympathy, without it seeming to be disparaging? _Just follow your heart_ , her inner voice said, still sounding a lot like Beth.

 _Okay then_.

Dani rose from the table and every eye in the room followed her movements. She reached across the table for Sara’s hand, who offered it hesitantly.

“Well then,” she said with a smirk, “gorram good thing I gots an extra crew bunk, right?”

Sara’s eyes widened, clearly not expecting that response. Dani just chuckled and released her hand, moving towards her bunk. “Rain, Cali, get our newest crew member settled in. Rain, you gots next watch from yer Uncle Keith. Julie,” she said, turning one last time at the doorway, “you gots the three we rescued?”

Julie just nodded silently, her eyes brimming with tears.

“All right then people, we’re on our way to Ariel to drop off our lost lil’ girls an’ collect our payment. Jess, find us a cargo please.”

She nodded to herself, not waiting for any further response, and walked firmly to her cabin, dropping down and closing the hatch behind her.

Then she collapsed on her bed and cried her heart out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The idea for this overall episode came from an adventure I created for the Firefly Board Game. It adapted well.
> 
> And now we have a full crew.


	7. Intermission I

Hi there! Thank you all so much for reading my tale so far. I have a very long roadmap planned out, many many stories to tell. But before I get too much further, since we now have the full crew assembled, I wanted to pause a sec and talk to you. Grab a nice cup of hot tea, Julie has a pot sitting on the stove in the galley. We’ll wait for you.

Okay? So, as you might have noticed, many of the characters in this tale are based on people in real life that I know, some more loosely than others. In fact, all the crew members are members of my family, names changed to protect the not-so-innocent. Makes it easy to flesh them out as I have a varied and interesting family. Some of the characters write themselves, like my daughters who I based Rain and Cali on. No, life is never dull in my household.

The writing is therapeutic in some ways, as I can finally tell the tale of how I lost my wife to cancer three years ago. I don’t have any military experience myself, but I read a lot, and most of my family have been military. So I have a lot of background to work with.

I am a huge Firefly fan (All Hail Our Lord And Saviour Joss), and I voraciously consume what Firefly fics I come across. Haven’t seen too many OC stories, though, so I hope this will fill a niche. By the timeline, you should notice that this takes place pre-BDM, though who knows how long it may drag on… As far as the Mandarin goes - yes I know there are inaccuracies. I pull from varied online sources, the Firefly script itself, even Google Translate.

So far, I’ve stuck to Dani’s viewpoint, but I’ll be switching that up a bit now that everyone’s assembled. I have one lined up completely from Rain’s point-of-view, and likely will switch to Sara on occasion as she likes to wander off. I thought of doing one from Cali’s viewpoint but honestly, I’d be 20,000 words in and only cover an hour’s worth of her thought processes.

The name _Fortune’s Favour_ comes from an album from Great Big Sea, a wonderful group from Newfoundland. Kinda folk rock. Lots of fun, my wife and I went to many of their concerts with our kids. Subnote: I did notice that most of the fics and stories revolving around the Firefly universe don’t include media such as music or videos. Why is that? Did everything from Earth-That-Was just get lost? You cannot kill off Ozzy Osbourne, the Prince of Darkness shall rise again!!! ...Ahem. Anyways, I decided to rectify that a little. Not just with the music, but expect to see usage of the big-screen Cortex unit in the lounge of the Favour, vid nights, maybe some games. We have kids and teens on board, they shall be entertained.

Originally this entire storyline was posted up on FanFiction.net, and should still be there. I'm working on copying it over here to AO3 but it's a long and arduous process. As much as I like the flexibility here, the posting process is a pain in the  _pigu_. Especially since I can't just upload a doc to convert.

And finally, I welcome any and all comments and feedback. I couldn’t do this without my wonderful Beta readers, who also happen to be my daughters. But I’m always looking for ways to change the story to have it make more sense or flow better.

Alright, so without further ado, let me give you a little more information on our family & crew of the Fortune’s Favour.

 **Danielle (Dani) Grant.** Owner, Captain, Pilot.

Home planet: Bernadette, White Sun.

Owner of Fortune's Favour. Served as a transport pilot for the Independence Movement (supplies to the front, wounded to the rear), mustered out on Unification Day with the rank of Captain though she doesn't advertise it. Flew almost non-stop during the Battle for Serenity Valley, dodging Alliance gunships and anti-ship ground fire. When the cease-fire came, she was about to take some well-earned rack-time when she heard the Browncoats left on the field weren't going to be evacuated. She and a few other pilots in her wing were ready to risk the blockade when an Independence general by the name of MacArthur got wind, arrested the lot and threw them into the brig, where she spent the rest of the war. Has a general mistrust of the upper leadership of the Alliance and of the old Independence Movement as well. Trying to salvage her relationship with her brother Keith who fought for the Alliance.

Two daughters on the crew, Rain and Caliope. Widowed, lost her wife to disease shortly after the war ended. Tall for a female spacer with a lanky, athletic build, with shoulder-length brown hair usually back in a ponytail. Usually wears tan coveralls or cargo pants and black shirt with a brown leather jacket, Ares Predator II heavy semi-auto pistol holstered on her hip when off the ship. Keeps her favorite SPAS 22 shotgun with folding stock secured in an alcove by the cargo bay doors to greet uninvited guests. Absolute _gou se_ (crap) shot with a rifle.

 **Keith Grant.** First Officer, Security.

Home planet: Bernadette, White Sun.

Brother of Dani, married to Jessica. Retired Sergeant Major in Alliance Spec Ops. During a mission post-Unification Day to clear out Independence "terrorists" refused a direct order to blow up a building he knew contained families. Since he was so highly regarded in the rank-and-file he was not publicly reprimanded, but "encouraged" to retire. Keeps contacts in much of Alliance military, both current and retired, though he's unable to keep any Alliance Corporate (i.e. Blue Sun) or Military civilian contract employment. Kept a professional demeanor throughout the war and afterward, maintaining that it was just a job, though his dismissal and the circumstances surrounding it left him a bit disillusioned as to the government he risked his life for. Highly skilled and deadly, armed or unarmed.

Keeps his hair cropped military-short, sports numerous tattoos on his arms and legs. Usually has an Ares Crusader machine pistol holstered at his hip and keeps a HK G38 state-of-the-art modular assault rifle locked in his room, and maintains proper Alliance ownership paperwork for both. Prefers Alliance-grey fatigues for normal wear but maintains fancier duds for Core World shindigs.

 **Michael (Mike) Wilson.** Second Officer, Chief Mechanic.

Home Planet: Bernadette / Jiangyin

Brother of both Maribelle and Dani's deceased wife Bethany, married to Julie. Two grown daughters: Kacy is the youngest and is serving as a computer technician in the Alliance navy, while the older Emily is in University on Ariel. His parents split up fairly early after Maribelle came along, and he left with his Dad to Jiangyin. Very laid-back and friendly, the kind of person everyone gets along with. Consummate scrounger who keeps his fingers on the pulse of the black market community across the 'Verse. Was an enlisted mechanic for the Independents. Somewhat of a mechanical genius - if it has moving parts, he can fix it. Owns a very old Remington 750 semi-automatic hunting rifle with a scope that costs several times as much as the rifle did. Has a set of mechanical lock picks from his post-war work as a locksmith. Stocky, balding with graying whiskers and usually wearing the same greasy coveralls every day.

While the Chief Engineer, Cory, claims the engine room as his domain, Mike has the general responsibility for the rest of the ship. He's often helping Cory out on major engine repairs when needed, and teaching his protege Cali the inner mysteries of machines.

 **Cory Bilkes.** Chief Engineer.

Home planet: Ariel, White Sun.

Husband of Mirabelle, father to two little boys also on board, Cory Jr. (blond) & Leonard Thomas (LT, redhead). Youngest of the adults on board, but recently retired as an engineer in the Alliance navy (he had joined up a few months prior to Unification Day). Was pursuing a cooking career but opportunities on Persephone were slim. Generally an amiable kind of guy, but can be a bit of a stickler for the rules/law. Has a bright shock of red hair; usually wears his Alliance-grey coveralls. His most prized material possession is his Alliance-issued, Core-World-grade set of mechanic's tools.

Cory is in charge of anything having to do with the main drive and engine room, though he pitches in with general maintenance and repairs when needed.

 **Maribelle Bilkes (nee Wilson).** Ship's Doctor.

Home planet: Bernadette, White Sun.

Sister of Michael and Dani's deceased wife Bethany, married to Cory. Did a lot of volunteer work for The Long Reach (see below) and learned most of her medical skills with them, traveling the 'Verse before she met her husband-to-be. She’s a bit of an empath, which she keeps a secret for the most part (oops, spoilers!) and can use it to put her patients at ease, but found it too difficult to block out the pain of others in the ER. Spent some time looking for work at a family practice on Persephone, but there were few opportunities for non-University-trained medics. Jumped at the chance to join her extended family about the Fortune's Favour where she and Cory could both be gainfully employed. Two little boys, also on board, Cory Jr. & LT.

Diminutive and slim, with short blond hair that falls just past her ears. Usually dresses in plain pants and tunic, keeps a rucksack-style basic Doctor's Bag on hand whenever off-ship.

 **Jessica (Jess) Grant.** Cargomaster.

Home planet: Sihnon, White Sun.

Wife of Keith. Did one tour of duty in the Alliance supply headquarters towards the end of the War, was active in the private sector but wanted to see the 'Verse. Slim, athletic build with Asian features, likes to keep busy. Her long black hair is often seen in complicated hairdos. Many contacts and friends in the upper class within the Alliance worlds. While she didn’t receive combat training, her husband more than made up for that with their “vacations” that would often involve survival school or combat classes or learning how to drive a tank. What can I say, she enjoys it. Usually dressed shipboard in athletic wear. When shore-bound she has classier garments for Core Worlds and plain but well-fitted coveralls for the Rim.

 **Julia (Julie) Wilson.** Ship’s Mom, Teacher, Botanist.

Home planet: Jiangyin, Red Sun.

Wife of Mike, retired school teacher. Grew up as a farmgirl on Jiangyin. Two grown daughters, one serving in the Alliance navy, the other in University on Ariel. Can be a bit overbearing but would do absolutely anything for her family. Tutors the two little boys of Cory and Mirabelle, as well as some instructional sessions for Cali.

Julie has shoulder-length brown hair starting to grey, comfortably plump. She usually wears the same farm-girl-casual clothes on- or off-ship, often just comfortable overalls. She has a nice Encyclopedia Databook and a Personal Access Cortex Terminal with a Standard Data-library subscription that she uses for schooling of the crew children.

 **Rain Grant.** Co-pilot.

Home planet: Jiangyin, Red Sun.

Oldest daughter of Dani, sister of Cali. Often quiet and thoughtful, but get her relaxed in close company and she opens up her playful attitude. Master of snark. She has a tendency to be very perceptive of people feelings, or what they’re thinking. Collects buttons and pins for her flight cap, and patches for her flight vest from every port she’s made landfall. Usually in cargo pants and t-shirt with some sarcastic saying or another. Long brown hair, almost to her waist, usually kept back in a ponytail.

 **Calliope (Cali) Grant.** (CAH-lee) Assistant Engineer.

Home planet: Jiangyin, Red Sun.

Younger daughter of Dani, sister of Rain. Always cheerful, loves to get her hands dirty and take things apart, even if she has a little trouble finding all the pieces to put them together again. Has a fondness (bordering on obsession) for pandas from Earth-That-Was, collects stuffed animals and trinkets of all types so long as they have something to do with pandas. Seriously, if you’re not in love with the creatures, don’t enter her bunk. She has incredibly long brown hair that would go past her waist if she let it down, but almost always is in two braided pigtails. Often seen wearing a soft panda hat with two small ears sticking up, and dark brown sleeveless coveralls.

 **Sara Jameson.** Scout, Acquisitions.

Home planet: Jiangyin / Shadow.

Sara and her family were old friends of Dani and her family, and she grew up alongside Rain and Cali on Jiangyin, but moved away before the war. They were stuck on Shadow and presumed lost, but Sara managed to survive on her own for an indeterminable amount of time before stowing away aboard an Alliance survey ship. She ended up on Persephone, living off of the streets, falling in & out of various gangs to keep herself alive. Her small stature and child-like features (stunted from the fallout on Shadow) made her a proficient con-artist and burgler. Eventually, she ran afoul of one of the local Tongs, then sucked into the politics of Tong gang wars, was captured and sold into slavery. On a job to rescue kidnapped daughters from slaveholders, Dani recognized Sara and rescued her along with her original targets, and offered the girl a place among her family and crew.

Sara usually dresses in standard (though child-sized) ships coveralls while aboard, but maintains several outfits of a wide range of ages and cultural styles to blend in wherever they land. Her curly brown hair is sometimes in an array of hairstyles, though usually just left hanging loose past her shoulders or back in a ponytail. Though not terribly proficient with a pistol, she does keep several blades secreted about her at all times; in fact, she has a rather fondness for blades that some might consider creepifying.

* * *

Also, here’s some background info on organizations or places mentioned so far:

The **Long Reach** is a loose association of doctors and other people willing to sacrifice everything to bring medicine and hope to the most destitute and hopeless holes in the ‘Verse. They are primarily a group of doctors who travel the Rim visiting small colonies, settlements, mining towns, and the like, tending to the people as best they can. They struggle to fill one of the Alliance’s most notorious gaps in serving its people. The Alliance has no official relationship with the Long Reach and usually they have to make their own way in the ‘Verse.

In Chinese culture, the word **Tong** means "hall" or "gathering place". On Earth-That-Was, a tong was a type of organization found among Chinese living in the United States and Canada. These organizations were described as secret societies or sworn brotherhoods and are now often tied to criminal activity throughout the ‘Verse.

 

 


	8. Episode 06: Gang War

En route to Osiris.

Right jab, followed by a quick one-two combo. Spin, kick right to the midsection. Dodge to the right, anticipate the counter-strike, elbow to the face, and a finishing knee to the groin for good measure.

Dani stood back, panting. The sweat rolled down her lanky frame though she cooled quickly in her sports bra and athletic shorts. _So very glad Keith convinced me ta setup a punchin’ bag in the cargo bay_ , she thought with a grin. While her usual _tai chi_ exercises were enough in the mornings to get her blood flowing, sometimes one just needed to hit something really, really hard.

Grabbing her towel, Dani headed up the stairs. The ship was silent still as most of the crew were still asleep, save for Keith who would be watching the bridge, maybe Jess if she got up early to join him for breakfast. The ship, like most, was on a regular day and night cycle independent of whatever world they were on or heading towards, and hadn’t yet switched over to the day mode. Dani hurried to grab a quick shower before her shift on the bridge.

Maybe fifteen minutes later, brushing out her damp hair with her fingers, Dani mounted the steps to the bridge. “Hey _didi_ (little brother), all quiet?”

“Like a tomb, _jiejie_ (older sister),” Keith rumbled back. He moved his bulk out of the pilot’s seat and headed to rouse his wife out of bed.

“Y’know,” Dani remarked, “I don’ mind ya sittin’ in the capt’n’s chair none. Don’ always hafta sit in Rain’s seat.”

Keith just smirked over his shoulder. “Her’s is more comfortable. Yours feels like the jump seat for grunts in a military transport.”

“I like my seat,” Dani huffed out as she plunked herself down. Ignoring his chuckle, she reached over and made some adjustments, transferring the scanner to her console. Then she flicked on another screen and pulled up her music list and found one that had been running through her head in the shower. It was a little louder and more upbeat than the folksy ones that Beth had preferred, but that was just the way she liked it. She sat back and sang along, “Let me hear you scream like you want it…”

About an hour into her shift the ship began to stir. Dani knew she wouldn’t see the hides of her children until well after everyone else was up, especially since Rain took the shift before Keith. _Such a night owl. I s’pose I was that way ‘fore the war as well_ …

Dancing along to the current song playing, Dani paused the music and headed back for some tea. She passed Sara, climbing out of her bunk, with a greeting. Dani watched her newest crew member head downstairs, maybe to do some exercising of her own. _She’s startin’ to open up a lil’ more, gettin’ more comfortable-like here. I need ta buy ‘er some new clothes, though._ She stopped at the doorway to the galley, seeing Jess a the table with her hair over her eyes, and Keith next to her with a comforting hand on her back. “Um, Jess? What’s wrong, sweetie?”

Jess just sniffed under the curtain of hair, but Keith answered her in a quiet baritone. “She was looking through the local news feed for Osiris since we’re headed there. Found out her college roommate was murdered last night, local time.”

“Oh, wow, I’m so sorry,” Dani murmured, feeling slightly inadequate. “D’ya know what happened?” She moved over to the stove and put a pot on, measuring out the tea leaves.

Jess pulled her hair back and wiped at her eyes. Clearing her throat, she responded. “No, there’s nothing. Apparently it’s a bad part of town, if there is such a thing on Osiris. I don’t know what Lisa was doing there, she was always such an activist, but I figured she’d be off saving lives on some newly-terraformed planet or something. Not getting herself killed in the street on Osiris…” She trailed off, raising one hand and then dropping it back down helplessly.

“Hey babe,” Keith said quietly. “We’ve got some time while we’re down, right? Cargo can get unloaded without you…” He glanced up at Dani for confirmation, who nodded quickly. “And you’ve already lined up the next leg, but it won’t be ready on Ariel for another week yet. Let’s go see what we can find out.”

“You mean it?” she asked with a smile.

“‘Course I do. I get people to talk, same way I get people to give me the big scary-man discounts.”

“Oh, this I hafta see,” Dani chuckled, filling her tea cup. “Count me in.”

Keith looked up, puzzled. “Say again?”

“Hey, we all work together well, the three of us, but we ain’t never just gone out on the town ‘fore. Might be fun. Well, even if’n we’re tryin’ to solve a murder…” She paused, brows furrowed. “Yeah, it’ll be fun. Mike c’n run the ship, he’s second officer, an’ he c’n oversee the cargo gettin’ offloaded. Who knows, mebbe he c’n find somethin’ fer us to carry t’ Ariel.”

Keith grunted in agreement and Jess smiled wanly. “Thanks, Dani,” she said. “I appreciate it.”

“You bet!” Dani replied brightly and headed back to the bridge.

* * *

Inbound to Osiris.

“Osiris control, this is Firefly transport _Fortune’s Favour_ , requesting landing clearance.”

“Roger that Firefly transport, inbound beacon activated, follow it on down. Enjoy your stay.”

“Thanks, control, Favour out.” Dani glanced over to Rain. “You want this one?”

Rain yawned and shook her head mutely. She dragged her bushy bed-head back into some semblance of order and tied it with sleepy hands. Pulling her button-laden cap back on she finally spoke. “Didn’t sleep well. I’ll just navigate.”

Dani quirked her eyebrow. “Navigate our way down?”

“Yep,” Rain yawned again. “I’ll tell ya if’n ya miss the planet.”

Dani just laughed and gripped the controls lightly, pointing the ship’s nose towards their destination.

* * *

Osiris landing field.

Dani unstrapped herself from her chair and paused next to her daughter, who still made no effort to move. “Gonna keep watch the whole time we’re down?”

“Sure,” Rain replied, still sleepy. “I see ya found the planet. Now I’ll make sure we don’ lose it none.”

“Mebbe you should just go to bed, yer startin’ to make less sense as the day goes on.” Dani took another step but then paused again, remembering her thoughts from back on New Melbourne regarding a checkin and checkout system. “Hey, ‘fore I go, just wanna make sure y’know I’ll be out with yer Uncle Keith an’ Aunt Jess.”

“Oh?” Rain remarked, perking up a little. “You ain’t been off-ship in a while. What’s the occasion?”

“Huh, yer right, I usually do just stay on ship,” she mused. “Well, Jess has a friend that up an’ got herself killed, Keith is gonna dig fer answers. I wanna be there to witness the trail of destruction.”

Rain just laughed. “Oh, he ain’t that bad… izzie?”

“I’ll let y’know the fallout. Uncle Mike’s in charge, keep an eye out up here if’n yer stayin’, otherwise, ask someone else to pop on up here. We should be back by nightfall.”

“That’s past when you usually hit yer rack, ship’s time.”

“Hey, I can live a lil’. Ain’t that old yet that I gotta be in ‘fore bedtime!” Dani smirked back.

She headed to her bunk where she grabbed her jacket and gun, from the sound of the neighborhood they were heading towards, arming oneself might not be amiss. Then she headed down the stairs to the cargo bay where Mike, Keith, and Jess were already waiting for her. She also noticed that Cory, Maribelle, and the boys were heading down the ramp, the two little ones dancing alongside and chatting excitedly.

“They goin’ on out to see the sights?” she inquired, indicating the family moving towards the gates on the landing field.

“Yep,” Mike answered, fingering one of his smelly cigars. Seeing Dani’s look, he quickly put it away. “They’re just gonna grab some lunch, mebbe do a lil’ shoppin’. Already heard ‘bout yer adventure,” he jerked his thumb, indicating Keith and Jess. “So, I gots the ship?”

“You gots the ship,” Dani affirmed. “See if’n you c’n scare up a quick an’ easy cargo fer Ariel, it’s where we’re headin’ next.”

“No problem Capt’n, you c’n count on me,” he sketched a salute, grinning beneath the bush beard.

Shaking her head and smiling, Dani joined her brother and sister-in-law as they headed down the ramp. “So, what’s the first step?” she inquired, turning her head.

“Got the location of the crime and her address. Figure we’ll check out her apartment first, then head downtown,” Keith replied, adjusting his gunbelt.

Dani noticed Jess had on her shoulder holster under her fashionable Core jacket which was a pretty jade green and matched her shoes. She also noticed that Jess wasn’t carrying a purse. _Wouldya accessorize with the jacket or the gun? Ain’t never been clear on that point none,_ she grinned to herself.

* * *

Belleview Apartments. Osiris.

“Look, Lisa was a sweet girl, but she was always gone,” said the landlady. The apartments looked run-down for a Core-world. That said, on a Border world they’d be considered high-class. And, of course, wouldn’t even be seen on a Rim world.

“But you didn’t ever ask where she was going?” Jess asked. Keith just stood behind her, looking around like he was expecting an ambush at any time. Dani could tell he was making the landlady a bit nervous.

“Sorry, no, she just kept to herself.”

Jess thanked her politely and the three moved back out to the street.

“Pity we couldn’ get into her ‘partment,” Dani commented.

Keith gave a grunt. “I could get us in there.”

“No!” Jess exclaimed. “We’re not getting in trouble this early on. We can head downtown and get some answers.”

Dani noticed with humor that Jess considered it a matter of when, not if, they got into trouble. _Oh yeah, this was definitely a good idea to tag along, should be all sortsa fun._

* * *

Downtown New Burbank. Osiris.

The trio passed by the warehouses and factories and headed towards the residential areas. “Hey,” Dani mused. “That’s the Firefly parts factory. Wonder if’n we could get a tour?”

Keith just smirked at her but didn’t bother to reply.

Wasn’t long before they arrived at the street where Lisa’s body was found. It was, Dani noted, not a nice area. In fact, she was reconsidering her current load-out, thinking perhaps the shotgun would have been a better idea. Seeing Keith’s hands twitch at his side, she imagined he was missing his rifle as well.

“So, this is… well.” Jess started. She looked around, wonderingly. “Um, wonder who we should talk to first?”

“Let’s start with that one,” Keith indicated a man in rags who looked terrified to be singled out.

* * *

Mercy Missionary, New Burbank. Osiris.

In retrospect, the three crewmembers, though they all had their own specialties and were easily able to take most threats heads-on, were woefully out of their league when it came to getting recalcitrant locals to spill the beans. Nobody saw nothin’, and nobody heard nothin’. The refrain was getting a little old and Jess had to restrain Keith a few times from beating someone over the head with their own limbs.

While she trailed alongside the two, not really participating, Dani noticed one little girl selling flowers on the side of the street. She left the two arguing quietly about exactly how much jail time would result in a dismemberment and approached the girl slowly. The girl, dressed in a clean yet worn dress, looked at her with wide eyes.

Dani smiled at the waif widely, trying to ease her fear. “How much?” she inquired, pointing at a rather dilapidated-looking flower. She wasn’t quite sure what the flower was, the wilted specimen could have been a weed for all she knew.

Maybe fifteen minutes later saw the trio at their current objective, a run-down missionary where “Miss Lisa” usually frequented. Dani couldn’t get anything more out of the girl, but it was more than they had. “And hey,” she remarked brightly as they stood outside the brick building, “nobody had ta lose an arm!” The neon sign above their heads proclaiming salvation for all flickered sporadically.

Keith just grunted back irritably. “My way would have been more fun.” Jess just swatted his arm playfully before leading the way through the creaking faded-green door.

They were met by a tired-looking woman wearing some sort of smock. Her eyes widened at the sight of the three crewmembers and she quickly stammered out, “Look, we don’t have anything more we can give, I don’t know who you’re with but they’ve already drained us dry, we barely have enough to provide for our flock as it is!”

Waiting for a break in the woman’s tirade, Dani raised her hands imploringly. “Hey, hey, slow on down. We ain’t here fer any, er, shakedown or the like. We just wanna ask some questions.”

The woman sucked in a breath and looked at them suspiciously. Jess took a step forward, her hands clasped together. “Please, ma’am. Lisa was my friend, and we’re trying to find out what happened to her. Did you know her?”

The woman’s eyes softened and she replied, “I did, I knew her very well, she was a regular helper here at the missionary. I’m sorry for my rudeness; my name is Sister Mary. Please, come on upstairs to the office.”

Half an hour later the group walked back down the stairs with some answers but more questions. Lisa was indeed a worker at the missionary and was well-loved by all. But a month ago, a new drug-pusher moved into the neighborhood, which was the territory of a certain gang. Now, normally the gang would just kick him back out again but he had ties to a rival gang who were bigger in size and could easily cause trouble. They couldn’t take him on without risking confrontation. However, something changed recently, Sister Mary confirmed, right before Lisa was found dead in the street nearby. She didn’t know who was responsible or the reason why, but she knew the drug-pusher, a thug by the name of Fat Larry, had been making threats towards the missionary about giving tribute and thought it might be related.

It seemed to be quite the mess to Dani. The one lead they had right now was a boy called Mikey who, by this point, should be in the main hall eating a free meal. Mikey was a member of the local gang, had been sweet on Lisa, and might be willing to help.

Jess walked into the hall, looking around. She spied a gangly youth with a snake tattoo circling his upper arm, which matched the description, and waved the siblings back. “Let me talk to him, okay?”

“Alright, but if he tries anything funny I’m ripping something off of him,” Keith grumbled darkly.

“No dismemberment!” Jess hissed back before striding towards the youth.

Dani looked somewhat askance at her brother. “Yer not really serious ‘bout the arm-rippin’-off thing, arya _didi_ (little brother)?”

“Nah,” he smirked. “Not really, anyways. We just like to tease.”

After a few minutes, Jess returned and motioned them into the hallway.

“Okay,” she reported. “Here’s the deal. The local gang, the Snakes, decided they were fed up with Fat Larry and were about to push him out. Fat Larry got wind of it and decided to send a message. Thought Lisa was part of the gang for some hairbrained reason, I guess because she spent so much time here with gang members trying to reform them. So he waylaid her and…” She cleared her throat. “Now he’s bunkered up on the edge of Snake territory, and the rival gang, the Rippers, have sent some people in to help. The Snakes are getting ready to go to war over this and will organize an attack tomorrow morning. Mikey really didn’t want to tell me the latter part, but he did eventually after I promised we’d help.”

“We will?” Keith asked, brows raised.

“Yes, we will,” Jess confirmed. “We’re going to go over there now, tonight, and kick that _hundan_ (bastard) in the _pigu_ (ass). And then,” she smiled up at her husband sweetly. “I’m going to let you tear his arm off and beat him to death with it.”

Keith threw his head back and barked out a laugh. “Girl, I love it when you talk dirty.” He gathered her into his muscled arms for a hug and a kiss.

Dani just rolled her eyes. “C’mon guys, get a bunk. If we’re gonna do this, let’s do it. I wanna grab dinner on the way home to the ship. Saw a nice-lookin’ noodle shop on the way to that apartment buildin’.”

Jess gave a very Grant-like smirk in her direction. “We’re talking about going on a killing spree and you’re discussing dinner afterward?”

Dani smirked back, “Gunfights’re just like flyin’ a mission, I get hungry afterwards.”

Keith nipped Jess on the ear playfully, which made her giggle. “I get hungry for other things, myself…”

Dani rolled her eyes again and headed for the door. “Again with the remindin’ ‘bout a bunk. Let’s go people.”

* * *

Outside Fat Larry’s building, New Burbank. Osiris.

“Don’t look like much,” Dani mused.

“Doesn’t have to be,” Keith replied, scanning the building. “It’s who’s inside that matters.”

The building really did look like it could fall down at any minute. In the brief time they’d been checking it out, they saw several people enter and leave quickly thereafter with furtive looks sent around. Buyers, most likely. They didn’t see any guards posted except for one in a third-floor window, but each visitor knocked a particular pattern on the door before being let in.

“So,” Dani said casually. “Frontal assault?”

“Yep.”

“Any final instructions?”

“Kill all _wang ba_ (sons of bitches),” he replied darkly, unholstering his Ares and flicking off the safety. “That’s my final instructions.”

They moved up to the building next door once they say the lookout glance away from the window. Then they crossed to the door to Fat Larrys’ hideout, Keith knocking the password sequence. As soon as it opened he fired a shot and moved over the falling corpse of the guard.

Jess followed him in, her light Beretta pistol held high, and Dani followed last, her own sidearm held in two hands and covering the corners of the entryway.

Their passage was loud and obvious, as was the response of the Ripper gang members inside. They would pop out of doorways and Keith would efficiently eliminate them. Jess suffered a graze to her thigh, which she stopped briefly to bind, and Keith one to his forearm, which he ignored. They moved up to the second floor, clearing as they went, but on the landing to the stairwell up to the third floor, they heard more gang members moving in.

“Go on,” Dani shouted and got down on one knee to await the reinforcements. Keith and Jess hurried up the stairs.

Taking a slow breath in, she held and released it even slower as the thugs rounded the corner. She squeezed the trigger once, twice… a total of eight times. Each shot dropped a target, usually right through an eye. _Thanks, Staff Sergeant_ , she murmured to herself, remembering the gruff career Browncoat fondly.

She stood and headed up the steps to rejoin her other two crew, stepping over a few bodies in the way. Entering a door that was open, which looked to have been forcibly opened by Keith’s boot, she saw Jess crouching in front of a few rail-thin girls huddled together. She didn’t want to know what they were doing there, really, for her sanity, and left Jess to them. Across the filthy room was a corpulent specimen of refuse on his knees, hands raised to Keith in supplication, babbling incoherently about money, influence, girls… She shook her head in disbelief. He obviously did not know who he was dealing with.

Keith was patiently standing there, waiting on word from Jess, while he held Fat Larry at gunpoint. Dani sidled over to him. “We releasin’ or eliminatin’?”

“Haven’t decided that yet,” Keith grumbled. “Killed enough today, don’t figure one more would make a difference, but first thing this piece of _gou se_ (shit) screams when we enter is how his big brother is a Fed and we can’t touch him.”

Motioning to the side of Fat Larry’s head, which seemed to be dripping blood from where an ear would normally reside, he continued in his gravelly baritone, “I disabused him of that notion.”

“Hmm. Fair enuff. Jess?” Dani switched her attention to the petite Asian woman.

His wife held up one finger as she continued to talk to the girls in a quiet voice. After another minute she looked up at Keith, eyes blazing, and gave him a determined nod.

“Right,” Keith grunted and without further ado shot Larry between the eyes. “Let’s get the girls to the missionary and head out.”

“So,” Dani remarked as they moved downstairs. “We worried about the Fed?”

“Think he was bluffing,” Keith answered nonchalantly. “And even if not, no I’m not worried.”

“And what ‘bout the gangs, did we prevent a war or start one?”

“Was just getting to that…” he trailed off as they rounded the corner, noting the neatly-stacked bodies with their eye shot out. “You’re really going to have to tell me your story someday.”

“Someday,” Dani agreed. “You were sayin’?”

“Right,” Keith grunted and moved back down to the first floor, stopping in front of the one door which was still closed. He listened for a second then kicked it in.

Huddled inside was a pitifully gaunt teenager, unarmed and trembling, but dressed in Ripper colors. Keith stood over him impassively. “New meat, huh?”

The teen just nodded fearfully.

“Right, you get to live. Go back to your turf, tell them to stay out of here, or the town council will have to hire us mercs again to clean house.”

Dani hid her smirk behind her hand as the teen, babbling in gratitude, ran out of the room and the building.

Jess laughed out loud from the rear, leading the frail girls out. “Think he’ll stop running before he reaches his buddies?”

“Not likely,” Keith replied, grinning.

Dani joined in their laughter as they walked out on the street towards the missionary. _Still gots the time to stop by a store, pick up some clothes fer Sara,_ she mused. _Oh! An’ noodles!_

“Gorram, I’m hungry,” she said humorously.


	9. Episode 07: Mao Ku Lao Su

Landing field. Osiris.

Mike waited until Dani and the others were out of sight before lighting his cigar. He puffed on it contentedly, waiting for the buyers to arrive. _Beautiful mornin’._ Cocking his head, he heard light yet rhythmic sounds from overhead in the bay. He peered up and saw the new little girl, Sara, jogging along the top gangway, doing laps.

 _Huh_ , he thought. _Mebbe I should feel guilty fer not dietin’ or exercisin’ any_. He glanced down at his protruding waistline but then remembered the leftover stir-fry waiting for him in the coldbox upstairs. _Nah. I like food too much_.

He moseyed back to the entrance and spied a hovertruck making its way over to the _Favour_. Mike gave a grin and waited with his hands on his hips. _Best gorram thing coulda’ ever happened to me, was Dani-girl askin’ me to join up_ , he mused thoughtfully. _Was goin’ stir-crazy back on Jiangyin. An’ now Julie gots the kids to keep her occupied, an’ I got a big ole’ playground_. He glanced over his shoulder at the doorway leading to his beloved workshop. _An’ alla the fun toys to go with it_.

With another grin, he faced forward as the truck pulled up, and stroked his bushy beard. A man in fancy Core clothes strode up, clipboard in hand.

“This is the _Fortune’s Favour_ , correct? And you have Mr. Thompson’s cargo?”

“Yep, right on both accounts,” Mike replied, holding out his hand for the board. “Capt’n’s off ship, left me in charge. I’ll sign.”

“Very well,” the gentleman replied and motioned his workers forward.

Unloading went smoothly, Mike standing by watching to make sure nothing on his boat got dinged. _Heh, it is MY boat now, ain’t it. Gotta admit, I gots a certain fondness fer the old girl…_

Remembering Dani’s parting words, he glanced sideways to the buyer’s rep. “Say, you wouldn’t know of any other cargo that needs transported? Say, mebbe t’ Ariel?”

The gentleman started in surprise, not expecting further conversation from the _xiang ba lao_ ([derogatory] hick/bumpkin) dressed in greased-stained mechanics coveralls. “Erm. Yes. Well, there is one…” He smiled to himself mischievously. Perhaps he could finally unload this cargo that’d been waiting for transport for some time.

Nodding decisively, the man turned to face Mike. “Yes, perhaps you might fit the bill. It’s a rather delicate job, though, if you’re sure you’re up to it…?”

Mike let out a snort. “Ain’t nothin’ we can’t handle’r take on. Watcha need?”

“One of my clients has an exotic pet they need transported to Ariel. They are willing to part with a large sum of money for this pet to arrive safely.” He pulled out a handheld, searching for a bit, then showed it to Mike, who whistled at the amount.

“For that kinda money, we’d haul a whole herd of exotics. We’ll do it.”

“Excellent, please sign here accepting the contract and it will be delivered in the morning.”

Beaming at his good fortune, Mike quickly signed his name. The gentleman thanked him profusely, boarded the now-loaded hover truck, and departed.

 _Yep, beautiful day out_. His thoughts were interrupted by the soft clearing of a throat behind him. Looking back, he saw Sara gazing up at him. _Gorramit she’s quiet, didn’ even hear ‘er sneak up on me none_.

“So,” Sara started conversationally. “What kinda animal’re we transportin’?”

Mike thought for a moment. “Well, how ‘bout that. I clean fergot t’ ask.”

* * *

_Fortune’s Favour_ galley. Osiris.

Mike looked up from his grilling as the crew started to filter in. With Dani, Keith, and Jess out and about, and the four Bilkes also eating out, it was a smaller group than usual. _Whelp_ , he grinned to himself. _More meat fer me_. He loaded up a platter of savory beef and headed over to the table.

Setting the platter down in the middle, he then sat down across from his wife, smiling at her. “Good lookin’ beans there, hon.”

Julie smiled back at him. “Thanks, love, the beef smells delicious. That from the side we picked up back on Hera?”

“Yup,” he answered easily. He couldn’t imagine life without his wife by his side, their relationship after all this time was more comfortable than anything, but they could still summon fireworks when they felt up to it.

He looked over at the rest of the table. Rain sat at her mother’s seat so as to be closer to the bridge if she needed to head there quickly. _Girl’s gotta good head on ‘er, just like Beth_ , he thought a little sadly. Between them sat Cali, busy arranging her food into a complicated geometric pattern before devouring, and Sara, who always seemed to take the longest to eat. _Likely still grateful to be eatin’ regularly. Just can’t fathom what the lil’ girl’s been through none._

As the group passed along their thanks and compliments over the food, Sara paused in between bites. “So, Uncle Mike,” he grinned a little at that, it was nice how she slid right into the family like she did, “didya tell ‘em ‘bout our new cargo?”

Mike smile slipped off his face to be replaced by a small scowl. _Then again, she gots ‘er moments where she’s a right proper pain in the_ pigu _(ass)._

Not seeing any way out of it, he cleared his throat and answered the question to the benefit of his expectant audience. “Got a fancy pet to take t’ Ariel, right where we’re goin’, an’ we’re gettin’ paid a truckload of shiny credits to do it.”

“Cool!” exclaimed Cali. “Kaasan likes the shiny!”

Sara just looked at Rain expectantly, as if she knew the question forthcoming.

“Um, Uncle Mike, “ Rain began hesitantly. “What kinda critter are we talkin’ ‘about?”

“Well, don’t rightly know that, guess we’ll find out in the mornin’.”

Rain just stared for a beat or two, then glanced at Sara, who was beaming. “ _Tai-kong suo-yo duh shing-chiou sai-jin wuh duh pee-goo_ (shove all the planets in the universe up my ass),” she muttered. “ _Kaasan_ ’s gonna kill you.”

“What? “ Mike retorted indignantly. “What ‘bout all the shiny credits?”

“Hey!” Cali piped up from her thoughtful introspection. “Mebbe it’ll be a panda!”

“They never reengineered pandas, squit,” Rain replied humorously.

“Huh. Bet there’s all sortsa other animals it could be though…”

“Oh yes,” Sara said, still beaming at the humor in the whole situation. “ _ALL_ sortsa animals it could be…”

Mike just grumbled to himself and looked to his wife, who patted his arm sympathetically. “I’m sure it’ll be fine, hon.”

He stayed behind to wash up the dishes he used to cook with and then moseyed back down to the cargo bay. Opening the doors for some fresh air, he pulled out a cigar.

“You weren’t gonna light that up inside none, were ya?”

Mike looked out at Dani, smirking but quickly putting the cigar away. “Nope, ‘course not, just lookin’ at it.” He saw behind her all the rest of the crew walking up together; Dani and the others having met up with the Bilkes on the way. The latter were loaded down with shopping bags, many of them, he noticed with glee, from a local fresh food market. That boy Cory could do some fine things in the kitchen, _diyu_ (hell), as good an engineer as he was, he made an even better cook. Dani had a bag on her as well which seemed to be from a general clothes store.

“So,” Dani continued as she strode up the ramp. “Everythin’ go okay? Find anythin’ fer the trip t’ Ariel?”

Mike glanced behind him, and sure enough, Sara was sitting innocently on the steps, just waiting to spill the beans if he didn’t. Grumbling, he turned back and replied nonchalantly, “ _Shi a_ (yes, affirmative), everythin’s shiny Capt’n, gots the cargo unloaded an’ we gots a new one lined up fer the mornin’, lots of shiny coin.” He passed over his handheld which contained the details of the contract, glaring over his shoulder as if daring Sara to say anything. For her part, she just quirked her eyebrows as if to say, “ _Who, me?_ ”

The rest of the crew moved inside with greetings passed around while Dani looked over the contract. He saw the smile on her face as she read the payout, but then it gradually turned upside-down. _Uh oh_.

“Mike,” she began. “What kinda ‘xotic pet are we gettin’?”

“Well that’s the thing, Dani,” he tried familiarity, hoping to lessen the coming rebuke. “Not rightly sure.”

“ _Wuh duh ma huh tah duh fong kwong duh wai shung_ (Holy Mother of God and All Her Wacky Nephews)” she sputtered, over the peals of laughter coming from Sara.

* * *

Landing field. Osiris.

Dani waited alongside Mike on the ramp, watching the sunrise. Mike appreciated it all the more as it might be his last. He wisely kept both his cigar in his pocket and any comments to himself. _Mebbe it won’t be so bad_ , he mused. Such optimism was quickly squashed when he saw the size of the hover truck moving towards them.

Dani said nothing but Mike thought the color of the tips of her ears were a bad indication.

The truck pulled up and a man in coveralls hopped out. “All ready to receive Beatrice, eh?”

“Beatrice?” Mike inquired. He was getting a little worried at Dani’s silence, though by the giggles coming from the upper gangway he was assured of an audience regardless. _Mebbe she won’t kill me none in front of her girls_ …

“That’s right! Gonna be sorry to see the old girl go, but that’s the way of things. Good, I see you have a nice large hold,” he continued, peering inside. “She likes her room to roam.”

He turned back to the truck, giving a hand signal. “Back it on up!”

“Um,” Mike started, shooting another worried glance at Dani who seemed to be carved out of granite. “So, what ‘xactly-”

His question was cut off as the back of the truck opened and a throaty growl issued from its depths. What slithered forth looked like some sort of nightmare monster, certainly nothing Mike had ever seen. It (she) had a long snout, a mouth full of sharp teeth, and a long, sinuous tail. Her four squat, powerful legs propelled her forward into the cargo hold where she looked around her new domain imperiously.

Mike was dumbstruck, completely at a loss for words.

Then Dani spoke up for the first time this morning.

“It’s a gorram crocodile.”

* * *

Osiris. Outbound.

Mike was starting to feel a little uneasy. Beatrice was looking at him like he was a very nice, large, and tasty side of meat. Having an airlock door in between them didn’t seem to matter much, as he could imagine her licking her chops.

He slumped back against the door inside the machine shop, groaning.

A voice piped up behind him, “So have ya figured out what yer gonna feed ‘er?”

He glared over at Sara, who seemed to be taking this far too humorously. “I’ll think of somethin’.” He paused. “Crocs eat meat, right?”

“Yep!” she said cheerily. “Oh, and I done asked around fer ya,” though he couldn’t remember having asked her to do anything save that maybe implying cutting him some slack would be appreciated, “an’ Aunt Maribelle don’t have nothin’ helpful on crocs. Asked Aunt Julie, too.”

“Why didya ask my wife?” Mike puzzled.

“‘Cause she knows so much about animals an’ such, livin’ on a farm. ‘Parently, though, crocs were never released in the wild, just fer exotic pets for rich fat-guys. ‘Least that’s what Aunt Maribelle could find out. But yeah, they eat meat.”

“And how do you know that lil’ tidbit?”

“Ya see those choppers?” she replied smugly, then made sharp gnashing sounds with her own. With a giggle, she ran back out of the room and into the rec area.

Mike just groaned. _This was s’posed to be easy money. Why does it never go smooth?_

He trudged up the stairs past Sara and the boys, who were plopped on sofas watching cartoons on the vid, towards the remains of his delicious beef from Hera. _Beatrice better gorram ‘preciate the fine meat I’m givin’ up_ , he grumbled to himself.

Mike got ahold of a nice set of beef and walked it down towards the bay. Starting down the stairs, he passed Rain and Sara ( _How’d she get past me without my noticin’?_ ) who were watching Beatrice curiously. A little further down he stopped in shock at the spectacle of Cali sitting on the bottom step, practically nose-to-nose with the suddenly calm crocodile.

"What... is she doin’?" he asked, stunned.

"We ain’t quite sure," Rain replied thoughtfully. "But we think she's communicatin’ somehow."

"'Least Beatrice stopped chewin’ on stuff!" Sara piped up optimistically.

Mike just shook his head and tossed the hunk of beef into the middle of the bay, watching the beast lumber about towards her meal. They had ended up just sealing off the bay earlier to prevent her escape, as every thing they tried since they received the very large, very strong, very smart crocodile failed to contain her. She managed to chew through every restraint and cage they could envision. Every crew member had tried to devise something, except for Dani who still wasn't talking to him, all to no avail.

With a grunt, Mike moved off again. "Just don't let ‘er get too close, 'kay girls?"

"I'll be shiny, Uncle Mike!" chirped the diminutive mechanic from below. "Beatrice an’ I’re gettin' along just fine!"

Shaking his head in amusement, Mike walked back to the engine room. They still had a number of hours left till Ariel, maybe he could still think of something...

* * *

Inbound to Ariel. 4 hours out.

“Mike” Keith roared towards the engine room where the mechanic in question was hiding out. “Your gorram croc just ate my punching bag!”

“It ain’t my gorram croc!” Mike yelled back indignantly. He sighed in irritation, _everybody was gettin' on my gorram case over_...

He cocked his head thoughtfully. "Cory," he asked the engineer next to him. "That sound right to you?"

"Noticed that, eh?" Cory replied. He was standing with his arms crossed, staring intently at the rotating drive core. Mike thought he was just doing some heavy thinking, well maybe he was at that. Suddenly the rotation hesitated, almost like a hiccup, before continuing. Cory immediately reached over to the intercom. "Bridge, I need to shut the core down for a sec, it's behaving oddly."

"Define 'oddly'," came the reply from Dani.

Cory glanced at Mike. "We'll know better in a few minutes."

"Alright, go ahead," Dani replied.

Nodding to him, Cory took one side to watch while Mike pulled on the lever. The core's rotation slowed, then sputtered, and then finally stopped. "Well, that weren't natural none..." Mike mused.

"Nope," Cory replied, peering underneath. "Check it out," he continued, pointing to a pipe.

Mike grunted. "Good eye, _huoban_ (buddy). We gots a replacement, yeah?"

Cory nodded in affirmation. "Sure, aux coupler like that, we don't use much, so it's not in the workshop, you can grab it from..." he trailed off, then looked up with dawning horror.

"Oh no, you've gotta be kiddin’ me." Mike closed his eyes in exasperation. "Cargo bay, right?"

"Long as our guest hasn't eaten it yet," Cory chuckled lightly.

Mike gave a sigh. _Mebbe Cali could distract ‘er, while I snuck ‘round...?_ No, he'd seen just how fast her deceptively ponderous body could move. He still had the sneaking suspicion Beatrice was still waiting for him to get within biting distance for her new feast. He gave a shudder but reminded himself of the very large payday if she were delivered safely. Leaning back against the bulkhead, he wordlessly looked at Cory with his eyebrows raised.

"Yeah, we should be okay so long as we don't push it," Cory affirmed. He reached for the intercom again. "Captain, we're fine for now and I'm starting her back up. But no sudden maneuvers, and let's keep half speed for the time being."

"Engine room, is my ship comin’ apart?" Dani queried.

"Aside from the contents of the cargo hold getting eaten, no not overly," Cory replied with a smile at Mike.

Mike just rolled his eyes tiredly as Dani gave a growl over the intercom. Then she gave a small chuckle. "Yeah, I heard Keith earlier. You owe us a new punchin’ bag, Mike."

Mike didn't bother to answer, just reached over and started the core back up again.

* * *

Inbound to Ariel.

Mike was sitting in the galley, drinking coffee to calm his nerves. He was out of beef, both raw and cooked, most of the cargo bay had been chewed up, and Beatrice had started in on the stair supports. Their arrival had taken three hours longer than it should have. And he had to physically restrain Cali from giving hugs to the giant beast. He shook his head tiredly as Maribelle looked over in amusement over her own cup of coffee.

"You know, _gege_ (big brother)," she started, "I love you dearly, but sometimes you get into these things without thinking..."

Mike banged his head against the table. "I know, I know, Julie's been avoidin’ me ‘cause she don't trust ‘erself none not to go 'I told you so'." Maribelle laughed.

From the bridge, Mike could hear Dani speaking to the tower requesting landing approach and having it granted. Maribelle patted his arm gently. "It'll all be over soon, and then you can use your cut to replace the punching bag. I doubt Dani would make you spring for any of the other repairs."

Mike looked up from the table. "Ya think she's still mad at me?"

Maribelle gave her brother a wink. "Don't fret it, she's not really mad at you. And if she were going to shoot you, she would have done it already and fed you to Beatrice." She laughed again at Mike's groan. "Replace the punching bag and I think Keith will let you off the hook as well. The rest of us, well we all just think it's too gorram funny to get worked up over."

Mike could hear the vibration of the ship increase as the entered atmo. He stood up, washed out his cup, and kissed his little sister on the head on his way towards the engine room. "I better go join your hubby, make sure we get down in one piece."

* * *

Landing field. Ariel.

Dani stood on the ramp of the _Fortune's Favour_ in much the same pose she had when waiting for Beatrice's arrival. The beast in question was contained, however temporarily, awaiting pick up. Mike stood next to her nervously, not sure how this latest development would go over.

"So," Dani began conversationally. _Conversation was good, 'least she was talkin’ to me ‘gain_. "Notice anything missing?"

"Um," he replied hesitantly. "I'm guessin’ you mean the lack of a person to pick up the beastie?"

"Yes Mike, that would be it exactly." Mike noticed that the more irritated she got, as opposed to downright _shengqi_ (pissed), the more precise and Core-like her speech got. "So then, how do you propose to rectify this?"

 _Oh, I'm in trouble now, I ain’t never even heard her use the word 'rectify' ‘fore._ "I think we could rig ‘er up on the Mule, strap ‘er down pretty tight. Bring Cali along, she seems to calm the beastie. An’ then... take Beatrice to the buyer? Got his address offa the manifest..." he trailed off, looking at her hopefully.

Dani looked at him for a minute, then nodded her head decisively. "You're driving."

* * *

On the road to Watkin's Ferry Estate. Ariel.

It was funny, Mike mused as he deftly maneuvered the Mule around the back road bends. Ariel looked like one big cosmopolitan center from a distance. But get outside the cities and the countryside was really quite pretty. Being Core and all, he was fairly sure only the very rich could afford living out here.

He glanced over his shoulder at Cali who was sitting next to Beatrice, actually cooing at her. He looked over at Dani, who would herself occasionally look back at her as well worriedly, but without comment. Mike just chuckled to himself. _She better watch it or the girl will smuggle a pet on board one of these days..._

His reverie was interrupted around the next bend as they came across a hover truck pulled sideways across the road. Two men were standing in front, one who looked to be a bodyguard and held a shotgun loosely cradled in his arms, the other looked like some puffed-up popinjay, entirely too enamored with his own importance. This feeling was reinforced when Mike cut the engines and the fluff of a man strutted over to the driver's side.

"That's quite far enough, oaf. I'll be taking the creature."

Mike looked at Dani, whose eyebrows were raised in disbelief. Turning back to the aristocrat, he asked, as respectfully as he could manage, "And who in the ruttin’ _diyu_ (hell) are you?" _Okay, so mebbe not all that respectful-like._ He was finding it hard not to laugh in his face.

The little man puffed up his chest importantly. "I, I am Andrew James Reynard the Fourth. I am the nephew of the man you are delivering this cargo to, and I will take it off your hands. Now."

Mike just shook his head in amusement. " _Ta ma de_ (fuck me blind), will nothin’ go smooth on this job?"

Dani just smirked at him, dismounted, and smoothly drew her sidearm on the startled bodyguard. "Drop it now, please, offa the side of the road. Yep, sidearm as well. Git," she motioned to the other side of the road, indicating he should lie down.

Andrew James Reynard (the Fourth) sputtered indignantly until Mike drew his own sidearm, a Moses Brother’s Firearms pistol, cocked the hammer back, and pointed it at his face. "Now then,  _pengyou_ (friend), why doncha ‘xplain what’s goin' on here?"

Ten minutes later the hover truck had been pulled over on the side of the road, both would-be highwaymen were left lying in the dirt, and their Mule was on its way again. Mike shook his head in amusement. "C’n you believe that _pigu_ (ass)?"

Dani just snickered. "I don' think he thought out his plan very well. He didn' have much figured out past kidnap the croc an’ somehow get leverage over his uncle. Didn' really follow the whys of it all, didn' really care all that much none."

"Nope," Mike replied laconically. He smiled a little, seemed Dani had loosened up a bit, maybe she was starting to see the humor in this whole job. _Heh, mebbe I c’n see it too. Ya either laugh’r go mad_. His sense of humor was strained five kilometers later when they rounded a bend only to be confronted by another roadblock.

" _Ta ma de_ (fuck me blind)," he repeated. "There ain’t no ruttin' way this c’n all go so wrong."

Dani laughed. "Don' jinx it any more none. These folk look a lil’ more reasonable mayhap."

Mike shut down the engine yet again as Cali piped up from the back, "It seem to anyone else we're gettin' a lotta interruptions on this trip?"

Dani smirked over her shoulder. "Yes smartass, just keep Beatrice happy."

"She's gettin' tired of bein' on the road. She just wants ta get to her new home."

Mike just looked over at Dani bemusedly. "I don' think I wanna know how she knows that."

"Neither do I," Dani replied loosening the Ares pistol in her belt surreptitiously as two men walked over to the passenger side.

"Howdy folks," the taller one with the ranch hat drawled. "We were hopin' to have words with you. Got a proposition for ya."

Dani nodded. "We're listenin’."

"It's like this," he continued. His partner just stood next to him without making any unfriendly movements. Mike glanced forward, and it seemed the driver was content to sit in his cab. "We represent another buyer who would be very interested in gettin' his hands on the little girl you have on the back of your vehicle. Be willin' to pay a premium, even, over n' above what you were promised."

Dani just sat back and smiled. "And if’n we say no?"

The speaker seemed taken aback a bit, though the other man showed no reaction. "Lil’ lady, we're ready to give you a whole lotta cash to just walk away here. Nobody'd know any different."

Mike just rolled his eyes. _Lil’ lady? Oh this guy is screwed._

"First off," Dani ticked off on her fingers, "I ain’t yer lil’ lady. That's a good way to get yerself shot." She smirked at his expression and continued onto her next finger. "Secondly, I would know, an’ my crew would know, an’ we don' ever go back none on deals once we've made ‘em." That was news to Mike, actually, he didn't realize they had a code. Maybe he'd better pay a little better attention to such stuff before he started making deals.

"And thirdly," she held up just her middle finger by itself, smirking, "I guarantee I could drop the lot of y’all, even the driver tryin' to look all inconspicuous-like while coverin’ ya with his shotgun," Mike looked up sharply. _Well_ wang ba _(son of a bitch) if’n she weren’t right, missed that completely. Gettin' rusty, old man_ , he muttered to himself.

"So," Dani finished with her trademark smirk firmly in place. "What's it gonna be fellas? You movin' yer truck outta the way, or we goin' the bloody route?"

The two men looked at each other and then looked at the two veteran ex-Browncoats. Deciding discretion was the better part of valor, they bowed out of the way and motioned for the driver to move. A minute later they were on their way again and reached their destination without further complications.

* * *

Ariel. Outbound.

And so, after all that transpired, Beatrice was delivered to her new doting owner who proceeded to pamper her extravagantly. Cali said her tearful goodbyes, still restrained by Mike from hugging the croc. The crew got their pay, but not before the owner offered another job transporting another of his smaller stock back to Osiris. The now smarter and wiser crew declined, respectfully.

“Never ‘gain,” Dani muttered darkly as they prepared for liftoff, hold full with luxuries headed towards the Border planets. “No animals, no livestock, not even cute lil’ beagles. Never. Again.”

She ignored the peals of laughter coming from both Sara and Rain who were sharing the bridge with her and headed towards the Black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _Mao Ku Lao Su_ = Crocodile Tears, lit. “cat crying over dead rat"


	10. Episode 08: Flyin’ High Again

En route to Greenleaf.

Dani strolled from the bridge into the galley, smiling at the bustling activity coming from within. She loved dinnertime, the sounds and the smells and the feeling of family coming together. Usually, breakfast was an individual affair, her girls usually just skipped the meal in lieu of extra sleep. And lunch was often a quick break in-between tasks.

 _But dinnertime, that’s when we all come t’gether as a group_ , she thought happily. She sat herself down at the head of the table, closest to the bridge so that she could keep an ear out for any alarm or notification. On her left were her three girls. Sara was talking animatedly with Cali about a marketplace on Persephone, while Rain was listening with amusement to Keith’s rendition of boot camp antics.

Further down, Cory was bringing the last of the dishes to the table, sitting across from Maribelle and next to the boys, Junior and LT, who were bouncing in anticipation ( _They were always bouncin’ ‘bout fer some reason’r other_ , Dani laughed to herself) of the meal Cory had assembled. Julie, too, had just sat down with a serving bowl of fresh greens from the hydroponics lab. _Now THAT was a decent gorram investment_ , she thought with satisfaction.

Mike, of course, immediately dove into the dish of savory beef, brimming in some sort of peanut-like sauce that Dani could smell all the way at her end, and spooned it over his plate of rice. He then passed the bowl along, smiling contentedly.

The clanking of chopsticks against metal plates soon overrode most conversation amidst murmurs of appreciation and thanks for the meal.

Eventually, Keith sat back with a sigh, rubbing his belly. Dani noticed that of the group, the veterans, namely herself, Keith, Mike, and Cory, usually finished first. _Some things’re ingrained_ , she smiled, remembering meals wolfed down in between training sessions or missions. She was interrupted from her reminiscing by Keith’s voice.

“So, Captain,” he began, and Dani winced. _Whenever he calls me Capt’n, trouble follows in some shape’r fashion_. “Now that we have you as a captive, waiting on that wonderful dessert my lovely wife made earlier…” he looked over at Jess, who grinned back.

 _Yep, I was right. I’m in trouble_.

“I think,” he continued in a rather over-dramatic fashion, “that it’s time for a story. Specifically, from you, and furthermore, concerning your rather precise marksmanship with a firearm.”

An immediate hush fell over the dinner table as every family member looked up at Dani expectantly. She frowned at her empty plate, but seeing no salvation forthcoming from her ingested meal, sighed and looked up. “Okay, I s’pose now’s as good a time as any. Gotta warn ya, though, you might find some of it… a mite disturbin’, Keith.”

Keith just raised his eyebrows. “Oh now, _this_ I got to hear!”

Dani just smirked, “Not like ya think, smartass… So, where to begin…”

She leaned back in her chair thoughtfully. “S’pose I might as well start at the beginnin’, good a place as any, an’ get the disturbin’ bit outta the way.”

Dani looked around the table at her enraptured audience. Even Cali and the boys were sitting quietly and motionless. She smirked to herself. _I s’pose it’s been awhile since I divulged a tale from my past…_

“Right,” she started in. “So a lil’ background first. I was part of an auxiliary air wing durin’ the war, an’, as y’all know good an’ well, I flew fer th’ Independents.” She glanced over at Keith, who just stared back impassively. “We flew unarmed an’ unarmored transports, usually fast an’ light. Supplies to the front, injured to the rear. Oftentimes through heavy fire an’ heavier air cover.” She smiled grimly. “At the beginnin’ we could keep the skies clear with our gunboats, but then th’ Alliance introduced th’ AFAS, an’ we never regained air superiority none. So things became a lil’ dicey.”

“AFAS?” Sara inquired.

“Sorry, yeah, stands fer Alliance Fast Attack Ship. Precursor to the more familiar ASREVs y’all see th’ Alliance patrollin’ in nowadays. See, when the war started, th’ Independents owned the skies an’ the Black with our gunboats. Take a standard mid-bulk transport, slap some heavy armor an’ guns on her, an’ ya gots a powerful, relatively fast long range gunboat that’s cheap ta build an’ operate. But then th’ Alliance brass got smart, an’ at the Battle of Sturges we saw their answer. Small, fast ships, more nimble’n our gunboats, fewer weapons but could run circles ‘round us. After Sturges that th’ Independents stopped makin’ gunboats, since they were a lost cause, an’ instead started issuin’ the small transports to our auxiliary wings. So those Shinigamis, as we called ‘em, took to huntin’ us.”

She reached over and finished her tea. Rain retrieved the cup, taking it over to the stove for a refill. Dani murmured her thanks, then continued on.

“I’m gettin’ to my point here now. So here we were, flyin’ these light transports, mostly without air cover, an’ these fast little _hundans_ (bastards) on the lookout fer us. Attrition rate was high, an’ not just ‘cause so many boats were gettin’ shot down.” She looked sideways at Keith again, judging the impact of her next words. “Alliance troops were specifically trackin’ crash sites fer our ships an’ executin’ the pilots.”

Keith didn’t say anything, but he just nodded slightly. _Thought he might’ve known_ , she thought without malice. Maribelle wasn’t the only one to give a little gasp as the revelation, but she did speak up. “They killed the pilots who crash-landed? Why would they do that?”

Dani just shrugged. “No clue, really. Mebbe they didn’t want us supplyin’ the troops none. Mebbe they thought we were enemy combatants, which I s’pose we still were, bein’ Browncoats an’ all.” She broke off as Keith leaned forward a bit.

“It was actually more the former, though the troops weren’t told that,” he rumbled quietly. “Regular troops were just told to kill any pilots they found, as they were all former gunboat pilots who used to blow up so many of their capital ships at the beginning of the war.”

“Huh,” Dani responded. “Well, that explains some things. Anyways,” she continued, “we were losin’ pilots faster’n we were gettin’ ships in from graveyards, donations, Rim-world mail routes, you name it. Eventually, I didn’ even have a copilot with me. Gettin’ ahead of myself though.”

Dani paused again, with a far-off look in her eyes. “So then, leadin’ up to the Battle of Du-Khang, we had a Staff Sergeant named Valentine who decided to increase our chances. Cuddly name, but a mean _wang ba_ (son of a bitch),” she smiled fondly. “He started trainin’ us pilots in more’n the basic survival an’ sidearm trainin’ we got in the very rudimentary boot camp most of us went through. _Diyu_ (hell),” she snorted softly, “mosta the pilots that didn’ start the war, they just tossed a flight suit at an’ were pointed to a run-down freighter ta fly, ferget the boot camp.

“I didn’ really hold to the Sarge’s methods, though, I mean sure, he meant well an’ all, but I was just too gorram _skilled_ ,” she emphasized the last word with a good dose of sarcasm, “to get shot down. I was young, I was immortal, an’ mosta us pilots felt the same way…” She trailed off a bit, staring at the teacup in her hands.

Keith cleared his throat gently. “So, hotshot, how many times you get shot down during the war?”

Dani looked up with a soft, wan smile. “Just the once…”

* * *

Independent Flight Base Gamma.  
Right before the Battle of Du-Khang.

Dani headed across the field, her engineer Tom at her side, and trailed by the new kid who was to be her copilot. _What was his name again?_ She knew she should remember, but soon as he’d get some experience he’d be given a boat of his own. _James, John… Jory! That’s it!_ She glanced over her shoulder and saw that the copilot in question was looking across the field at several pilots who were lined up, shooting their sidearms of all different makes and models, overseen by a hulking sergeant chewing on a cigar and shouting at them.

“Don’t you give it any mind fer now, Jory,” she smirked. “No chance ya crash with me at the helm, get a few flights under yer belt an’ then you c’n go to ol’ Valentine fer some instruction. He’ll cuss yer ear off, but he’s a decent enuff guy.”

They were moving closer past the firing range and Tom stopped to pull on her sleeve. “Watch out Angel, th’ old man is walkin’ over to ya right now with a fire in his eyes!”

Dani turned to indeed see the object of her earlier conversation striding over towards the small group. The other pilots were taking a break, reloading magazines and discussing their progress.

“Danielle!” the burly Staff Sergeant barked. _Why’s he always gotta call me that_ …

“It’s Angel, sarge. Pilot, ‘member? I go by my callsign,” she responded with good humor.

“Not on the ground yer not, and why ain’t I seen yer hide on my line? Ya think one measly week is enuff to teach ya whatcha need?”

Dani leaned back a little from the verbal assault. Tom snickered behind her as he’d been going at least once a week in his spare time, enough to keep the old badger from coming down on his case.

“C’mon now Sarge, I gots the basics. An’ y’know I’m just too gorram pretty ta get myself killed by those _hundans_ (bastards).”

She didn’t think it were possible for the old man to get any redder. She was quickly proven wrong in her assumption.

“Gorramit girl! Ya think this’s some kinda game? You got talent, sure, all the more reason to make sure ya stay alive!”

Dani smiled back nervously. “Okay, okay Sarge, easy now. I’ll try an’ stop by ‘fore the week’s out, yeah? Battle shouldn’t last much longer anyways.” She looked over her shoulder where the other flight crews were already entering their ships. “I gotta go now, though, alright?”

Valentine chewed on his cigar violently, giving her a stare that seemed to burn a hole in her. He finally just growled incoherently and then stomped off again, muttering Mandarin curses. Dani resumed her trek to their _Fenris_ -class light freighter, albeit more of a jog now. She’d just been assigned the ship when they arrived in time for the action to start. It was a pretty ship, if a little beat-up. Below-average acceleration, but very nimble.

She climbed into the captain’s seat on the left as Jory took the pilot’s seat next to her and Tom headed towards the rear. “Angel, why’d the sarge get so mad at you?” Jory inquired, starting up the pre-flight checklist.

Dani chuckled. “Aw, it’s just ‘cause he cares ‘bout us pilots. Gets all sortsa hellfire mad when we lose one. But don’ worry none kid,” she looked over at him. “Yer in good hands.”

* * *

Battle of Du-Khang.

“ _Ai ya, huai le_ (shit on my head)!” Dani exclaimed, sweat pouring down her face. “This lil’ _hundan_ (bastard) is good!”

“We ain't losin’ ‘im!” Jory yelled.

Ever since they crossed the battlefield, every ship in their wing had come under attack. Several pyres sent smoke up in the distance, marking the crash sites of her wingmates. But she’d managed to get down with her supplies and pick up a number of wounded. Now they were on the return trip and had picked up a very persistent Shinigami tail.

Dani had tried every trick in her book but she was beginning to realize, with a sense of dread, that this pilot just might be better than her.

Rapidly scanning the terrain ahead she saw the entrance to a canyon. _Perfect_.

“Hang on, we ain’t finished yet!” She drove the bulky little _Fenris_ forward, close enough to the ground that the backwash sent plumes of dust skyward. Cannon fire ripped into the ground on either side as the Shinigami closed in.

And then they were within the confines of the canyon, Dani’s lips peeled back in a manic sort of grin. “Let’s see if’n ya follow this, ya lil’ _gou se_ (shit),” and she hugged the bends as they flew past in a blur.

Jory, by this point, was clinging to his seat and screaming incoherently. They might have been curses at Dani, might have been prayers to Buddha or God or any deity that would deem to listen. He cut off with a squawk as the end of the canyon suddenly loomed in front of them.

“ _Cao_ (fuck)!” Dani screamed and hauled back on her controls.

They almost made it but the underpowered _Fenris_ just couldn’t summon enough thrust. There was maybe a meter or so of cliff that took off the bottom of the transport and it shuddered violently as the nose came down hard, the craft continuing to slide forward. A large boulder took out the right-side engine, slewing it into a circle before coming to a rest.

The Shinigami warbird was less lucky as the cloud of debris sent up by the _Fenris_ ’ sudden climb skyward obscured the pilot’s view of the cliff-face. He plowed straight in before he could even react.

Dani sat in her seat, trying to get her breathing under control. She was alive. She made it.

She looked over towards Jory with a smile on her lips but abruptly froze.

A large piece of the right-side wing, clipped by the boulder, had flown forward with the momentum of the ship. Since the _Fenris_ had started to spin the debris clipped the right side of the cockpit. Jory, with a dazed look on his face, was staring at the remains of his arm which had been sheared off just below the elbow.

“Oh, sweet Buddha, Jory hang on…” Dani scrambled out of her seat, grabbing for the med kit behind her. With fumbling hands, she tied off the tourniquet and bandaged the gruesome wound without protest from Jory.

“Okay, Jory? Ya still with me? I gots a shot of morphine here, gonna give you some fer the pain, alright?”

Jory just looked up at her calmly. “Can’t feel a thing, Angel. Don’t hurt a bit. Ain’t that odd?”

Dani grimaced and quickly injected his arm. “Yer in shock, kid. It’s okay. Just sit there fer a minute, we’re gonna hafta get movin’ soon. Lemme see who all else is left.”

Patting him on the arm, she moved to the rear of the bridge and opened the door.

Where the open cargo bay had been and a gangway leading back towards the engine room, instead there was now just a tangled mass of metal and rock. She sighed, realizing it was pointless to look for the wounded soldiers they had taken on. _Deal with the guilt later. Engine room coulda still been intact. Gotta find a way back._

She made her way to her left and cranked the manual release to open the emergency hatch. It popped a little and she leaned into it. She scrambled back, surprised, as a hand suddenly wrapped around the door frame to pull it back. She looked around in a panic. _Did th’ Alliance already find the crash site? Where was my gun? Gorramit I left it behind my seat!_ But then, to her vast relief, Tom poked his grinning head in. “Ya need a hand, Angel?” he inquired cheekily.

“Oh, sweet Buddha, Tom, y’almost gave me a heart attack.”

Tom climbed the rest of the way in. “Nah, if’n yer flyin’ couldn’t make yer ticker stop, ain’t nothin’ would. We gotta make tracks fast. Jory comin’?”

Dani led him to the bridge where Jory had finally succumbed to unconsciousness. Tom whistled low.

“Okay, we gotta move, though, mebbe make a stretcher?”

Dani retrieved her Ares pistol and holster, strapping it on. Tom, who had lost his during the crash, wrapped Jory’s gunbelt around his stocky frame and checked the magazine of the Colt sidearm. The two of them managed to haul Jory out of the wreck and onto the ground, where they found plenty of scrap to craft a workable sled for the copilot.

Tom threw his muscular torso against the harness and they started moving. “You got yer bearin’s, Angel?”

“Yeah Tom, straight towards the sunset, we’ll get back to base. Not sure where the battle lines are anymore, but we should avoid any fightin’. Just gotta worry ‘bout Alliance search parties…” She trailed off, scanning the terrain around her. The canyon split the approach from where the search parties would likely come, but there were woods ahead of them.

She looked down at the twin tracks left by Tom’s sled. _We ain’t gonna make it like that none_ , she realized dimly. That trail was going to be far too easy to track. _Escape an’ evasion. ‘Member my trainin’_ … She looked around and spied a brush that had been torn up by the crash. She walked backward from the ship, trying to smooth out the tracks left by the sled, catching up to the rest of her flight crew.

Jory had begun to mutter in a feverish state. He was starting to burn up, his body rebelling against the shock of the damage it had taken. They just reached the woods when they heard a commotion from behind. Dani glanced at the source of the shouting and saw purple-armored figures crawling around the wreckage of the Fenris.

“Move!” she hissed at Tom, who was starting to struggle in the wooded terrain.

“Can’t move any faster…” he panted. Dani took over for awhile to give him a break, but her lanky frame, though muscular, couldn't get the same leverage and they moved at an even slower pace.

About a half hour in Dani had to stop to give her aching shoulders a rest. She listened as a sound caught her attention at the edge of her awareness.

 _Gorram soldiers found the trail. Must be in the woods_. She looked up at Tom who was standing by with the pistol in his hand. He nodded sadly. “Yeah, heard ‘em awhile back. Nothin’ we c’n do but keep movin’.”

Dani looked at the ground angrily. This was all her fault. If she could have flown better or taken a different route… _Or listened to the Sarge and taken his survival classes more seriously, or become a better shot with that gun on your waist_ , murmured a little voice in her head. It sounded a lot like Beth, which meant it was the conscience she should have been listening to from the start.

 _I’m sorry love, I know I promised to come back, but I gotta make this right_ …

“Right,” she said decisively, standing up. “Tom, take the sled an’ keep pushin’ on. You c’n make better speed than me anyways. C’n still see the sunlight through the woods, just keep headin’ in the direction of the sunset. I’ll hang back an’ buy y’all some time.”

“What?” Tom almost shouted, then remembering the danger they were in, brought his tone back down to a harsh whisper. “No way am I lettin’ ya do that, girl.”

Dani ignored the jibe and instead fixed him with a steely gaze. “I’m still the Capt’n. Now git.”

Tom stood there for a second or two, at a loss for words. Then he solemnly shook her hand, shouldered the harness, and moved out as quickly as he could.

Taking a deep breath, Dani checked her Ares, clicked the safety off, and moved forward as silently as possible, looking for a likely ambush spot. Her knees felt weak as she considered her own mortality. _I feel like I’m invincible up there, but down onna ground… gorram useless_. She shook off the negative feelings and instead focused on what was important, to what was waiting for her back home. _Beth an’ the girls. I will make it back to them. I made an oath, nothin’ in the ‘Verse will keep me away… not ‘bout to let some purple-bellies make me a liar…_

She stopped at a likely junction of boulders and logs and found a spot to overlook the trail they left behind. Soon enough a trio of Alliance soldiers crept forward, rifles at the ready, searching the ground in front of them.

 _Steady… steady… squeeze…_ She took careful aim at the lead soldier and took her shot.

She missed.

“ _Cao_ (fuck)!” she swore as the three opened up near her hiding place. She curled into a ball and covered her head, sobbing quietly. _Gotta move, gotta move, they’ll be flankin’ me…_ But she found herself unable to uncurl her limbs. She desperately wanted to survive but was almost overwhelmed by the futility of it all.

Then she saw the figure of a soldier in purple body armor poke his helmet into her field of vision. Sure enough, they had worked quickly to flank her position. She brought her pistol up and fired wildly, not scoring a single hit but causing him to duck back down.

The fire from in front picked up again, short bursts to keep her pinned down. She fumbled at her magazine release and looked at her ejected magazine. Four shots left. Was she brave enough to save the last one for herself? She heard stories of what the purple-bellies did to female captured pilots before executing them. _Guess I’ll find out if’n the stories’re true_ , she thought despondently, _‘cause I ain’t sure I c’n bring myself to commit suicide…_

At the end of her tether, she thought she might have been hallucinating when she heard the sharp, short chatter of the Alliance rifles answered by a deeper bark of automatic fire. That went on for a few seconds, and then… silence.

“Hey there girl,” a deep voice called out. “All clear, you c’n come on out now.”

She poked her head up… and kept looking on up, up, up to the towering figure standing above her. He wore Browncoat colors, carried a short-barreled carbine in his massive paws, and sported a huge, bushy beard. It twitched like a thing alive as he chuckled.

“Relax, girl. We’re on the same side. Name’s Montgomery, Independent commando corps. But you c’n call me Monty.” He offered her a hand.

She reached up hesitantly, his large grip dwarfing her own. As tall as she was, he still stood a good few centimeters over her. “Monty, I… thank you. You saved my life,” she whispered wonderingly.

She looked around and saw several other Browncoats, all dressed in subtle colors, as well as the ubiquitous coats that they derived their name from. They carried a variety of armament and looked like they were ready to get back to the fighting.

Turning back to Monty, Dani got her wits back about her. “We crashed a few klicks beyond the woods. The purple bellies gots some search teams out. I sent my engineer ahead with my wounded copilot.” She stopped then, unsure of what to do or say next.

Monty just grinned and gave her a slap on the back that almost knocked her off of the boulder. “Don’ you worry ‘bout a thing, lil’ miss. We’ll take care of yer pursuers, you just keep goin’. Med ship pilot?” he inquired.

“That’s right,” she answered with a wan smile, trying to shake off the trauma of the last few minutes. “Auxiliary wing.”

“Alright then, you keep up the good work an’ get back inna air. Don’ let a lil’ crash hold ya back!”

Dani smiled back, regaining more confidence by the second. “I’ll be fine Monty. Y’all take care, an’ thanks again.”

Monty and the rest of his unit waved their goodbyes and melted back into the forest ahead, searching for more prey. _Fer sucha large sasquatch of a man, he sure moves stealthy._

An hour later Dani had arrived back at the base. Tom had also made it back and Jory received the medical attention he needed, though for him the war was over. The fight raged on and she would have a new ship to fly, a _Shu Fu_ light transport with a bit more power than the _Fenris_. The wing commander insisted she take at least a day to recover from her ordeal before she was allowed to fly again.

Back at her barracks, Dani sat on the edge of her cot, staring at the wall. She looked down at the gun in her hands. Moving slowly yet determinedly, she holstered her gun and walked outside to where Staff Sergeant Valentine was holding his usual firing lessons. She walked up to him without saying a word. Valentine looked at her for a beat, nodded, then reached over and handed her a box of ammo.

“Let’s get started,” he grated out around his ever-present chewed-up cigar.

* * *

En route to Greenleaf.

Dani finished her tale and sipped her tepid tea. She had finished the rice pudding Jess had served earlier. The rest of the family sat very still, absorbing her words until Keith leaned back and broke the silence. “Took his lessons to heart, eh?”

She nodded bemusedly. “Spent every gorram minute of downtime on the firing line. Got to be the best shot he ever did lay eyes on. Made ‘im proud. Least, I hope I did.”

“What happened to the sergeant?” asked Julie.

Dani sighed. “He was transferred durin’ the Battle of Serenity Valley. Far as I know, he never left Hera.”

She stood up and looked around with a smile. “Alright folks, you got yer story, gettin’ late an’ we all still gots chores an’ the like to finish up. I’ll be on the bridge.”

As she turned to leave the murmurs of conversation picked up again. Keith, though, just sat in his chair and stared off into space thoughtfully.

 _Well, mebbe we understand each other a lil’ better now_ , she mused, heading towards the bridge. _Mebbe the tale was worth the price of ‘memberin’._

She settled into her chair, leaned back, and reminisced of lessons spent under the harsh tutelage of a man called Valentine who she came to view as a father-figure.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title track by the immortal Ozzie.


	11. Episode 09: Pride Goeth Before The Fall

 En route to Beylix.

 _Keith’s been inna foul mood all day_ , Dani mused. Really, it began almost a week ago, ever since she told her tale about Alliance atrocities regarding downed Browncoat pilots. Might not be related, but Dani wasn't counting on that. Over the dinner table that night he was positively snapping at the others, and even Jess was getting tired of his _gou se_ (crap), snapping right back. The breaking point for Dani was when he made some snide reply to Cory that got the boys all worked up.

As he made to leave the galley, Dani planted herself firmly in his way, arms crossed.

"Move," Keith growled.

"Stop bein’ sucha tool," she replied.

A low rumbling started in his chest. "Move. Now."

Dani just quirked an eyebrow. "Growl at me all ya want, I ain’t movin’ till ya ruttin’ calm down."

Keith just stood there and clenched his hands into fists.

With a sigh, she remarked, "I know ya think you c’n just move me like a stack of twigs, but I gots a lil’ more fight’n that, ya know."

Now it was Keith's turn to quick an eyebrow and a ghost of a smirk grew on his face. "That a challenge, _jiejie_ (big sister)?"

Dani rolled her eyes in exasperation. "Right, like that'd be fair under any circumstance. Ya really tryin’ ta pick a fight with me?"

"Let's make it worth your while," he purred darkly. "I'll tie one hand behind my back, literally."

Dani paused and actually considered the idea, though she could see Jess shaking her head frantically behind him. She didn't think he knew about the _Tai Chi_ she performed most mornings since she did it in her bunk. Might give her an advantage.

"Okay," she replied with a smirk. "Yer on."

And that's how she found herself to be down in the cargo hold in her workout attire, black sports bra and exercise shorts, barefoot and with her hands and feet taped like she usually had them when working out on the punching bag. Her tattoo of a stylized skull of some mythical beast was prominently displayed on her left bicep. For his part, Keith was true to his word and had Mike tie his hand securely behind his bare back with a length of cord. He was otherwise dressed only in a pair of black exercise shorts himself, displaying the numerous tattoos on his arms, legs, and torso.

Looking over his physique, Dani started to have second thoughts about this. Ai ya, huai le _(shit on my head), what’ve I gots myself into_ , she thought bleakly. Looking up around the bay she saw the rest of her crew lined the railings, some sitting with their feet dangling over. The two boys were bouncing up and down excitedly, cheering her on. _At least I gots some supporters_. Her own children, on the other hand, were looking at her somberly. She caught Sara's appreciative glance over Keith's muscular torso and gave her a stern glare. Sara just looked back innocently, somewhat spoiled by the trademark Grant smirk.

Sighing to herself, she resolved to put forth the best effort possible. She faced off against Keith who stood calmly with his unbound arm held forward. He gave a little wave of his fingers as if to say "Come git some."

Dani snorted wryly and thought of what strategy she might use. _Tai Chi_ was mostly defensive, but he seemed content to let her go on the attack. _Mebbe I c’n still work it in_...

With a few quick moves, she closed the distance and began a flurry of attacks which Keith easily countered. He even managed to give a condescending little pat on her cheek. Dani growled, and though she knew this was exactly what he was trying to do, she was pissed off nonetheless.

She went further on the offensive but Keith was able to effortlessly dodge or slap away any of her strikes. Finally, Dani spun to land a kick and was shocked to feel Keith's hand wrap around her ankle.

And with that, the entire cargo bay whirled around her head before she was on her back with the wind knocked out of her.

" _Cao_ (fuck)!" she barked, raising her head to look back up.

Keith stood back in his previous position. "Ready to give up?"

With only a growl in reply, she rolled back off the ground and launched into a series of moves that would have left a normal street thug bruised and battered. As it was, she never landed a single hit, though she liked to think she was actually making him work for it a little. In fact, though he was hardly getting as sweaty as she was, he was grinning hugely, as if he were having the time of his life.

Finally, as her blows seemed to slow down, he simply grabbed hold of her fist, twisted, and flipped her over his back where she found herself facing the roof again.

" _Cao_ (fuck)," she squeaked breathlessly.

She didn't move for awhile. After a few seconds, Keith loomed overhead. "You ready to give up now?"

" _Wang ba_ (son of a bitch)... _hundan_ (bastard)..." she panted out. "Ain’t.. givin’... up..."

She tried to raise her head up but immediately dropped it again. "Okay. Fine. I give up."

Keith's smirk grew wider but before he could leave Dani asked, "So, ya feel better now?"

"Remarkably enough, I do."

"Glad ta be of service," she replied weakly and held up a thumb which she quickly dropped back to her side.

With a quick tug, Keith broke the strap binding his hand behind his back and offered her a hand.

"Nah, I'm good. Pretty comfy, in fact. I'll just stay down here."

Keith chuckled and moved off, to be replaced by the grinning faces of her three girls.

"Hey there _Kaasan_ ," Sara began. "You just got yer _pigu_ (ass) handed to ya."

"Yeah, noticed that, thanks," Dani replied wryly.

"I don' really think he was even tryin'," Cali mused.

"Yes, thank you, noticed that as well," Dani glared up crossly.

"Y’know," Rain said thoughtfully, "mebbe this whole thing weren't sucha great idea after all..."

"Yes, _thank_ you _nu'er_ (daughter), I've gathered that. As soon as I get up, I'm gonna show y’all just how far from decrepit I really am."

Her girls looked at each other with identical smirks. "Ain’t happenin' anytime soon, _Kaasan_ ," Cali answered.

"Fine then," Dani groused. "I c’n still hand out septic duty fer idle hands."

The three girls sketched her a salute and Rain remarked, "Aye aye, Captain, we're off to be less idle." And they left with a chorus of giggles.

Dani closed her eyes wearily. _Yeah, this is just fine, lyin’ here,_ she thought. At least Keith was out of his funk. As far as her girls went, though...

_I really, REALLY need to start workin’ on that captainy-respect thing..._


	12. Intermission II

Hey there again! I see you remembered your tea this time, excellent. Julie's been experimenting with a different herbal blend, it's quite relaxing.

First off, a huge thank you to those who have been reading so far. Remember, I'd love to hear from you, even if you think it's all a steaming pile of _gou se_.

Secondly, another huge thank you to my Beta Readers, Rain ( **Silvana_Crowe** ) and Cali (who refuses to actually get a fanfic account so I can properly recognize her). Also a call-out to some others who may have been leaked the story even though they're not regular fanfic readers (Sara), I hope you enjoy. For her and any others that come along, my sincere apologies for the heavy use of artistic license.

Oh and speaking of Rain, shout out to **Silvana_Crowe**  for publishing her one-shot "[When it Rains](http://archiveofourown.org/works/8973163)". It should be read directly after the Prologue, or now if you like. But yeah, go read, or bookmark it; favorite and follow it (she'll be posting more stories to that line in the future). I'll wait for ya. We good? Right then.

Thirdly, credits. I don't want to put the usual disclaimers on top of each story, so I'll try to remember to do so in the Intermissions and leave it prominently on my profile page. Firefly is, joyously, the work of a certain genius by the name of Joss Whedon. All credit to this beautiful 'Verse is due to him (and not Fox, they can kiss my _pigu_ ).

The purpose of the rest of this Intermission is to give (or attempt to give) further credit where it is due. You see, up to this point, most of the plot and storylines have been original ideas ripped outta my subconscious. It's occasionally messy but gets the job done. However, for some of the following Chapters, I have drawn inspiration from a number of disparate sources.

The **Serenity Blueprints Reference Pack** , by Qmx, is my primary source for what a Firefly Mark III looks like inside (aside from meticulous watching of the episodes). It's an excellent source, I highly recommend it.

For the 'Verse in general, I am a beta user of the Cortex app for the **Firefly Online** game. The interactive map is a wondrous thing of beauty. Again, Qmx is involved, and I'm waiting with bated breath for the publishing of their very shiny-looking game.

Now, there are some older books about, maybe you have them or can still get ahold of them. They're based around the **Serenity Role-Playing Game** (RPG) and they have been an excellent source of adventure ideas and content for the 'Verse. Specifically, **Adventures** ( _Freedom's Flight_ by Ted Reed, _The Best Things Get Better With Age_ by Alana Abbott, _Seven Arks of Cibola_ by Billy Aguiar, and _Mother Load_ by James M. Ward), **Out In The Black** (by Tracey Hickman and Laura Hickman), and the **Big Damn Heroes Handbook** (various authors).

There were also some module ideas I had found on the web for the Serenity RPG, but unfortunately, I don't have the authors for many of them. If someone knows of them please inform me so that I might give credit where it is due! **The Legend of the Copperline** , fortunately, I have in full doc format, so I know who the author is (Sean Kennedy), though I cannot recall where I got it from. It's wonderfully detailed, and I plan to use it in a Chapter soon. **All This For A Little Disk?** , unfortunately, I just have copied down, and to my shame, I have no record of where I got it or who wrote it. It's another well-put-together module background, though, and I fully intend on playing off of it.

And then finally, I have some wonderfully talented fanfic authors I follow, who are my inspiration for much of my writing, whether in style or voice. Both **dayzejane** and **Thug-4-Less** have contributed to [The Firefly Chronicles](https://www.fanfiction.net/s/5649464/1/The-Firefly-Chronicles), a wonderful Firefly-Riddick crossover. I don't know what it is about the pairing, but it warms my heart. And **shadowglove** has written another Firefly-Riddick set (well more an inclusion of Firefly inside the Riddick movie), and is a great source of inspiration. Other excellent Firefly authors I have enjoyed are **TyrTheWry** , **alcimines** , and **femmefan1946** , among many others. Thank you all for your stories.

OK, I think that's everything out of my system for now. I have a few stories lined up from different points of view other than Dani, just to keep things interesting. Hope you enjoyed the one from Mike's POV, it was fun to write. But the next one up will still be based on Dani, and maybe give her character development a little nudge…

Stay shiny!


	13. Episode 10: Salvage Op

En route to Persephone

Exasperated, Dani held her head in her hands. She was sitting at the desk in her bunk, looking over the ledger for the _Fortune's Favour_ , and the numbers just plain didn't make sense.

_Izzat figure the fuel cost fer that run, or the payout?_

She knew she was just putting off the inevitable conversation that she had already decided needed to be made. It was part shame, part sheer stubbornness, that kept her sitting there.

 _You know what you need to do,_ whispered her conscience in Beth's warm voice.

"Fine, fine, I'll do it," she grumbled, gathering up her stack of papers into the book and rising. "I don' have to like it none though."

She climbed the ladder from her bunk and looked around. Sure enough, Jess was sitting in the galley, though she was watching Keith, Mike, Cory and Sara play Tall Cards.

_Wait, what?_

She walked into the galley as casually as possible, looking at the card players with raised eyebrows. Mike just held up a hand, as if he knew what she was about to say (which, of course, he did). "It's ok Capt'n, we're not playin' fer credits, just chores. An' this was lil' Sara's idea, said she wanted to learn."

Dani looked at the various piles of paper. "So's that why she's beatin' y'all?"

Keith just grunted, looking intently at his cards. "We figured out three hands ago she's a little card shark. Now it's serious."

Cory, who had the smallest pile, just shook his head morosely, while Sara beamed proudly.

Smirking, Dani gave her a wink. "Go get 'em, girl."

Plopping down next to Jess, she placed the pile in her hands onto the table. _Guess I'm gonna have an audience fer this._ "So, Jess, I need to talk to ya."

The exotic Asian girl looked askance at the pile by her elbow. "Mmhmm?"

"See, here's the thing. I've been tryin' really really hard to keep the books fer the _Favour_ goin'. But I just ain't gots the talent fer it." She sighed. "Beth was always the organized one, the one who budgeted fer everythin'. She could whip up a list off the top of her head 'bout everythin' we had going on, money-wise."

Jess patted her arm, gently. "Do you want me to look them over?"

"Oh, please, wouldya?" Dani asked with big puppy-dog eyes.

Half an hour into the process, the others in the galley stopped even pretending not to find the whole thing so gorram amusing. Their chuckles increased with every expletive and comment from Jess.

"Dani, this section doesn't even make sense! Where did you come up with these figures?" Jess asked exasperatedly.

The subject in question had her head down on her arms. "I don't _knooooowww_ ," she wailed pathetically. "It made sense when I put 'em in, but now I gots no idea how they were s'posed to work!"

"Okay, new rule: You don't get to touch the books again. I'll get them in order and keep them that way."

"Do I gets to keep my desk?" Dani perked her head up.

Jess glanced at her husband. "No room in our bunk for it anyways. I"ll just work on them here in the galley."

"Oh thank you, thank you, thank you," Dani gushed as she flung her arms around Jess' slender neck.

* * *

Inbound to Persephone.

"Eavesdown Docks, this is Firefly transport _Fortune's Favour,_ requesting landing clearance."

Dani had replaced Rain at the controls to let her get some lunch with the other girls. She had already wolfed down a quick bowl of tasty noodles. _Part of me is so glad to have Cory cooking, an' then my waistline sez I'm never gonna be able to skip a day of exercise again…_

"Roger that, Firefly transport, you are clear for landing pad gamma-foxtrot-three-niner. Watch your approach as it's quite busy today."

"Thanks, tower, I noticed that. I'll be sure not to scare the tourists," she replied snarkily.

She guided the ship in for a smooth landing (only buzzing the yacht of some rich Core-boy who likely needed a little excitement in his life), and settled her onto the landing pad. Picking up the ship-wide, she said, "Attention crew, in case it wasn't obvious, we've landed on beautiful Persephone. Let's get busy unloading, to make room for the next load heading to Beaumonde."

Setting down the mike, she noticed that she had missed a Wave while landing. Glancing over, she read the name off. "Stewart Jackson, why do I know that name… _Ai ya, huai le_ (shit on my head), Stew!"

"Who's that, now?" Keith rumbled, strolling into the bridge and settling into the pilot's chair.

Dani glanced over. "Sara clean y'all out?"

Keith just looked forward and grumbled under his breath.

With a chuckle, Dani answered his original question. "Used to fly with Stew, he was in the original air wing with me. Flew a gorram big transport, since that what we all had. " She broke off thoughtfully. "I think he got captured in the Battle of Sturges when his ship got hit by an EMP an' was disabled."

She reached over and punched up the number listed. A man who looked to be in his fifties answered, with a frizzled halo of hair and a raggedy goatee.

"Stew!" Dani exclaimed. "It is you! How in the 'Verse didya find me?"

The ex-Browncoat chuckled, ending in a cough. "Angel! Been a long time, girl! Was makin' a delivery fer Tom, he mentioned you an' your ship. How've you been?"

Dani grinned back. "Just Dani now, Stew. Been doing quite well recently, gots a nice gig goin' with the _Favour_. Yerself?"

"Not too shabby," Stewart smiled wanly. "Own a small salvage vessel by the name of _Du-Khang_ , as well as a scrap yard on Jiangyin. In fact, that's why I gave you a Wave earlier."

Dani glanced at Keith, who was listening interestedly off-screen. "Go ahead Stew, what's on yer mind?"

"I was hopin' y'all could help me out." He coughed again into his fist. "Last week I took on a salvage job out of Persephone. But when I arrived to do the work, the cargo I was to salvage turned out to be twice the size my ship could carry. I set my mind to tryin' to resolve this situation, but I need some help. I was hopin' I could borrow yer cargo hold and cut you in on the profits. I gots me a deadline to get the cargo to Beaumonde, an' since yer registered to stop at Beaumonde, you'll be comin, my direction anyways. You c'n make a quick boatload o' credits. What d'ya say? Can y'all help me out?" He ended with a wet cough.

Dani leaned back in her chair. "You okay there Stew? Tha's a nasty cough."

"Yeah, no worries," he waved away her concern. "Just my allergies actin' up."

"Okay… I need a lil' more info though. Fer starters, what're we helpin' out with?"

"It's just another old wreck. A Marcus-class freighter that ran into some trouble back 'fore the war. Got another piece of incentive for ya," he continued. "I can issue you personally an official-like salvage license to keep things all legal an' above-board."

"Hmm… alright, I like the sound of that, I think we c'n swing by. We only gots a couple of crates we're loadin' fer Beaumonde… how didya know 'bout that, anyways?" she asked curiously.

Steward gave another coughing laugh. "I gots friends on Eavesdown Docks, they gave me yer schedule that ya filed with 'em. Wanted to make sure you were available."

"Right. Well, send us the coordinates, we should be able to lift off within the next hour or so. See ya soon, Stew!"

He beamed back at her, and after exchanging a few more pleasantries, as well as the promised salvage license which he must have had assembled already in anticipation of Dani's help, logged off.

Good to her word, within two hours they were lifting off again from Persephone.

* * *

En route to coordinates.

It was going to take them three days to travel to where Stewart would be waiting for them. Dani was still sitting on the bridge, and Keith had returned some time ago, not saying much but looking like something was bothering him.

The big retired spec force trooper was drumming his fingers on the console in front of him, thoughtfully. "I know I've heard something like that…"

"Heard what now?" Dani inquired.

"Something…" He reached over to the intercom. "Cory, you got a sec to come to the bridge?"

"Sure thing _huoban_ (buddy), be right up."

Keith just resumed his finger-drumming, and Dani held her tongue, waiting.

When Cory arrived, Keith swiveled around and asked, "If I were to mention a Marcus-class freighter from before the war, what comes to your mind?"

Cory raised his eyebrows. "What, the _Copperline_?"

Keith snapped his fingers excitedly. "That's it! _Wang ba_ (son of a bitch), why didn't I remember that?"

Cory just looked between the two of them curiously. Dani just shrugged her shoulders, not really understanding the significance.

"Okay, now that I know what I'm looking for, let me give you a little history lesson _jiejie_ (older sister)," Keith said humorously, turning back around and typing away on the Cortex. "The wreck of the _Copperline_ is a modern-day ghost ship story." Within a half minute or so, he sat back and began to recite.

"The _Copperline_ was a 4000-ton Marcus-class heavy freighter. Last heard from on July 1, 2504. It was on a routine shipping run from Athens to Beaumonde." Dani gave a small grunt at the name of the planet which was their next destination.

Keith continued. "So here are the historical incidents since 2504 regarding the _Copperline_. Note, though," he looked over at Dani and Cory who were both listening attentively. "Not all of this is general knowledge. I tapped into some of the files that are behind the Alliance firewall."

Cory barked out a laugh. "What, you just now hacked the Alliance network?"

Keith shook his head in the negative, grinning. "Nope, I just still have a login."

Both Dani and Cory shared a laugh, as Keith turned back to the screen and started reading.

"AD 2504, June 12 - The _Copperline_ , a Marcus-class freighter, embarks on a routine Cross-Verse shipping run; from Athens to Beaumonde. She was transporting three passengers and cargo of fuel, and a priceless load of Vitricite (estimated value of 40 million credits on today's black market). Vitricite is a chemical used in the production of several dozen medicines, including two illegal psychotropic drugs.

"AD 2504, July 1 - Distress calls are picked up by numerous ships near Beaumonde. The S.O.S. calls came from the freighter _Copperline_. The signals claimed: 'All officers including captain are dead. Possibly whole crew dead.' This message was followed by an indecipherable message, and then a final message, 'I die.'

"Within hours of the initial distress signals, the first rescue ship arrived at the coordinates where the signal originated. Upon arrival, the rescue vessel tried to hail the _Copperline_ but there was no response. Scans of the area indicated no vessels or wreckage in the area.

"The rescue ship _Voltaire_ did accidentally come across a body floating in the vacuum of space. When the freeze-dried corpse was brought on board, the thin man with reddish hair was identified John Barleck, the _Copperline's_ second in command. No other crew or wreckage was ever found. Even though it has never been proven, the ship's disappearance was eventually blamed on a Reaver attack. However, some speculated that this was incorrect as the event took place three years before the first verified Reaver attack.

"AD 2507, January 23 - The freighter _Diamond Shoals_ reports tracking a ship near Whitefall. The ship is running without position beacon or ship's ID beacon. Configuration identifies the ship as the _Copperline_. When the captain of the _Diamond Shoals_ chooses to investigate, he finds nothing at the coordinates where the ship was last traced. Five days later the _Diamond Shoals_ reactor explodes. Only one crew member survives. The legendary haunting and 'Curse of the _Copperline_ ' begins.

"AD 2510, August 5 - During the Unification War, The Alliance cruiser _Midian_ reports scanning a ship adrift near the Dyton Colony. Scans indicate she is Marcus-class freighter. The _Midian_ picks up some intermittent signals from ship's ID beacon and she is identified as the _Copperline_. When fighters are launched to investigate the ship cannot be found. Two weeks later the _Midian_ is destroyed at the Battle of Sturges. Rumors begin to actively circulate about the _Copperline_ being a cursed ship.

"AD 2514, November 11 - The Commercial towing vessel _Dartmouth_ reported encountering the _Copperline_ drifting across her path near Paquin. The following message from the _Dartmouth_ was received by the Alliance Base 158.

"'Commercial towing vessel _Dartmouth_ \- Code 5: alert. Cargo vessel _Copperline_ discovered adrift at coordinates 5.1.76-P. The ship is found in good space-worthy condition. It appears as though the crew abandoned ship in a great hurry. All _Copperline_ lifeboats and shuttle are missing. _Dartmouth_ will attempt to tow her to Paquin orbit. Estimated arrival time 48 hours.'

"The _Dartmouth_ then disappeared without a trace and was never heard from again.

"AD 2517, December 29 - A sighting of the _Copperline_ is reported near Hera, by the Firefly-class vessel _Honeyway_. Two days later the _Honeyway_ is found adrift. When it does not respond to hails an Alliance rescue ship is sent to investigate. The _Honeyway_ is found to have been gutted by a fire. All crew are dead. "

Keith looked up at his two stunned crew mates. "That's all I could get easily, it'd take a bit more work to find out more."

" _Gao yang jong duh goo yang_ (Motherless Goats of All Motherless Goats)," Dani whispered in awe. "I never heard any of this 'fore!"

Cory nodded, "The legends were always circulating around the Fleet about the _Copperline_. Stories we told each other late nights in the barracks." He shivered slightly. "Think this could be it?"

Dani just sat back, slightly stunned. "I… just don' know. Would Stew pursue somethin' like this if'n he knew the whole story? Prob'ly," she answered herself.

Keith just looked on expectantly as the Captain gathered her thoughts. She looked up at the two ex-Alliance men. "What d'you two think, if this's it, do we proceed?"

Cory looked thoughtful, while Keith just grunted. "I mean," she continued, "I don' wanna bring this kind of… hell. _Hao yun bu lai, huai yun bu jwo_ (good luck don't come, back luck don't leave)." She just shook her head slowly.

After a moment, Keith spoke up. " _Jian gui_ (to hell with it). I say we keep on and see what lies at the end of the rabbit hole."

Cory just gave a laugh. "Well, it'd be something anyways, if we actually got to see her…"

Dani closed her eyes for a second, then nodded determinedly. " _Shi a_ (yes, affirmative). Keith, get back on the Cortex an' see what else you c'n dig up. Cory, get with Cali an' check out our spacesuits. We only gots four, but I'd like 'em handy in case they're needed.

"Let's have a plan together when we eat dinner in three hours, then we c'n present to the rest of the crew. I don' want us to head into this kinda danger without everyone's consent."

The others nodded and departed the bridge, leaving Dani alone with her thoughts.

* * *

Two days out from coordinates.

The rest of the crew had been given the summary of what they might be heading into, but Keith was absent from the meal, claiming he needed more time. By the tone of his voice, as he called up from his quarters, Dani decided it was best he was left to be.

The next morning, after doing her _tai chi_ in her room and subsequently showering, she walked onto the bridge for her shift. She was surprised to see Jess there instead of Keith.

The raven-haired beauty looked up at her with a slightly worried expression. "He hasn't been to sleep yep," she responded to the unasked question.

"He's startin' to make me nervous. Well, I 'preciate yer takin' his watch. _Dao xie_ (thank you)."

Jess just smiled back. "Well, I haven't slept yet either, so I'm going to go get some rack time."

Dani gave her a hug as she left. She sat down at her seat but wasn't there long before Keith popped his head in.

"I've got more," he said somewhat grimly. Dani made note of the shadowed eyes.

"Wanna wake the others?" she queried.

"Yeah," he rumbled. "I'll get Mike and Cory. Maribelle too, she needs to hear this as well." He moved off quietly, and Dani thought to herself, _Well that's all sorts of ominous_ …

Twenty minutes later they were assembled in the galley with cups of hot coffee or tea, depending on their preference. A yawning Julie had put a pot of each on, and then sleepily waved to the five crew as she shuffled back to her bunk.

Dani was sitting in her usual spot, close to the bridge, keeping an ear out for any alarms. "Alright Keith, what have ya got?"

He pulled up a screen on his portable Cortex unit, and without preamble started to read.

"Among the personnel listed as having shipped out on the _Copperline_ were the following:  
Ourang Medan - Captain  
Jian Seng – Navigator  
Carroll A. Deering – Engineer  
John Barleck - First Officer and Computer Specialist  
Nancy Ahern - Medical Officer  
Masato Kuroiwa - Security Officer  
Dr. Peter Drucker – Passenger  
Carlos Alvarez – Passenger, Doctor Drucker's lab assistant.  
Nina June – Passenger, Doctor Drucker's niece and fiancé of Carlos Alvarez.

"Of particular interest was Dr. Drucker. He was an Alliance scientist who was head of research in the bio-weapons division of the Alliance Defense Force. He was stationed at a High-Security base on Beaumonde, but was summarily dismissed when it was discovered he was anti-unification. With the possibility of civil war on the horizon, the Parliament decided he should be removed from his position, and was 'relocated' to Athens. Classified by Alliance Security as Black Security Risk - anti-unification. Not to be allowed to land on Beaumonde."

Keith looked up after the last bit. "So this Doctor was working with biological weapons, had a grudge against the Alliance, but was heading towards a destination he was not going to be allowed to land at."

Cory gave a low whistle. "I think I see where this might be going…"

Dani pinched the bridge of her nose. " _Ta ma de_ (fuck me blind), I do too an' I'm not likin' it none." She looked back up at Keith. "I know yer likely t'have more fer us, but have ya heard any more chatter 'bout the _Copperline_ dated recently? Mebbe some idea of who's bankrollin' Stew an' his crew?"

Keith grinned. "See, _jiejie_ (older sister), great minds think alike. That's exactly what I've looked up." He flipped a couple of pages and then began again.

"I've got four distinct sources of queries recently. Hard to tell where it originated from, but my best guess is the first name on the list, and the person I think is bankrolling your friend Stewart. Petty kingpin thief out of Persephone called Badger."

" _Nao huo cuo huai dan_ (that annoying little bastard)," Mike scoffed. "I've heard plenty 'bout him."

"Well good," Keith said as he looked up, "because I've got very little on him here. He's a small player in the 'Verse."

"Got that right," Mike stated in-between swigs of coffee. "Badger's a petty thug with pretensions to Kingpinery. He was born on Dyton Colony."

"That's a moon around Greenleaf, right?" Dani interrupted.

"Got it in one," Mike confirmed. "The _hun dan_ (bastard) skipped off from home early, runnin' graft jobs here and there. He spent a lil' time in the slam. He's a self-proclaimed 'honest businessman,'" Mike used air quotes mockingly, "but he's just a petty crook with delusions of standin'." Mike gave a grunt. "Not even a lil' fish in the pond. More like pond-scum. Last I heard anyways, I dunno how he'd get the fundin' fer this 'less he gots other sources."

Keith looked over his records, nodding his head as Mike spoke. "Yeah, I can confirm some of that. Does seem he's been playing a slightly bigger game, I think he got ahold of some jobs outside his usual league. Maybe a higher-class operative, as it were."

With a grunt, Keith scrolled again on his handheld. "The others seem to have in one way or another caught wind of what's going on. One more criminal that has me worried, though, a mean _wang ba_ (son of a bitch) called Adelei Niska."

At the name, Mike almost spewed his coffee across the table. Cory, across from him, leaned back slightly.

Keith nodded perceptively, though. "Yeah, he's pretty well-known and well-connected. I believe the official description is a '...very intelligent, yet psychotic crime lord.' Not a guy anyone wants to cross, he's got a reputation for terror if you do. We come across him or any of his representatives, we'd need to deal with them fast and quick so they don't get away.

"Also got an Alliance Commander that you might be interested in Cory. Name of Grace Madigan."

Cory just blinked. "Why, yes, she was my commanding officer on my first cruise. But how did you…" Keith just raised an eyebrow in response. "Right. Never mind. But yes I know her well. She's a tough professional with a strong dislike of anything anti-Alliance." He shot a sideways glance at Dani. "But if we meet her, I think we'd be fortunate. She may always play by the Alliance military rules, she's a real stickler for that, but she's also honest. She might even bend the rules slightly, but only if it favors the Alliance."

Cory paused and looked at Dani and Mike apologetically. "She really sees all Independents, even ex-Browncoats, as criminals and rabble-rousers."

"That's alright, honest Alliance officer I c'n deal with," Dani mused. "I gots the feelin' she might show up to the lil' party that we're crashin', an' if'n we do I'll just have you speak with her, Cory." The engineer nodded in agreement.

"Alright," Keith continued, "and now we come to the real problem, and the reason I asked Maribelle to be here. First off," she directed to the expectant blonde, "did you recognize the name of Dr. Drucker?"

Maribelle shook her head. "No, but that just means he wasn't a regular contributor to general medicine. I'm not really all that conversant on bio-weapon researchers."

"Fair enough," Keith nodded. "Now, how about Clay Draven?"

Her eyes popped open wide. "Oh yes, now he's a name most people in the field know about. He's done groundbreaking work in the field of biochemistry. I've read some of his papers, not that I can remember what the topics were offhand. But I'm pretty sure he runs his own company."

Keith nodded again. "That's right, he has his own personal labs on Beaumonde."

Dani gave a sarcastic chuckle. "What a coincidence…"

"Oh yes," Keith rumbled darkly. "I think his participation in this whole affair is what worries me the most. He's very wealthy, very powerful, and has a reputation for being a ruthless businessman. I've got notes here from, um, 'unnamed sources,'" he said with a smirk, "that describe him as methodical but a bit overconfident and egotistical."

Dani sighed and rubbed at her temples. Turning to Maribelle, she asked quietly, "How much you wanna bet, this Draven guy is involved 'cause there's some sorta bio-weapon on board that killed off the crew, an' has been killin' off anyone who's come in contact with the _Copperline_?"

Maribelle just shook her head slowly. "No way I'd take that bet, hon."

Suddenly Dani sat upright and cursed. " _Ai ya, huai le_ (shit on my head)!" She turned to Keith. "When we spoke to him, Stew was coughin' but said it was allergies! What if'n they were callin' from the _Copperline_ already?"

Keith muttered an oath of his own, and crossed his arms over his chest. Maribelle paled, and said, "We're running out of time if we want to save them, but I don't even know what we could do for them…"

Dani stood and paced the galley a few times. The other just watched her quietly, waiting for her lead. _Well, that's why I'm the Captain, I s'pose,_ she mused. _In truth, I feel pretty honored that they're all willin' to follow my lead. I just hope I don' let 'em down none…_

She stopped and faced the table. "Okay, here's what we're gonna do:

"First off, Keith, get some rest. I want us all to be a hundred percent in two days. Cory, yer turn on the Cortex. I want decent blueprints fer a Marcus-class freighter, specifically where any special cargo might be contained, where the quarters of the passengers, the officers, an' the doctor'd be, as well as th'infirmary. Also start workin' on a way to butter up your ex-C.O."

Looking over to Maribelle, she continued. "I know this's a long shot, an' don't spend too much time on it. But see if'n there's any disease that could do this sorta thing, even any rumors of bio-weapons capable of it. Also look up Draven's papers, an' see if'n his topics mesh up with any of this."

Crossing her arms, she glanced at each crew member in turn. "We'll play it somewhat by ear when we get there, dependin' on the shape of Stew and his crew, an' his ship, as well as any of the competition that shows up. But fer now, let's plan on Keith an' Mike takin' suits over to the salvage ship first an' seein' what all's transpired. That is, assumin' nobody answers our hails." She looked down grimly. "I'm not countin' on it none."

Turning towards the bridge, she finished over her shoulder, "In the meantime, I'm gonna have a chat with a crime lord on Persephone."

She caught the snicker from Keith but ignored it. Mike, though, hurried to catch up with her. "Lemme listen in from off-camera, Dani. I might be able to help."

Dani smiled at him sideways. "Thanks, Mike, I'd appreciate that."

On the bridge. Dani swiveled the camera around to center on her at her regular seat, while Mike plopped himself down in the pilot's seat. While Dani was looking up the number based on Keith's info, Rain had wandered in, but after a quick whispered conversation with Mike, slipped back out again, closing the door behind her.

Dani punched in the numbers, and after a wait, she saw a poor example of humanity before her. Badger (and who else could it be) was a small man with bad facial hair, bad teeth (shown in his greasy smile as he faced the camera on his end) and wore a crushed, grungy, black derby. It looked like he was wearing at least the top of a wooly three-piece suit with a rather ugly tie, but with a tee shirt underneath.

"'Ello there, luv," he said smarmily, "and now who might you be? An' how did ye end up wit' my personal number?"

Dani tried to keep the grimace off her face and a professional smile in place. "Mr. Badger. Never mind none how I gots yer number, what's important is what I c'n do for you, sir."

"Well now," he replied, leaning back. "You 'ave my attention. For a few minutes, at least."

"Does the name of Stewart Jackson mean anything to you?" she asked.

"Mebbe it does, mebbe it don't," he replied evasively. "Why don't you convince me you know the lad?"

"I do know Stew, flew in the war with 'im. In fact," she leaned forward, trying for earnest, "he recruited me to assist with his current endeavor."

"Ah, now, there's a name I'm lookin' fer, luv, an' you ain't said it yet, so's unless you got else to talk 'bout…"

" _Copperline_ ," Dani spoke softly.

"Ahhhh," Badger sighed with a grin. "I think we c'n do business. Now, what happened to the old coot? 'E missed his last checkin. Matter of fact, I just sent a crew of my own ta make sure 'e don' think about the ol' double-cross."

Dani just shook her head. "No, no double-cross, hence why I'm calling. Likely in a black-out area, we're on our way now to assist. I didn't get the particulars of what we're picking up for you, but I can assume it's the Vitricite."

Next to her, Mike was trying to hold in his laughter. He could tell how irritated Dani was getting with the greasy little man by how precise and Core-like her speech was getting.

"Got it in one, luv. Tell you what," he looked around conspiratorially, "if our frien' Stewart don' deliver, and you do, I'll still give ya the full share." He leaned back in his seat again. "In any case, my lads will be there in a few days or so. They'll help however they can." His eyes glinted dangerously. "An' help also, if they think yer tryin' to pull a fast one. Ship's name is the _Damocles._ Medium-like transport, an' 'ave no fear, luv, she's well-armed. I'll give 'em a call, tell 'em to be expectin' ya."

"Much appreciated, sir. Our ship is a Firefly-class transport called the _Fortune's Favour_ , and my name is Captain Grant. I expect we'll talk again soon."

"I 'ope so, luv. I do 'ope so." With a leer, he reached over and signed off.

Dani sat back with a heavy sigh. "I feel like I need a shower."

Mike just barked out a laugh.

* * *

At the coordinates. _Copperline_ and _Du-Khang_.

"Ever get tired of bein' right?" Dani queried her brother, who was standing behind her, as she shut off the proximity alarm.

"Sometimes," he said in his gravelly baritone. "But it's not too great a burden."

Joining them on the bridge were Rain in the pilot's seat and Mike at the navigator's station, the latter scanning the two ships that were floating in tandem directly in front of their ship.

The larger of the two vessels was worn and rugged from years of meteorite strikes. They could see, under magnification, painted on the hull the name _Copperline_. Attached to the spinning wreck was a slightly smaller vessel, a salvage ship that the scanner identified as the _Du-Khang_ ; Stewart Jackson's ship. The two were tumbling together outside their viewport in a silent dance.

Mike spoke up from in the back. "Just finished the scan. No life signs on _Copperline_ , but faint readin's on the _Du-Khang_." He looked at another screen nearby, where he had pulled up the schematics Cory had researched earlier. "Looks like _Du-Khang_ is docked on the port number one cargo hold of the _Copperline_. I c'n see the magnetic grabber arms have it in a nice grip, they ain't going nowhere. Power's on in the _Du-Khang_ , good life support, no emergency beacon."

Dani grunted her thanks, then turned to Rain with a raised eyebrow.

"No other ships in the vicinity," her daughter responded.

"Alright then," Dani murmured. "Game time."

She reached over to the mike and addressed the ship. "Okay people, _mi you ling_ (listen closely), here's the gameplan. Corey, I want you up on the bridge in case the Alliance shows up. Cali, you have the engine room. Sing out if you gots any trouble you can't handle, alright sweetie?"

" _Shi a_ (yes, affirmative)!" piped the reply from the rear of the ship.

Dani continued her instructions, glancing at the others with her on the bridge. "I'll stay up on the bridge for the time bein' until we're docked. Mike an' Keith will get into suits and get ready to board. Prep the other two for us." The two men next to her nodded in agreement. "Maribelle, you get yerself ready with the kit you assembled. Mike confirmed faint life support readings, so we may have survivors. Rain'll stay on the bridge; Jess an' Sara will station at the airlock doors in the hold.

"Julie, you keep the boys in the rec room or the rear crew quarters. Once we dock, I want all interior airlocks sealed up tight, an' left sealed until I give the word."

"Stick to the plan, people, and we'll all be shiny. _Dong ma_ (understand)?"

A chorus of assents came over the inter-ship and from inside the bridge. Dani put the mike back in place, huffed out a breath, and prepared to close with the two ships ahead while Mike and Keith headed downstairs.

"You'll be careful, right _Kaasan_?" Rain asked quietly.

Dani just gave her a warm smile. "I'll be fine _baobei_ (treasured one). Nothin' in the 'Verse will keep me from returnin' to you."

* * *

 _Copperline, Du-Khang_ and _Fortune's Favour_. In tandem dock.

Dani had brought the _Favour_ into docking position directly onto the _Du-Khang's_ port cargo hold door. It was a tricky bit of maneuvering, but she managed it deftly. Cory had entered the bridge, wearing his service pistol on his hip. All crew members that had weapons would remain armed in case of anything untoward happening.

"I'm still not happy about my wife going over there with you," Cory said softly. "But I know it's necessary, and she'd never forgive me if I interfered with her duty."

Dani patted him on the arm as she exited the bridge. "I'll take care of her, Cory. Don't you worry none. Now you keep an eye on my girls."

Passing through each hatchway, taking the long way around, Dani closed each hatch behind her securely. She made sure Cali was situated and provisioned with water and snacks (the girl was clutching a large wrench determinedly; Dani thought it looked adorable) before sealing her in as well.

Finally entering the cargo bay and sealing the door to the machine shop behind her, she was just in time to see Mike and Keith, fully suited and wearing their sidearms in special holsters attached to their suits, enter the forward airlock. Mike had a few tools attached to his belt as well. Keith turned and gave her a thumbs up before closing the hatch behind them.

Dani joined Sara and a worried-looking Jess, who had her sidearm in her shoulder holster, at the airlock controls. Maribelle stood nearby with a bulky medical kit, including a portable scanner. Keith gave an affirmation over the radio that they were sealed up just fine, and then Jess released the outer door.

They could hear the loud breathing of Keith and Mike as they moved into the cargo bay.

"Appears to be in good condition from here. Lights are on, life-support seems to be working," Keith reported. "I can see that the airlock in between the two ships is open. The cargo bay door of the _Du-Khang_ is still sealed. Wait a tic…"

Keith was silent for a minute, then resumed. "I can see two bodies in the passageway between the ships. Mike, can you get a good look at them?"

"Yeah, not sure I wanna, though," the mechanic replied. "Both dead, look pretty bloated, guess they've been dead awhile. Hey, _meimei_ (younger sister)," he added for Maribelle's benefit. "I c'n see open an' bleedin' sores on both of 'em."

Maribelle questioned him further regarding the condition of the bodies, then chewed on her lip thoughtfully. "Well, I'm almost positive it's an infectious disease. Maybe a Hemorrhagic fever of some sort?"

"Any ideas on how to cleanse it?" Dani asked.

"Yes, a minimum of fifteen minutes in vacuum will remove the infection from the outside of the suits."

"Don't help live bodies none, though," Mike grunted.

"No, sorry, but I'll need more to go on to help with that." She turned to Dani. "Should we go over yet?"

"Not yet," the lanky captain replied. "Let's wait an' see if'n they even find any survivors. If not, I'd imagine purgin' atmo on both ships'd fix 'em proper, right?" Maribelle nodded her assent.

"We've moved the bodies to the front of the cargo bay. By the by," Keith remarked. "I can see several crates marked 'Vitricite' in the hold here. Looks like they got a few moved over, maybe only a single load. We're continuing down the aft passageway to the engine room and shuttles."

They could hear the sounds of the two crewmen moving through the hatchway. "Engine room looks clear," Mike reported.

"I'm looking in the shuttles… number two shuttle empty… _Cao_ (fuck)," Keith exclaimed. "Another body in the seat of shuttle one, almost looked alive until I saw the face. Bloated like the others, bleeding sores. Wait, he's holding something… Looks like a ring? And a recorder… I'll play it, maybe there's a clue on there…"

"Oh, I don't think I'm going to like this…" Dani whispered, and Jess nodded her agreement.

The voice of a young man came over the radio, tinnily as it was being held up to the external microphone on Keith's suit. It identified the speaker as the engineer of the _Du-Khang_ , one Nelson O'Riley. He continues to leave a poignant goodbye message to someone named Coleen, who also appeared to be on the crew, telling her how very sorry he was that he couldn't propose to her while he was alive.

The four girls left in the hold just sniffled quietly. After the recording stopped, Keith rumbled, "Well that was _jing-tzahng mei yong-duh_ (completely useless)."

"I know, right?" Mike answered.

" _Da-shiang bao-tza shr duh lah doo-tze_ (the explosive diarrhea of an elephant)!" Jess snapped over the radio.

Keith just chuckled an apology and kept moving. "Mike you want to stay in the engine room and check things out? I'll move up to the next floor."

"On it," was the reply.

Shortly thereafter, before Keith could move very far into the hold, Mike let out an exclamation, " _Ching-wah tsao duh liou mahng_ (frog-humping son of a bitch)!"

"Mike, that didn' sound good. Whaddya got?" queried Dani.

"What I've gots, Capt'n," he answered, "is that some _fay fay duh pee-yen_ (baboon's asshole) rigged the engine t'explode as soon as the _Du-Khang_ decouples from the _Copperline_!"

Dani sucked in a breath. "Mebbe the engineer rigged it, make sure the disease never made it back to a populated world. What d'ya think Mike, c'n you undo it? How dangerous does it look?"

"Yeah, I gots this," he grumbled. "Not too complicated, just take some time. I'm in no danger of blowin' myself up, if'n that's what yer askin'."

Dani just chuckled. "Alright, keep us posted. Keith?"

"Yeah, Dani," Keith answered quietly. "I'm in the bottom of the forward stairwell. Looks to be Stewart Jackson. Bloated like the rest, seems his skin is a lot paler than the others, his hand is clutching his chest. Got red blotches and bleeding sores as well."

"So far, seems my prognosis is spot-on," murmured Marielle.

"I already moved the body from the shuttle over to the front of the bay, I'll move Jackson over there as well."

" _Dao xie_ _didi_ (thank you little brother)," Dani replied softly.

" _Huanying jiejie_ (you're welcome big sister)," Keith rumbled quietly back.

After another few minutes, while Mike muttered soft curses, Keith finally reported back. "Alright, I'm on the top floor. Figured I'd look up here first to see if there are any other surprises like Mike found."

"Good thinking," Dani responded. "Got anything?"

Keith made a gravelly noise in his throat. "Nothing on the bridge, everything looks fine from what I can tell. You'll have to look to be sure. Let me see the galley in back."

Dani wondered if she should go over now, she was getting increasingly nervous that the whole bloody ship had been booby-trapped somehow.

"Looks like the last meal got interrupted. Got dinner plates still scattered on the table," Keith murmured. "I can see some blood stains and spatter on the floor. I can also see a trail of blood, it heads downstairs from the aft stairwell, maybe to the infirmary. Huh," Keith paused.

"Keith?" Dani prodded.

"Okay, two things, one being of more interest than the other. First off, the meal prepped here, and what I can see in the pantry, looks to be pretty decent fare, kind of like we have with Cory's cooking. Not just protein packs, I'm talking fresh fruit and the like. Still pretty fresh, at that.

"Second, and more important, I can see a portable unit , looks like an encyclopedia, on the table. It's been left open to an entry reviewing known diseases."

The four women glanced at each other. _Well, so far just like we 'xpected…_

Keith's voice came back. "I'm down to the second level now. No signs of life but two of the crew quarters are locked from the inside." He paused, expectantly.

Dani sighed. "We hafta know, Keith. Go ahead and force 'em open."

"Roger that," he replied succinctly. A sharp sound came over the radio, then, "Another body, sitting at a desk, looks like he was writing a letter… Ah. To his wife. Hmmm… okay, some more clues here. Seems he started feeling sick only two hours after first boarding the _Copperline_."

Maribelle gave a sharp exclamation. "Only two hours? That's… extraordinarily virulent. We're dealing with some nasty stuff."

"Alright Keith," Dani said. "Move on, hopefully there won't be any other surprises an' we c'n purge this nasty _gou se_ (shit/crap) into the Black."

"Right, next room." Another loud sound, followed by a second. "Damn, that door was tougher. Alright, another body, female this time… _Ta ma de_ (fuck me blind)!" Keith suddenly shouted.

"What? Keith, what is it?" Dani barked into the mike.

"Dani, this one moved, she still alive! _Cao_ (fuck), scared the hell out of me. I'm going to move her into the infirmary."

"Alright Keith, we're suitin' up to join you," Dani responded, looking over to Maribelle who was already heading towards the suits. "Mike, you copy that? What's yer progress?"

"Slow going Capt'n, but steady," came the reply. "Lookin' at a good hour til I'm done."

Dani just grunted, then ran over to where Sara was helping a very pale Maribelle into her suit. "You okay, sweetie?" she asked the ship's doctor.

She gave back a shaky smile. "Sure, no problem, just… my first time in a suit…"

"Oh, honey," Dani exclaimed, "you shoulda said somethin'…"

Maribelle shook her head decisively. "Wouldn't have made a difference. I've got to go over there and help."

Dani just smiled at her proudly and stepped into her suit with Jess' help. Once she was sealed in, Jess holstered her Ares into the suit's holster, and she moved alongside Maribelle into the airlock.

As they moved through the ship, and up the first flight of stairs, they heard Keith report from the infirmary. "Alright, two bodies in here, one on the bed, I moved him off to make room for the girl, other is in front of the desk, let me move her… _Gao yang jong duh goo yang_ (Motherless Goats of All Motherless Goats)!"

"Gorramit Keith, I'm gettin' tired of surprises! What in the ruttin' hell is it now?" Dani shouted.

And then, she heard a very faint female voice come across the radio as if picked up from Keith's external speakers, " _Ai ya, huai le_ (shit on my head), who are you?"

* * *

En route to the _Copperline_.

Far from the reach of the _Fortune's Favour's_ scanners, four ships closed their distance to the wreck site. One was an Alliance patrol ship, the other three freighters of various sizes, weights, and armaments, but all four were spoiling for a fight…

* * *

 _Du-Khang_ infirmary.

The three space-suited crew from the _Favour_ stood around as the woman, Xian Zhang, rehydrated from a water bottle. She was weak but regaining consciousness steadily. Maribelle had hooked up a drip to both women to help them along in their recovery.

Xian had identified herself as the ship's doctor, and the other girl as the pilot, Coleen Mac Phearson. As she finished gulping down the water, she explained what happened in the last hours before she lost consciousness.

"I was almost out of hope, trying to find a cure, or even identify the disease," she whispered weakly. "Everyone was dead except for Coleen and Max and I." She looked over at the body that Keith had not yet removed from the room. "And I see Max didn't make it either. I thought I had, maybe, a glimmer of an idea. It started with this," and she held up what looked to be a journal. "Captain Jackson found it aboard the _Copperline_.

"Okay, let us read through that, you sit back an' rest some, alright?" Dani said.

She took the document from Xian, as the doctor sat back in her chair, closing her eyes thankfully.

Dani opened it up and began to read the journal of Dr. Drucker out loud.

"Drucker notes in here that he was an Alliance scientist who was head of research in the bio-weapons division of the Alliance Defense Force, which we already knew... He was stationed at a High-Security base on Beaumonde fer many years, but he was summarily dismissed when it was discovered he was anti-unification. With the possibility of civil war on the horizon, Parliament decided he should be removed from his position, and was 'relocated' to Athens. The person who had him dismissed was… ahhh. Commander Grace Madigan.

"Well, that clears up another mystery. You copy that, Cory?"

"Roger that Captain, I'm listening in."

Dani continued her examination of the journal.

"Drucker continues to describe how he was fed up with how the Alliance was treatin' him, an' how they were treatin' the Independent worlds... He took it upon himself to regain a measure of dignity an' teach the Alliance what he thought to be a well-deserved lesson... He created the virus, an' set up a plan to deliver it to Beaumonde. "

Maribelle gasped in shock but didn't make any further comment.

"In the journal here he notes the molecular structure of the virus an', it looks like, possible cures, I dunno. You'll hafta look it over, Maribelle... He spent nearly two years perfectin' it, an' testin' it on animals. He found it was very dangerous to large mammals an' birds, but he also notes that it ain't as virulent on subjects who were pregnant."

Dani looked up abruptly at Xian, and then over at Coleen. Her eyes still closed, Xian nodded her head. "That's right. I had found out on the flight over, since I'm the doctor as well as Coleen's best friend, that she was pregnant. It's what kept her alive, and I tried to work with that to make a cure. I injected an experimental serum in myself and Max, because I was desperate. Coleen had already wandered off, and I didn't have much strength left." She looked at Max's body sadly. "As I feared, though, this was an incomplete solution, as it was really only effective on females. So while we're alive, we're still carriers, but not cured."

Maribelle stepped forward, a determined expression on her face. "We can do this. Between the two of us, we can come up with an actual cure. Even if I'm in this clumsy suit," she smiled. Xian smiled back wanly, but with hope in her eyes.

"Alright, time's gettin' scarce," Dani said as she put the journal down. " _Favour_ , you sing out the moment you get a peep from a visitor. Mike, almost done?"

"Just about, Capt'n!"

"Right, soon as you are, yer joinin' Keith." She turned to her brother. "'Member what you asked me when you first joined us?"

Keith frowned in puzzlement. "When I first… oh." He smirked. "I get to be a cargo loader, right?"

"Yep. You saw what the Vitricite looks like, grab those as fast as you c'n, load up the _Du-Khang_ first. We'll hafta wait till we can purge atmo 'fore we let 'em onto the _Favour_." She went to tap her chin, and scowled in annoyance when her gloved hand hit her helmet instead. "I'm gonna check the _Du-Khang's_ bridge, an' then look fer more clues on the _Copperline_ , mebbe Stew missed somethin'."

They went their separate ways from there, Dani heading up to the bridge. After a bit of searching, all she could tell was that Stew's log made no mention of Dani or her crew; in fact, he stopped logging as soon as they left port. _Well, at least there's no self-destruct or anythin' set to blow us into the Black,_ she thought humorously. Turning, she headed back down the ladder and into the _Copperline_ , passing Keith on the way who was shouldering a crate by himself. He was finding it much easier going than he expected as the gravity on the large freighter was turned down low.

* * *

 _Copperline_ , crew quarters.

Dani sat back in the chair of the late John Barleck, _Copperline's_ first officer, as she played his last entry for the benefit of everyone else over the radio.

"Ta me de _(fuck me blind) I hope this thing is workin'. I don't know who you are, but if you're findin' this you are likely already in a world of hurt. I'm not too long for this world, so I'm making this record so you might have a chance. I've taken some meds in order to stall the reaper, but I'm a little dizzy now and the pain is almost too much for me to bear; so I'm hopin' I can make myself clear._

" _In short, Doctor Drucker and his assistant have betrayed us. First and foremost is the sickness. Drucker brought it aboard so he could take his revenge on the Alliance, but his bug got loose and killed him instead. Hell, it's killed us all. I was the last to get it. I ejected their bodies into space, hopin' to stop the spread, but it was too little, too late._

" _You likely have it. Anyone who comes on board the_ Copperline _will catch it. My entire crew caught it and in less than a day they were all dead. I have no hope for a cure and will be dead soon. If you can't find a cure, may God have mercy on you and yours…_

" _Without a cure you will be dead soon, and if you return to civilization with the sickness, there's a good chance billions will die. Better to kill yourselves before you let that happen._

" _The second problem was the reprogramming of the computer. Drucker's assistant somehow broke into the ship's computer and programmed it to fly to Beaumonde. We couldn't let that happen. I tried to fix it, but the_ hun dan _(bastard) rigged the ship to explode. The best I was able to do was add some code to the system. Luck was with me, and I have told the 'puter to avoid ALL other vessels. I've rerouted the fuel from the storage tanks to the engine. It will be an almost limitless supply, so the ship will go on almost indefinitely. It will hop from place to place like a rabbit looking for its warren, silently avoiding the shipping lanes. I could not kill the code sending the ship to Beaumonde, so I can only hope the ship never wanders there. I'm not brave enough to destroy the ship._

" _If the ship has somehow powered down or wrecked, for the love of God don't turn the computer back on. You'll either blow up the ship or start heading for Beaumonde again. The best you could do at this point is destroying the_ Copperline _. Blow it out of space! Save yourselves if you can._

" _Now then, I'm feeling a little cold. Think I'll take a walk. Goodbye and good luck."_

Dani just stared into space, contemplating the brave last actions of a man who was dedicated to his ship…

Suddenly her reverie was interrupted by Keith's voice. "Captain, need you down in the _Copperline_ hold please."

"On my way," Dani answered with a sick feeling of dread in her stomach.

* * *

 _Copperline_ cargo hold.

"What am I lookin' at?" Dani asked curiously.

"Well, I'm imagining it's Drucker's little pandora box," Keith replied dryly.

Hidden among the crates of Vitricite was another crate, unlike the others. It had a logo of a blue and green planet entwined by a snake holding a caduceus in its mouth.

Dani just sighed wearily. " _Jian gui_ (to hell with it)," she said, and reaching over, slipped the lid from the crate. Inside was another, sealed metal container (though on closer inspection, the seal was bubbled a little on one edge), as well as a stack of paper notes. Dani picked up the notes and looked through them.

"Maribelle!" she said excitedly over the radio. "I think I gots somethin' to help… Looks like notes above and beyond his journal. About the virus, developin' a cure… Yeah, I think this is what we're lookin' for!"

"Bring it on over," Maribelle replied just as excitedly.

* * *

 _Du-Khang_ infirmary.

"Okay, here we go…" murmured Maribelle. She handed a syringe to Xian, who took a deep breath and injected herself, and then took a second proffered syringe to do the same for the unconscious Coleen. "Guess we'll wait and see now."

* * *

 _Du-Khang_ cargo hold.

Breathing heavily, Dani sat down the last crate. They had stacked the hold of the _Du-Khang_ as full as they could and had the rest stacked just outside, ready to load onto the _Fortune's Favour_ , as well as several valuable drums of fuel, which Mike assured her would fit. _Never hurts to have a little padded extra. An' we managed to finish up before…_

Just then a slightly panicked voice came over the radio of her suit. " _Kaasan_! We gots a ship incomin'… No, wait, two ships! Two freighters!"

"Calm down, Rain, query 'em over the scanner, what d'ya see?"

"Okay… one reads as the _Damocles_ … a Pride-class mid-bulk transport… registry says it's from Persephone... the other is, let's see… a VCX-350 Light freighter, goes by _Bi Zhu She_. Registry says from Beaumonde. Comin' in on a different track, should get here twenty minutes after the first."

Dani gave a grunt, wheels in her head spinning. "Okay, here's what we're gonna do. Open a channel to the first ship, and patch me on through. C'n you manage that?"

"Um… okay, Uncle Cory says he c'n help with that. One sec…"

After a moment of static, she heard Rain whisper, "OK, go ahead!"

" _Damocles_ , this's Captain Grant of the _Fortune's Favour_. We appreciate yer arrival, yer just in time to give us support."

A querulous voice came back, "Support? Oh, that's a good one, Captain, Badger didn't say nothin' about helpin' you load cargo…"

Dani decided she had enough of _ben dan_ (idiot) thugs and went on the offensive. "Not loadin', you _go tsao de_ (dog fucking) moron. Or didya not see the arrival of one of yer competitors?" She didn't give him a chance to answer. "Now, _mi you ling_ (listen closely). That ship is registered to a businessman who will blow us all up to get what he wants. That includes Badger's cargo. Keep 'im off our backs fer 'nother hour an' we should be clear with our holds loaded an' headin' back to Persephone. _Dong ma_ (understand)? You think you c'n handle that?"

She heard a faint snort over the comm, likely from Rain. Did she push a little too hard maybe?

After a minute's silence, the voice came back online, "Alright Cap'n, we'll keep yer _pigu_ (ass) outta the fire. You have yer hour."

" _Dao xie, pengyou_ (thank you, friend)," she replied gratefully.

The voice just snorted back, "Well, just don' be surprised none if'n yer billed for any armaments we use up."

The connection was closed, and Dani went back to the general channel they were using. "Alright people, we just got ourselves on a timeline of an hour. Maribelle, status?"

"Just checked the blood work, Cap, came back clean! Cured, and immune!"

"Alright. I know Coleen ain't mobile yet, but we gots to get moving. Mike, Keith, get two suits up from the engine room to the infirmary. Start 'em going in the suits, it'll recycle the respirator quick enuff and 'fore long they'll have clean air in there. I'm headin' over to the _Copperline,_ sealin' off 'tween the two ships, an' start the atmo purge."

* * *

 _Du-Khang_ bridge.

Her hour was halfway up, and they hadn't even moved the crates over to the _Favour_ yet. The _Copperline's_ atmo was completely purged after shutting off the life support. Now she was about to do the same on the _Du-Khang_ , when she received more bad news.

"Ummm, _Kaasan_ , 'nother ship just moved within range…"

"What're the other two ships doin' right now, Rain?"

"They're just sittin' out there facin' each other. Don't look like the little one wants to go against the bigger one. But, the new ship is bigger'n either of those."

" _Cao_ (fuck)," Dani swore. "Yet another player… freighter, right?"

"Yep, looks like… a Trawler-class ship, slower'n t'other, so it'll take at least a half hour to close the distance… um, shows as the _Alexander_ outta… Ezra."

" _Ta ma de_ (fuck me blind)," came Mike's voice over the comm. "Ezra, that'd be Niska's men."

 _Never goes smooth…_ she thought despondently, too tired to even work up a good cuss.

" _Kaasan_ , the _Damocles_ just called… they said they're not gonna bother interceptin' the new ship, 'cause they say we should have enough time to break away…"

"Alright, this don't change a thing, we're still on our schedule. Maribelle, our patients sealed in?"

" _Shi a_ (yes, affirmative)," she replied tersely.

"Right," Dani stated. "Startin' purge. Mike, Keith, get yerselves in the airlock to the _Copperline._ "

"What you got in mind, Capt'n?" came Mike's reply.

"We're gonna clear Jess and Sara out of the cargo hold, an' open the main cargo doors. Then load the rest of the Vitricite."

"Out in the vacuum?" Mike asked incredulously.

"Yeah, it'll work," Keith interrupted. "We can make the timeline. Give us enough time to load up, and the _Du-Khang_ will get purged…"

"Yeah, but not enuff time to get atmo pumped back into 'er!" Mike argued.

"No need," Dani replied smugly. "We got suits. Oxygen levels still good, recyclers all functionin'?"

All the crew members replied in the affirmative, and Dani finished, "Then let's get to it. You copy that, Rain? You okay taking the _Favour_ out on yer own?"

After a brief pause, her daughter's voice came back confidently, "Don't worry Capt'n, I got this."

Dani smiled as she finished the purge, and headed down to join Mike and Keith.

* * *

 _Fortune's Favour_ cargo hold.

 _That was the last of it, hold was crammed pretty gorram full. Made it much easier doin' it in zero-gee, could stack a lot higher_. " _Favour,_ just keep the atmo purged in the hold fer now, leave well enuff alone." Dani drifted out of the opening to the hold and pushed off towards the _Du-Khang's_ airlock. "I'm clear, seal up an' disengage."

"Roger that," came the reply, and the bay doors closed. By the time she entered the airlock, she saw the _Favour_ start to move away.

"Mike," she called as she entered the ship's cargo hold. "Engine sequence started up?"

"Ready to roll, Capt'n!" he reported.

Dani moved up to the bridge of the _Du-Khang_ again and got situated in the captain's seat as much as possible while still suited up.

* * *

_Damocles._

The hired crew members of Badger's were sitting tensely as they tracked several ships in their vicinity. They had Black Market ship-to-ship missiles, but their only orders were to prevent anyone but their own people from getting away with the Vitricite. They really didn't want to start up ship combat if they could help it.

"Captain," reported the helmsman, "looks like the two ships, _Du-Khang_ and _Fortune's Favour_ , have separated and are moving out.

"Course?" the owner of the querulous voice inquired.

"One minute… yeah, our original track, back to Persephone."

"Good, good, let's hold a lil' longer, give 'er the full hour… what's the big _hundan_ (bastard) doing?"

"Changing course to intercept… they're likely to outrun him, though…"

"Captain!" called out his navigator. "Another ship just moved into range! It's a gorram Alliance patrol boat!"

" _Da-shiang bao-tza shr duh lah doo-tze_ (the explosive diarrhea of an elephant)," he exclaimed. "Right, we're outta here. Full burn, any direction other than another ship's track. Scatter, now."

As the patrol ship moved quickly towards the _Copperline_ , the three other outlaw freighters rapidly changed courses and moved away with all due haste.

* * *

 _Du-Khang_ bridge.

" _Favour!_ " Dani called over the ship-to-ship system they had patched into each other. "Yer up Cory, give 'er a call 'fore she gets any violent ideas!"

"Roger that Captain, call you back in a few."

Dani sat at the controls nervously but then practically jumped out of her skin as another suited individual moved into the pilot's chair next to her. The figure turned, and Dani noticed for the first time (since she hadn't seen them yet) what pretty eyes the red-headed pilot of the salvage ship had.

"Hi," Dani said rather stupidly.

"Hi," Coleen answered with a shy smile. "I hear I have you to thank fer my life?"

"Well," she answered, a little embarrassed for some reason. "Wasn' just me none, really, got a whole crew involved…"

"An' it wasn' just me you saved, either," she said softly, looking down and touching her belly through the suit.

"Um, yeah, Coleen… about that… I don' know if you heard…"

"It's okay," she said sweetly. "I did hear, they played the recordin' fer me. I'm too happy to be alive, fer my child to still be alive inside me to be sad right now. So, again, thank you Capt'n."

Feeling awkward as all hell for some reason, she replied, "Um. Call me Dani."

Coleen's smile seemed to light up her face. Before Dani could succumb to her initial instinct to turn into a drooling idiot at the sight, Cory came back over the communications.

"Talked to the Commander, _Du-Khang_. She's content with the contents we left for her on the _Copperline_  and has the people to deal with it aboard. She was also satisfied with my rendition of the events." Coleen raised her eyebrows at the word 'rendition', and Dani just smirked back. "She accepted our salvage papers I transmitted to her. I think our past helped some, she didn't question me too closely, and trusted me to act in the best interests of the Alliance."

"Well done, Cory, well done. So we're clear to keep on headin' out?"

"Roger that, Captain. Now, the official Alliance stance is to cover everything up, they don't want a general panic about how close Beaumonde was to planet-level extinction. They'll blow the _Copperline_ after retrieving the bio-weapon crate."

Dani snorted. "Typical. Maintain the illusions of control over the media an' the public stays ignorant. Again, nicely done. _Du-Khang_ out."

"Rain says she'll keep on your tail and make sure nothing falls off. She's a little worried at the condition of your ship. _Favour_ out."

Dani just laughed as she hung up the microphone, but Coleen bristled a little. " _Du-Khang_ is a good ship, she's solid," she said indignantly.

"Oh, don' let it get to ya none, my daughter's young still."

After another few hours, the atmo in the _Du-Khang_ had stabilized enough for them to finally remove the suits. The four crew from the _Favour_ drew straws for showers, after Keith and Dani had come to an impasse and before it came to blows.

Shortly afterward, the two ships paused their progress while the dead crew members from the _Du-Khang_ , including Dani's old war buddy Stewart Jackson, were buried in space. Coleen and Xian said a few heartfelt words, while Dani, Mike, Keith and Maribelle stood in attendance, and the rest of the _Favour's_ crew listened in over the radio.

Maribelle and Xian continued to monitor both the original _Du-Khang's_ crew, but they were stable and improving quickly. For their part, the _Favour's_ crew aboard the salvage ship had blood work checked every two hours for any trace of the disease, at least for the first twelve hours, after that Keith growled certain threats about what he was going to do with that needle if it were to come near him again, and the two doctors relented, merely checking for symptoms.

Dani decided they needed to destroy the evidence they retrieved, including Drucker's journal and the madman's story, but she worked with Maribelle and Xian to concoct a glossed-over description of the disease, mostly just the symptoms, incubation, and transmission, but to go into great detail concerning the vaccine, and release it anonymously out onto the Cortex. "Who knows," Dani mused. "It may still exist out there somewhere, an' the next group of folk might have the chance to save themselves if'n they come across it."

Keith and Mike spent a good part of their voyage cleaning up the ship, repairing damages (like the crew cabins Keith had forcibly entered), and setting things to right again. Though they had a decent stock of food, Dani found herself missing Cory's culinary skills. _Got myself a bit spoiled._

Dani and Coleen spent most of their time on the bridge, instead of taking turns on watch. Dani enjoyed the lovely young redhead's company and conversation. Coleen told her about how Stewart found her on Saint Albans, flying her father's ore vehicles through the canyons of the icy planet. She'd been with him since, and as much as she was sad at Nelson's death, she was more broken up by the loss of her beloved Captain. Still, Dani enjoyed listening to her and watching her as well. Coleen was certainly a pleasing sight, cutting a slender yet busty figure in the Blue Sun shirts she favored, with her long red hair hanging straight down her back. She had a gentle smile and an easy laugh that made her bright green eyes twinkle with humor. Dani could see how Nelson fell for her, and she had to forcibly remind herself several times that she had nieces this girl's age, and that the girl in question was still grieving over losing her man.

For her part, Dani was far more open with the girl about her past then she was with most others. _She's just so gorram easy to talk to._ Dani opened up about her wartime experience, and her daughters, Sara who she also thought of as a daughter (though she didn't go into Sara's past, that wasn't her tale to tell), and of losing her wife. Though Dani thought it odd how Coleen's eyes shined when she found out that Dani had once had a wife.

An hour out of Persephone, talk turned to the future. Coleen resolutely decided to stay with the ship, and with the business; she had her best friend Xian to help her. Xian was surprised by Coleen's initial offer. "I've never heard of a ship's doctor who was first mate as well!"

"Stranger things've happened, Xian," Coleen giggled.

* * *

Persephone.

Dani and Keith sipped their tea appreciably. "Gorram good stuff," Keith rumbled.

"Trick of it is, the wood alcohol," Badger replied.

"So, Mr. Badger, you're satisfied with your end of the bargain? Captain Mac Phearson, who has taken over the _Du-Khang_ , has authorized us to deal on her behalf."

"I am, luv," Badger replied with narrowed eyes, sliding over a sheet. "Gotta say, though, "I'm a mite put off by your airs. Gettin' a bit tired of yer nose stuck up like you're so gorram better than me."

Dani just looked over at Keith, and the two broke out into laughter.

Looking even more irritated, Badger sneered menacingly, "And what's so gorram funny?"

"Oh, oh," Dani panted out, wiping her eyes, "I'm sorry there mate. I read you totally wrong. Thought you got off on that kinda stuff." Her Core accent slipped away, and her more Jiangyin-based Border accent came back to the fore. "Really, I'm sorry. I mean, who says _gou se_ (crap) like 'satisfied with your end of the bargain' anyways? Or 'deal on her behalf'?"

Keith just snickered. "Well, not you _jie-jie_ (older sister), but don't start in on my wife's speech, you know it's her you've been emulating."

"Huh, 'spose I have," Dani mused. "But, she ain't here, an' I am." She sat back up again and retrieved the sheet Badger had passed over, looking it over and nodding. "Right then, we're good. Anythin' else you be needin'?"

Badger just stared back at them, nonplussed. "Ah, well now, if yer lookin' for some work, luv, I got some items that need movin'. Had a gorram decent crew while back, but they up and disappeared on me. Want ta take over for 'em?"

Dani just smiled back, still in good humor. "Tell ya what. We're mostly a legit operation, and we're behind now as it is, with our route already set up and all, but next time we're in Eavesdown Docks fer a spell, we'll look you up."

"Not us, though," Keith rumbled, finishing off his tea. "We'll send Mike."

"Oh, yeah," Dani nodded her assent. "No worries about airs there, he's more of yer type, a… " She trailed off uncertainly. "Well, how wouldya describe yerself, Badger?"

Badger straightened his lapels in a vain attempt at importance. "I'm a businessman, see."

Dani and Keith both barked another laugh, their unison almost eerie to the petty criminal boss. "Right, there you go. He's most definitely a businessman of yer particular caliber," Dani finished.

"Alright then, if'n there's nothin' else," Dani held her cup up, "cheers!" She tipped her head back and downed the contents of her tea, gave herself a little shudder, then rose to her feet. "That there's good stuff _didi_ (little brother). I should start takin' my tea like that."

The large man just scoffed as he stood up. "No way I'm letting you near alcohol before you fly, Captain. You're scary enough as it is."

The two siblings' voices trailed off as they left Badger's underground lair. "Oh, like you gots any room to talk," Dani snorted. "Way you drive?"

"What's wrong with the way I drive?" was the mild baritone reply.

"Really?"

"Really, I drive effectively and efficiently."

"You drive every time like yer in combat. People jump outta yer way with fear in their eyes."

"Oh, now you're just being mean…"

"Ain't mean if'n it's the truth…"

Badger just shook his head in bemusement, unsure as to what to make of the pair.

* * *

 _Fortune's Favour_ cargo hold. Eavesdown docks. Persephone.

It was time to part ways. The _Favour_ had a schedule to keep, and the _Du-Khang_ had to head back to Jiangyin and rebuild Jackson's old business. Coleen had hired a mechanic on Mike's recommendation, and they now had enough to get the three of them back safely.

Coleen and Xian went around the assembled crew, saying their goodbyes.

Dani thought it was odd that Coleen waited to see her last, but then the beautiful redhead was in front of her, smiling shyly.

"So…" Dani began, looking around uncomfortably. "I'm right sorry fer the circumstances, but I'm glad we met you."

Coleen just nodded, her eyes shiny. _Oh, don' start cryin', yer gonna get me started too…_

Any further coherent thought was cut off as Coleen suddenly threw her arms around Dani… and kissed her soundly on the lips.

Dani was stunned, her mind gone completely blank and unable to comprehend the sudden turn of events. All she could think to do was to return the kiss with enthusiasm.

It seemed to stretch on for an eternity, and yet it was over all too soon, as Coleen broke off, breathing heavily.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I just had to, I've been wantin' to fer the longest time, ever since we started talkin' on the bridge…" Coleen babbled happily.

Dani just stood there with a shocked smile on her face, unable to even muster up a response. _Anytime now brain, you c'n kick back in, say somethin' brilliant… Aaaannnytime now… Nope, I gots nothin'._

With a huge grin on her face, somehow cognizant of the impact she had on the tall, lanky captain, Coleen linked arms with Xian and they strode off the ship, waving merrily over their shoulders.

Dani was dimly aware of the laughter of the rest of her crew, including her daughters at her side.

" _Kaasan?_ I think maybe she broke…" Cali's voice drifted through her consciousness.

"Kiss like that'd I'd be broke too," Sara answered affirmatively.

"Seriously, weird as it was to see _Kaasan_ kissin' someone, that was a good kiss," came Rain's reply. They had started talking about her like she was no longer there.

Dani gave herself a shake, looking around and noticing the good humor on everyone's faces. Keith and Mike, in particular, were grinning like they could barely contain their guffaws, while Maribelle and Jess were bouncing up and down, beaming with excitement for her.

"So," Dani began. Then she just left off whatever it was she was going to say and moved towards the staircase instead. "I'll be in my bunk."

The crew lost it, Keith's booming laugh drowning out the rest. He was actually holding his sides, tears streaming down his face. Sara and Rain were holding each other up, otherwise, they would have collapsed to the floor in giggles.

All except for Cali, who though smiling, was looking around in puzzlement. "What, what was so funny 'bout that? Guys? Seriously, guys…? What's so funny?"

Shaking her head, Dani just jogged the rest of the way up. "Oh, _bi zui_ (shut up)," she called over her shoulder good-naturedly.

If anything, that made them laugh even harder. Dani just grinned, her mind finally working in some semblance of intelligence, though it was moving in all sorts of interesting directions, as she left the bay.

"Will someone tell me what's so funny?" she heard Cali say, crossly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is based upon the story, _The Legend of the Copperline_ , written by Sean Kennedy. It was done for the Serenity RPG (by Margaret Weis Productions), and based, of course, on the screenplay by Joss Weadon. All credit goes where it's due.


	14. One-Shot: Just A Quiet Drink

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stop me if you've heard this one: A Browncoat and her friends walk into a bar on U-Day...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was originally published as a one-shot story.

Moon of Xing Yun, orbiting Gonghe. White Sun.  
Bobby's Bar.

Bobby was a contented man. He owned his bar outright and had plenty of regular clientele, decent income to support his family, and best of all he got to do what he loved. He'd been bartending all his life, since he was old enough to work.

Today, though, he felt the need to remind himself of his contentedness. Though he lived within the Core he’d always been sympathetic to the Independent movement. So while today, Unification Day, was often his busiest, he had to put up with all sorts of drunken speechery.

Wiping the clear liquid off his spotless bar with a clean rag, the middle-aged man pushed his lanky brown hair out of his face, attempting not to roll his eyes at the current drunken specimen of Alliance-loving revelry. "An' I knoooow y'all believe same as I, in this great... great... 'Liance!" Rowland, one of his regulars, bawled out.

Bobby just sighed. It was going to be a long night still.

As he was putting away his rag, his head perked up at the sound of the door to his bar opening. In walked five very different individuals.

In the lead was a tall, lanky woman. Her brown hair was tied back in a ponytail that bobbed behind her as she scanned the room with startlingly bright green eyes. The bartender could tell with an experienced eye that she was likely a spacer, wearing tan cargo pants and a black shirt. She had a well-worn holster slung low across her hip and a deadly-looking automatic encased within. Her short leather flight jacket, Bobby noted, was brown, but that perhaps wasn't significant.

Next to her walked a shorter grizzled bear of a man. He had graying black hair and bushy beard like some _xiang ba lao_ ([derogatory] hick/bumpkin) from the Rim. His blue coveralls were stained with engine grease and he didn't seem to be armed.

In contrast was the next individual through the door, a medium-sized man with a shock of red hair on his head and wearing spotless ship's coveralls that were Aliance-gray. He also seemed unarmed and looked around with an easy smile.

Bobby's eyes were drawn to the couple who brought up the rear. The hulking man was a big _hundan_ (bastard), fairly tall and wide across the shoulders. He wore a tight black shirt and grey pants in a military style with a large gun belt buckled at his waist and an equally large gun holstered. The green eyes in his shaven head matched those of the woman in front. His tattooed arm was around the shoulders of a slim, beautiful woman with Asian features, long black hair worn loose and wearing a neat purple tunic under a light gray coat that matched her pants. As she pointed to a free table near the door, Bobby could see a sidearm poking out from a shoulder holster under the jacket.

The first woman approached the bar, asking over her shoulder if there were any preferences for drinks. The big shaven-headed man, likely her brother, grunted out "Let's get sake, that work for you Dani?" in a deep baritone.

The woman nodded and turned back to the bartender, her eyes first examining the animated Rowland. Eyes sparkling with humor, she requested a _tokkuri_ of warm sake and five _chirori_ , the small metal cups that sake was traditionally served in. Bobby nodded amicably and pulled out one of the bottles, kept warm in a water-filled box behind him, along with the requested chirori. Smiling her thanks, the woman walked back to join her companions. The big man had slid into the U-shaped booth on one side last, facing the door and next to the Asian woman. The redhead sat at the far back, and the tall woman slid in next to the grizzled man, facing the rest of the bar.

Bobby returned to his cleaning, serving up a few drinks to those who requested them. Rowland had started in on his favorite topic, his denunciation of Browncoats and general disparagement of their ancestry, oftentimes questioning their parentage and mating habits in particular. He usually just tuned out Rowland's vile rants. Looking up to see if anyone needed refills at the bar, he noticed that the tall woman had put her cup down and was scowling at the drunken speech-maker with her arms crossed. The others were looking at her worriedly, except for the greasy man next to her, who appeared to be grinning (though it was hard to tell with the giant beard covering his face).

“ _Ai ya, huai le_ (shit on my head),” Bobby muttered. This could be bad.

Sure enough the tall spacer ignored the quiet pleading of the redhead and rose from her seat. She sauntered towards the back and the restrooms, though on the way her shoulder bumped into Rowland, hard, cutting off his ramblings.

"Hey, _biao zi_ (bitch)," he spat angrily. "Watch yerself!"

The woman stopped and turned slowly with a predatory smirk on her face. "Oh, sorry ‘bout that, ya sorry excuse fer a _fay fay duh pee-yen_ (baboon's asshole)."

Rowland's face turned beet-red and he sputtered out, "Why you..."

The woman cut him off, sneering, "Oh come on, a _go tsao de_ (dog fucking) purple-belly like yerself can't take the same insults ya dish out none? How pathetic."

With an inarticulate cry of rage, Rowland swung his arm back to take a punch. Bobby winced in anticipation as he knew the drunk could hit like a hover truck. He was shocked, though, to see Rowland’s fist intercepted by a meaty hand. He had not noticed the big bearded fellow sidle up behind Rowland.

"Bad idea, _pigu_ (ass)," the greasy man said cheerily, and then laid Rowland out with one punch.

The first woman smirked back at her friend. "So cute when they're drunk, ain't they?" He chuckled his agreement, which cut off as the rest of the bar, save those from their table, rose up to confront the pair.

The tall woman spoke over her shoulder, "Keith, you wanna help out here _didi_ (little brother)?"

"Maybe you hadn't noticed the distinct lack of a brownish-color coat on my body?" the huge shaven-headed man responded.

"Jess, how ’bout it, female solidarity?"

The beautiful raven-haired girl spoke up, smirking. "But I just got my nails done!"

"Cory, c'mon buddy, help yer Capt’n out!"

Grinning, the redhead held up his _chirori_. "Just got my drink, let me finish it first. Besides, I told you it was a bad idea."

"Right," the woman replied, "yer all on septic duty. Mike? Let's do this."

The two waded with abandon into the brawl that quickly developed. Bobby stayed well back and made sure all the bottles of alcohol were out of reach. He mused that it was possible the cost of repairs might outweigh the amusement at seeing Rowland being trod on repeatedly, as well as the halting of further U-Day speeches for the night. Maybe not though.

The fight rapidly went downhill for the pair of evident former Browncoats. Both had taken numerous punches and Dani had a split lip, but were still managing to stand, practically back-to-back. Until, that is, a spinning kick from the lanky woman sent one of the drunks flying backwards to land on their companion's table, spilling sake everywhere. The big guy, Bobby thought he'd been called Keith, shrugged and stood up. He took one stride forward, grabbed a drunk by the neck and flung him five meters back towards the door.

The other two companions, grinning, moved in to participate.

It was, upon much consideration, the biggest blow-out of a bar fight Bobby had ever seen. And he'd witnessed quite a few to compare it with. When the dust settled, amongst the unconscious bodies there were several broken tables and chairs lying about. One of the latter had been wielded against the lanky woman but the one called Keith had just plucked it from his hand and smashed it across the drunkard's face.

All five of the companions were still standing. Granted, Dani was leaning upon the one she had called Jess like she was about to fall over. All of them sported several bruises and cuts, save for the big tattooed man who didn't seem to have a scratch on him. The latter just grinned widely and started walking towards the door as he slapped down a handful of high-value credit chips on top of the bar. "Sorry about the mess," he rumbled.

The other four followed him out, limping. The lanky Captain, still being supported by the smaller woman, spoke up.

"See," she said grinning, spitting out a mouthful of blood, "toldya this was the perfect bar to get a drink on U-Day."


	15. Episode 11: Back in the Saddle Again

En route to the Kalidasa system.

Dani was sitting quietly on the bridge, no music for a change, just enjoying the stars out in the big old Black. Middle of the day, but most of the crew were finished with their chores and were occupied in various endeavors. She knew that her girls, along with Junior and LT, had a vid going on down in the common room, some sort of ancient tale from Earth-That-Was about a lone gunman who wore a tall hat and had a rope burn around his neck. Dani recalled reading the summary off of the Cortex listing. _What in the 'Verse does a 'Western' hafta do with spaghetti?_

Her musings were interrupted by Julie moving onto the bridge, two cups of tea in her hands. Dani smiled her thanks and sipped gratefully at the proffered cup.

"Mmmm… that's nice. What didya do dif'rently this time?"

"Tried some herbs we picked up on Sihnon last time we visited. They gots a hint of jasmine," Julie replied with a smile. "Okay if'n I sit here for a spell?"

Dani smiled back, "Of course."

The _Favour_ and her crew had spent the last month or so on routine and safe (perhaps boring) cargo and supply runs, mostly between the Core and the Border planets, but sometimes venturing out to the Rim. They were on the way out there now, with some farming equipment for a moon around the gas giant Zeus, which in turn orbited the star Kaldasa.

"I love the view from up here," Julie remarked quietly. "Didn' think I'd get used to it as much as I have, but it's lovely."

Dani smiled peacefully. "Nothin' like it in the 'Verse, starin' out into that Big Black."

Julie took another sip of her tea. "I've always meant to ask you, Dani. Why didya decide to fly?"

Dani grinned at the thought. "That's an easy one. Lemme look somethin' up real quick-like, it's a passage on the Cortex from an ancient Earth-That-Was text I read in school, inspired me."

After a little searching, she found what she was looking for. "You might even know it, bein' the retired school teacher that y'are. Here goes:

"I told her we were going to get married, and all she could talk about was frogs.

"She said there's these hills where it's hot and rains all the time, and in the rainforests there are these very tall trees and right in the top branches of the trees there are these like great big flowers called... bromeliads, I think, and water gets into the flowers and makes little pools and there's a type of frog that lays eggs in the pools and tadpoles hatch and grow into new frogs and these little frogs live their whole lives in the flowers right at the top of the trees and don't even know about the ground, and once you know the world is full of things like that, your life is never the same.

"That's from a character named Masklin, in Terry Pratchett's _The Bromeliad Trilogy_."

She sat back in her seat. "An' that's when I decided I didn' wanna be stuck in the tree all my life. I wanted t'see the 'Verse, I knew what was out there an' I had ta see it. But I didn' wanna be dependent on others t'get there, I decided I weren't gonna let anyone stand in my way. An' I'd be the best damn pilot in the 'Verse, an' that nothin' in the 'Verse would keep me from my dreams."

Julie smiled at her lanky sister-in-law. "I think that's beautiful. You have the soul of a poet, sweetie."

Dani just snorted humorously, "Well, don' let it get about none, I gots a reputation to maintain."

Turning back to face the Black, Julie mused out loud, "I have another one that might suit you. 'All who wander are not lost.' By an ancient Earth-That-Was author by the name of J.R.R Tolkien."

Dani smiled, drinking her tea contentedly. "Yep, that's a good one alright."

* * *

Victoria, third moon of Zeus. Kalidasa system.

Having delivered their cargo, and setting up shop for the locals to use their workshop services, Dani received an invitation to attend a bid on a job shipping grain on a short hop to another one of Zeus' moons, Delynn. Dani walked into the surprisingly crowded hall alongside Jess and sat down next to a pair of very different spacers.

The first on her left was a petite woman dressed in a sharp brown jacket, with the combat boots and trousers that screamed 'ex-Browncoat.' She wore her sidearm and a side bandolier of extra magazines easily. Her dark brown hair was pulled severely back in a tight ponytail, her features pinched in either disapproval or stress.

On the other side of the soldier was a taller man, even taller than Dani, dressed a bit more casually, with an easy smile and disheveled light brown hair. He had a few days worth of stubble and a dimpled face that said smiles came quick and easy to him. While he had a pistol in his low-slung holster, his attire and stance indicated he was a spacer more than a soldier. Dani grinned to herself. _I should know, I look the same myself, 'xcept his coat is Alliance-gray while mine is Independence-brown._

The man looked over with a welcoming smile. "Howdy," he nodded. "Eric Riker, Captain of the _Starscape_." The woman next to him snorted softly. He rolled his eyes good-naturedly and then continued. "This here next to me is my co-Captain and co-owner, Zannah Book."

Zannah just gave a sharp nod, and then returned to inspecting the people on the stage at the head of the hall, who were looking to begin fairly shortly.

Dani nodded back. "Captain Dani Grant, _Fortune's Favour_. This here's my Cargomaster and sister-in-law, Jess Grant."

Jess and Eric smiled at each other in greeting, and then all faced forward as the person who extended them their invitations stepped to the podium.

"So," Dani whispered to Jess. "You got a figure in mind, how low we c'n go?"

Jess nodded back. "Yes, got one in mind. I'll do the auctioning, ok?"

Dani was more than happy to let the sharp woman take the lead and sat back to watch the show.

Wasn't too long before a few of the others spacers dropped out, as they either wanted too much for the run or didn't have the capacity to make it in one trip. There were only five ships represented, but soon it was between the _Starscape_ and the _Fortune's Favour_.

Eventually, it became apparent that Eric and Zannah were willing to go much lower than Jess was, and Dani gave her a nudge as Jess' bids came slower. She just shook her head at her, and Jess nodded in agreement. Wasn't worth taking a loss, and it'd be fine letting the other crew have the run for a little more than the bottom of the barrel.

After the gavel came down, Zannah turned to Jess in surprise, speaking for the first time. "Why'd you stop? I could tell you weren't at yer limit yet." Eric got up to deal with the final details while Jess answered.

"No, but it wasn't much lower than that. We have a Firefly Mark III with a large crew and heavy modifications, our expenses run a little higher than most transports our size."

Dani nodded in agreement, giving voice to her earlier reasoning. "'Sides which, figured it'd be just poor sportsman-like to drive the price down outta spite. What do y'all fly that you could go so much lower?"

Zannah grinned, her good humor transforming the severe face into something much more warm and welcoming. "We gots a converted Pilgrim-class boat."

"Pilgrim-class?" Dani queried. "Ain't those just short-range, interplanet ships?"

Zannah nodded. "Right, we picked it up fer a song at an auction, an' then fitted it fer interstellar. She's slow but reliable. Well," she amended, smiling, "more'r less reliable."

Dani turned to Jess with a smile and then looked over as Eric joined them again. "Well then, since y'all won the bid, how 'bout you treat us losers to a round of drinks?"

Both Eric and Zannah laughed. "Now there's a fine notion," Eric drawled out.

* * *

Pale Horse saloon. Victoria.

The four spacers enjoyed more than one round at the saloon nearby and told tales of their travels and experiences in the 'Verse. Turned out, Zannah was indeed an ex-Browncoat, and served in many of the same battles Dani flew over. The pilot didn't mention her callsign, as Zannah was almost worshipful as it was in praising the efforts of Dani's auxiliary wing.

Eric, now, he had a different tale to tell. He was actually an Alliance Navy deserter. Somewhat similar to the way Keith had, he got fed up with Alliance actions during the war and decided to leave on his own terms. Had taken him some time, but he finally got his record cleared out just a short while ago by doing a job that benefitted the Alliance brass, so he no longer had to worry about a bounty on his head.

"I still keep a gunhand on the crew, along with Captain Book here, they keep my _pigu_ (ass) safe from any mercs who ain't gotten the Wave yet. Speakin' of which," he looked up at the door, "there she is now, likely wonderin' why we ain't liftin' off yet with our cargo."

The number of times Dani was struck dumb, she used to be able to count on one hand. Seemed that number had increased somewhat in the past year or so since captaining the _Favour_. In case it was in doubt, this was another of those times.

Striding purposefully towards the table was a young woman, maybe around Jess' age, in a dress incongruent with that of a usual gunhand's attire. It was grey and fell to her knees, the bottom of her low-slung holster level with the skirt's hem. She had a short bob of auburn hair, a round freckled face, and the prettiest light brown eyes she'd ever seen. About 5 centimeters shorter than Dani, she was more curvaceous, softer while still seeming hard and dangerous, as she moved through the tables with a deadly grace.

"Captains," she spoke up as she arrived. "We ready to launch yet? Cargo's loaded, an' yer grease monkey is gettin' anxious." Her eyes traveled over the seated group but stopped abruptly when they reached Dani.

The lanky spacer felt something odd move through her, a feeling like… _Oh, sweet Buddha, I can't be lustin' after a girl I ain't even spoken to yet..._

The replies of the two _Starscape_ co-Captains were lost to her, but she assumed they had introduced their drinking mates. The gunhand broke her gaze for a minute to glance at Jess with a nod, but then returned to Dani's and smiled a low, sultry smile.

Ta ma de _(fuck me blind), is she actually flirtin' with me?_

The girl extended her hand to Dani and said in a much softer voice than she addressed her Captains, "Hi. I'm Lorraine, but you c'n call me Lori."

Dani took her hand, responding in a matching soft voice, "Danielle, call me Dani."

The clasp of their hands promised something more than would normally be expected from two people who just met, but to Dani, it somehow felt just right.

Zannah was clearing her throat, breaking the spell and the two released each other's hand, embarrassed. Eric was just watching with amusement. "Time to go, ladies," he addressed the table with a bow.

Lori turned to leave with her crew members, but then stopped and asked, "You plannin' on being planetside much longer?"

"Yeah," Dani nodded back dumbly, eager to keep a conversation going with the beautiful girl. "We'll be here at least 'nother day, keep our workshop open fer business, 'fore we head on out."

Lori smiled again, and to Dani, it seemed as if the rest of the saloon had melted away, and there was just the two of them standing there. "Well, then," she said thoughtfully. "How 'bout we get together tonight when we get back? Tea shop 'round the corner here?"

Dani almost giggled in a very un-captainy manner. "I'll see ya there. Mebbe eight local time?"

Lori nodded back with a last smile, then left with her Captains.

She stood there for another full minute before Jess nudged her gently. "Hey, Dani, you in there?"

Dani turned to her with a goofy grin on her face. "Um, what just happened?"

With a grin of her own, Jess answered, "I think you just got a date."

" _Wuh duh ma huh tah duh fong kwong duh wai shung_ (Holy Mother of God and All Her Wacky Nephews)," she replied wonderingly. "I gots a date."

* * *

Captain's quarters. _Fortune's Favour._

" _Ai ya, huai le_ (shit on my head), I gots a date!"

Dani was pacing around her bunk in a panic, her steps short and maniacal. Granted it didn't take much to pace around the cabin, which led her to mostly spinning in a circle before she collapsed in her chair.

Her room was unnaturally crowded as Jess, Maribelle, and her three girls all sat on her bed.

"Look, we're here fer ya,  _Kaasan_ ," Rain spoke up. "Don' get all panicky none. We'll help you put an outfit together, give you some tips…"

Sara smirked next to her. "An' just how much datin' advice c'n you give?"

"Oh, _bi zui_ (shut up)," she snorted back at her friend. "I read fics an' mags on the Cortex."

"I think," Maribelle began with a quirk of the corner of her mouth, "that between the five of us we can give you some advice to help."

"Oooh, oooh, you c'n borrow one of my hats! Make her laugh! That'd break the ice!" Cali bounced excitedly on Dani's bed.

"Okay, maybe the four of us…" Maribelle amended humorously.

"Hey!" Cali squawked indignantly.

"Girls," Dani interjected. "I've gots mebbe three hours 'fore I go on a date, an' the last time I dated was… _jian gui_ (to hell with it), longer'n I c'n rightly 'member. Not even mentionin'… anythin' else."

Jess spoke up, "Are you expecting anything else?"

"Mebbe? Mebbe not? I don' know!" Dani practically wailed, getting more agitated by the minute.

"What kinda anythin' else," Cali asked curiously.

" _Gwan nee tzi-jee duh shr_ (mind your own business)," Dani muttered, embarrassed and blushing. Rain, however, leaned over and whispered a promise to explain later.

The girls together ran through a few scenarios, items to concentrate on, compliments she could make…

"If her shoes match her purse, make sure you note that and say how well they do so," Maribelle said.

"I don' think she's really the purse type, she wore a gunbelt over her dress," Dani answered.

"Well then," Jess replied. "Do the same if her gunbelt matches her shoes."

Dani just put her head down and groaned dejectedly. "I'm never gonna 'member all this…"

Eventually, the younger girls were shooed out, Maribelle escorting them to get a snack in the galley, while Jess left to return with an armful of clothes from her bunk across the hall. While Dani was a bit taller in height, they were of similar build, though she was a bit bustier than Jess as well.

As they started going through the selections, Sara poked her head back down the hatch. " _Kaasan_! I just thought of a very important one! If she's changed her hairstyle since ya saw her last, fer the love of Buddha, say it looks good!"

"I don' think…" Dani began.

"YOU SAY IT LOOKS GOOD!"

Half an hour before it was time to leave, Dani stood in front of the mirror in the main crew quarters head. She wiped away the steam from her shower on the mirror and looked at herself intently.

For the first time in quite awhile, she'd paid particular attention to shaving off all the hairy bits she could find. Including some more private areas. She took stock of her aging body but wasn't terribly depressed by what she saw.

She worked out regularly, even though the results of Cory's cooking was evident in the slight softness of her abdomen. The t _ai chi_ she frequently practiced, as well as the kickboxing she performed on occasion, left her fairly toned, but not too skinny. She stood to the side, looking at her profile. Her smallish breasts hadn't begun to sag, and her rear… She smiled to herself. _Beth always liked my butt._

Sighing, she leaned over and looked into her face soberly. _Is this really the right thing to be doing? Are the girls really okay with this? Am I dishonorin' Beth's memory somehow? No,_ she shook her head firmly at her reflection, _Beth'd want me to be happy. It's been over five years… I deserve to let myself be happy a lil' bit…_

She smiled at the ease of her guilt but then jumped when there was a bang on the door. "Time's up, yer in my shower time slot now!" came Sara's voice on the other side.

Gulping, Dani quickly resumed her drying and wrapped a towel around herself. She passed Sara, who was leaning against the bulkhead, smirking. "Primpin' a lil' extra?" she teased.

"Oh, _bi zui_ (shut up)," Dani walked away with a smile.

"Wear sexy undies!" Sara called out.

"BI ZUI!"

Soon thereafter, she had assembled her outfit, with the help of Jess and Maribelle. To her disgust, all of her pieces of underwear (since Sara had gotten the idea in her head) were decidedly un-sexy. "They're all old woman's undies!" she wailed dejectedly.

"Relax," Jess soothed. "Next time we're on a Core world, we'll take you out lingerie shopping. We hadn't before because you never showed an interest." Maribelle nodded in agreement. "For now, though," she continued thoughtfully, "there's an easy fix. Just don't wear any."

Dani didn't think she could blush any harder. "Um. Yeah, I suppose that'd work… I don' think I'd be able t'keep my mind off the fact that all my private bits were so vulnerable."

"Use it," Jess answered with a knowing smile. "Work it into your confidence. You are a strong, sexy lady."

"I am?" Dani squeaked in a small voice.

'Gorram straight, girl. Now let's see what we found to fit you."

The result of their hours of searching was, in Dani's opinion, a pretty cute outfit. None of the dresses really fit her in the chest (except for one little black number, but it barely came down to her crotch), so she went with a plain black pair of pants she found in her own closet. For the top, Dani found among her sister-in-law's clothing a slinky red blouse that exposed a little bit of midriff. Jess confirmed it fell to her own hip but looked on Dani like it was cut that way.

Fortunately, Maribelle had unusually large feet for her petite frame, even larger than Jess', and they turned out to be the same size as Dani's. "Not that you can borrow from my entire collection," she warned. "We'll take you shoe shopping as well, later on, something other than work shoes or boots."

The low pumps, along with the rest of her outfit, looked classy and elegant to Dani. In fact, it didn't really look like her at all.

She eschewed most of the makeup her two sister-in-laws tried to press upon her, settling on a light lipstick and faint eyeshadow. She was so unused to any makeup at all, she was afraid of looking like either a Companion or a clown.

Walking down to the deck of the cargo bay, with Jess and Maribelle trailing behind her, she noted with amusement that the entire crew had assembled to see her off. Keith, however, held up a hand before she could exit the ship.

"What," Dani protested, "not cute enough?"

"Oh plenty of cute, _jie-jie_ (older sister)," he replied with a grin. "But do you know how cold it is outside?"

Looking down at her exposed midriff, Dani muttered curses in Mandarin under her breath as she marched back upstairs, then back down again with a warm overcoat covering up her very cute outfit. Without another word, she walked down the ramp and into the night.

* * *

Shangri La Tea House. Victoria.

Dani sat at the table nervously. She'd left her coat at the door, and sat with her legs crossed, tapping her foot against the chair next to her. She was early, of course, and so had plenty of time to agonize over her clothing decisions. And lack of underwear.

 _Confidence,_ she asserted to herself. _I'm a strong, sexy woman. I gots a very cute outfit on, an' I'm on a date with a beautiful woman… Oh_ ta ma de _(fuck me blind), I'm on a date with a beautiful woman…_

Before she could work herself into a tizzy, the object of her musing strode through the door. _Now that's confidence,_ Dani thought breathlessly.

Lori was wearing another short dress that came to just above her knees, flaring out at the bottom but falling in soft ruffles. It was a pale green and matched her complexion perfectly. She took her short brown leather flight jacket off and left it by the door. Spying Dani immediately across the room, she gave a predatory grin and headed for their table. _Mmmm, she looks like she could eat me up… oh, let's not go there yet, confidence, confidence…_ Still, the fire in the beautiful girl's eyes, the way she was looking at her, and the light off of her freckled cheeks made her clench her knees together weakly.

She sat down across from Dani and shook out her bobbed hair. It was done a little differently, she had part of it pinned up to expose her ears. "Oh," Dani blurted out before Lori could speak, "I like what you did with yer hair!"

Lori smiled widely, surprised yet very pleased. "Oh, thank's fer noticing Dani, I thought I might try somethin' new. You really like it?"

Dani nodded her head a bit too vigorously. _Thank you, Sara._ "I do, really." And she sat there with a goofy grin on her face.

They sat over tea and made small conversations about each other, where they were from, that sort of thing. Dani tried to relax further, regain her confidence, but she kept waiting for Lori to get tired of making such an effort to put up with her. Finally, Lori gave a sort of exasperated sigh and put her tea cup down. "Dani, lookit me."

She wasn't sure why Lori said that as she'd been unable to take her eyes off of her all evening, but sure, okay… Oh. _Here it comes,_ Dani thought morosely. _Say it's been very nice talkin' to me, but it's just not workin' out…_

"Dani, how long's it been since you've been on a date?"

The lanky woman just blinked uncertainly. _Well, that was unexpected..._ "Um, quite some time? Like… years? Mebbe a decade? I dunno… " she trailed off, and then asked in a small voice, "Am I that obvious?"

Lori just smiled gently at her. "Darlin', yer tryin' so very hard tonight, an' I c'n tell you just can't seem to relax none. D'ya wanna know a secret?"

Dani blinked again. She really wasn't following any of this conversation anymore, but she nodded uncertainly.

Lori leaned forward and dropped her voice to a whisper. "I think yer very beautiful. I like the way you smile an' laugh. Wanna hear another?"

Wide eyed, and slightly awestruck, Dani just nodded and leaned forward as well.

The curvaceous gunslinger smiled a sort of wicked smile and purred, "I gots a thing fer tall, athletic, sexy girls. An' as much as I love that shirt on you, I'd really like to take it offa you."

Dani's mouth just made an "oh" shape, and all sorts of places that had been dormant for far too long suddenly became all gooey. Then Lori leaned over their small table a few centimeters more and kissed Dani.

At first, it was a very sweet kiss, meant to relax and reassure, but the longer it went on, the more it became a demand for more, a promise of things to come. By the time Lori broke it off, Dani was about ready to tear her date's clothes off right there in the shop and forget decorum.

Lori sat back with a very self-satisfied smile on her face, and Dani, for a change, said exactly what was on her mind. "You, sexy lady, are an excellent kisser. Now I s'pose you'd like a secret of my own?" _Hey now, there's the confidence I was lookin' fer, glad to have ya back again…_

Lori's grin became even bigger. "Oh, yes, beautiful. I'd love to hear all yer secrets. I've been dyin' to hear 'em ever since I set eyes on you."

Dani cleared her throat and tried for a seductive purr. She was fairly certain she might have achieved _not_ sounding like she had a cold, but what the hey, it was the words that counted.

"I gots a thing for redheads with freckles. In fact," she covered Lori's left hand with her own on top of the table, "I'd like to see how far 'cross yer body those freckles go. And furthermore," _I'm really startin' to get into this, might as well go the full distance_ , "I'd absolutely love t'explore every freckle I c'n find. With my tongue." Dani thought the last bit was inspired, really.

And evidently it had the desired effect, as Lori's eyes got wide, and she went from full seductress to looking a little awestruck herself. "Okay," she said breathlessly, "that was sexy as _diyu_ (hell). I'm completely soaked now."

"Oh thank Buddha," Dani smirked. "I was hopin' I weren't the only one."

"Well then, there's just one question left to ask," Lori said, grinning.

Dani squeezed Lori's hand. "Yer bunk or mine?"

* * *

Captain's quarters. _Fortune's Favour._

Dani felt like she was a teenager again, sneaking through her parent's house, only this time she was sneaking aboard her own ship. The two women managed to get to her bunk without getting spotted by any of the crew, though Dani had a suspicion that the way might have been intentionally left clear. All such thoughts left her mind as soon as she closed the hatch when Lori's lips assaulted her own.

The kiss before was just a prelude to the fireworks that burst against her lips now, leaving them raw and tingly. Their hands roamed across each other, memorizing their curves, claiming each other's bodies.

Dani broke off suddenly and leaned her forehead against Lori's. "Wait… just a sec… I gotta say somethin'…" she panted.

Lori cradled Dani's face in both her hands gently. "Shhh, it's okay, are we movin' too fast?"

"Yes, well no, actually…" She closed her eyes briefly. "I weren't kiddin' none about the length of time it's been fer me. I mean, literally, it's been over a decade since I've been with anyone, so's I'm gonna be a lil', okay a LOT rusty, an'…"

Lori moved her lips up to Dani's cheek and gave her another kiss. "Don' worry none, we c'n take this slow as you like. You c'n even let me steer if'n you like." Her voice was full of patience.

"No…" Dani murmured. She still felt insecure, slightly neurotic even, but she knew what she wanted. "Now that I've actively started thinkin' about it, I really, really wanna see all yer freckles now."

Lori just laughed, and gently pushed Dani back on her bed. "Well, darlin', all you gots to do is ask…"

Dani had never had a show put on for her before, but as Lori slowly removed her clothes for her benefit, she decided that this was something she would add to her ledger in the "Oh God Yes" column. It was a good thing her limbs were frozen in place, otherwise she would have jumped the gunslinger immediately. But she was very glad to wait, as Lori kicked off her shoes, slipped off her pale green dress and revealed a sexy, curvy body, soft in all the right places, covered only by a very thin set of lacy black panties and bra.

And yes, there were freckles… Acres and acres of freckles, much to Dani's eternal delight.

Lori gave a smile of sheer joy at the pilot's reaction, and asked quietly, "What wouldya like to happen next?"

Dani licked her lips. "I want you under me in my bed. I want you naked, I want my body against yers, an' I wanna bury you in kisses."

Lori giggled, "I c'n get behind that idea. C'n I undress you?"

"Oh, I'd love that," she replied.

Lori stalked over to the bed, and removed Dani's shoes, then slowly unbuttoned her shirt, trailing kisses down her neck. Lori froze suddenly as she realized the lack of a bra. "Oh, my, beautiful," she murmured, "yer just full of surprises."

 _If'n only she knew it was 'cause I ain't gots anythin' sexy to wear under-_ Any further coherent thought was halted immediately as Lori slipped aside the fabric of her shirt and wrapped her lips around her right nipple, tweaking the other gently with her fingers. She let out a moan and a shudder… Ta ma de _(fuck me blind), did I just come?_

"Did you jus' come?" Lori asked wonderingly.

Dani ran her fingers through Lori's hair and just nodded, eyes slightly crossed.

"Well then," the redhead grinned. "Better get used to that…" She proceeded to remove Dani's shirt, and then pulled off her pants, giving a little giggle when she confirmed that there were no panties underneath either. She trailed kisses down to Dani's belly button.

"Oh no you don'," Dani moaned. "I want you under me first."

"Well, then, I s'pose you do outrank me, bein' a Captain and all," Lori replied.

" _Dao xie_ (thank you), love," Dani whispered, as she turned with Lori in her arms so that the gorgeous redhead lay under her body. She started at Lori's ear and moved down her neck to her chest, leaving a trail of kisses, licks, and nibbles. Lori gave a little moan and arched her back. She took advantage of the situation, and deftly moved her hands behind to undo the clasp of the bra. Removing it, she cupped both of Lori's generous breasts in her hands, massaging them gently while trailing her kisses even further. She wrapped her lips around one large, pink nipple, sucking it in gently, then releasing it with a pop.

"Oh yes, God Dani yes, don' stop…" Lori was practically gasping by this point. Dani moved her hands down to slip the black panties off, as her mouth continued its journey down her stomach, and then risked a look up at the redhead's face.

Lori was panting frantically, looking down at her wild-eyed, which in itself was a huge turn on. _Must be doin' this right, now lemme 'member the next technique…_

Keeping her eyes on Lori's, she slowly spread the beautiful gunslinger's legs apart, gazing in fascination at the beautiful hairless vulva in front of her. She licked her bottom lip, and decided to skip the fingers and lead with her mouth; it was working well for her so far. Dani slid down below her, flattened her tongue, and ran it across the labia, then slid it back down again, tasting with just the tip. It was sweet, musky, and slightly salty as well. _God, I've missed this. She's so warm, and wet too… I'm glad she's enjoyin' this as much as I am._ She reached up and grasped both of Lori's hands in her own.

Twisting her tongue to the side, Dani gingerly ran the tip up again, sliding it between her lover's labia, just ever so slightly parting Lori's outer lips. With the redhead's hands on her own, she felt secure in judging how her efforts were affecting Lori, who was squeezing and pulling alternately on them. Grinning, she slowly pressed a warm kiss onto Lori's labia, getting a long, quiet moan from her lover.

Dani pulled her head up slightly, and asked softly, "Okay so far?"

" _Wuh duh ma huh tah duh fong kwong duh wai shung_ (Holy Mother of God and All Her Wacky Nephews), yes Dani, please don' stop, yer killin' me!"

Laughing quietly, she just lowered her head again and resumed her licking, once again using the flat of her tongue, drawing the wide top of it along her labia and along her slit, pushing gently. She felt Lori's muscles squeeze, actually pulling her tongue further in, and she acquiesced gladly. Dani moved her head up slightly and pushed her tongue in further. _Oh yeah,_ she thought with a moan. Lori's hips bucked, and one of her hands were released so that her lover could grasp Dani's hair in her fist. Moisture was coming out faster now, around her mouth, and she moved her tongue out a bit to drink down some of Lori's essence.

She started to bob her head, and curled her tongue up, pressing it into the top of Lori's vagina, much to the enjoyment of her lover, who let out a quiet whimper, her body tensing and relaxing in rhythm to Dani's licks. Lori began to move her hips, and Dani responded by slowly gyrating her shoulders as well as her head. Lori's breath started to come harder, moaning Dani's name, and the pilot felt extraordinarily pleased with herself at the reaction. _This's hot as_ diyu _(hell)_ , _I'm gettin' off on this myself, far more than I ever 'member doin' before…_ Dani loved the sound of Lori's voice. She liked the breathy quality that took over the already sexy tone as she moved closer and closer to orgasm.

Unable to contain herself any longer, Dani withdrew her tongue and searched for the sweet nubbin straining at the top of the clitoris, and gave it a little flick. Lori let out a whimper, and her hand tightened in Dani's hair. She sealed her lips around Lori, sucking longer and harder while caressing with her tongue. Lori's head was thrown back, and her moans were getting louder, almost to a feverish pitch. Dani moved her free hand to grasp one of her lover's breasts and rolled her nipple with her fingers.

That was enough to send Lori over the edge. Her body suddenly arched off the bed, straining, and a fierce cry came out, and then she practically screamed Dani's name. That also caused Dani to come, as her own muscles clenched, and she screamed into Lori's clitoris, causing her lover to shudder again. Finally, her body collapsed under Lori, both women limp, sweaty and exhausted.

Dani moved her head up from in between Lori's legs and left a gentle kiss just above. Then she moved up and next to her lover, leaning up on one elbow, level with her face and draped one leg across her thighs. Lori was so gorgeous and even more so after she had orgasmed. "So, did I do okay?" she asked with a very self-satisfied smirk on her face.

Lori's unfocused eyes sought out the pilot's face. " _Ai ya, huai le_ (shit on my head)," she murmured breathlessly, "if'n that was rusty, I don' think I could survive yer A-game none…"

Dani buried her head in the crook of Lori's neck and giggled like a teenager, kissing her lovingly.

"Hey, beautiful…" Lori whispered after a while.

"Yeah?"

"I think you missed a few freckles."

That caused Dani to laugh outright. "Izzat a challenge?"

"Sweet Buddha no, I'd never walk again. I'm done, ridden hard an' put away. I'm workin' up the energy to return the favor."

"No rush, love," Dani murmured gently. She shifted slightly, and reached down, pulling the covers over both of them. She then stretched her long arms above her head and switched the lights off. Moving her arm back down, she slipped it around Lori's shoulders and cradled her body against her own. "Get some rest for a couple of hours."

"But…" Lori protested weakly.

Dani just sealed a kiss against her lips. "Hush now. What I just did fer you, more than got me off. I don' know how many times you came but I lost track of the number of times that I did. Believe me, though, it was many."

Lori giggled. "So yer sayin' yer easy, huh?"

Dani laid her head against the pillow, breathing in her hair. "Only for you, gorgeous…"

She woke with a start early the next morning and gave the beautiful girl next to her a nudge. "Hey sleepyhead, better get on up or yer ship'll leave without ya."

"Nah," Lori yawned back. "They love me too much. Won' leave me none." She cracked an eye. "Unless you wanna keep me?"

"Hmmmm…" Dani smirked thoughtfully. "Granted, I think I could afford your pay, 'specially if I added in the fringe benefits…"

Laughing, the redhead slapped her lightly on her arm. "They wouldn't know what to do without me." Her eyes turned serious. "That was mebbe mean of me. I don' want ya to think…"

Dani leaned down and gave her a gentle kiss. "I know, sweetie. Let's get dressed an' sneak you back out again 'fore the crew stirs."

Lori was back in her outfit from the previous night, but Dani opted for her usual ship's wear of cargo pants, tee shirt, and boots. She picked out a plain bright blue shirt she rarely wore, but it suited her cheery disposition today.

They quietly headed up the ladder from her bunk and were tip-toeing down the hallway when Dani heard a sleepy voice behind her. "'Morning, _Kaasan_ … Oh!" Dani looked over her shoulder to see Sara with a huge grin on her face. "Good morning!" she chirped.

Dani just sighed. _The gig is up._ She gave Sara a wave and then hustled Lori on down to the cargo bay doors.

Lori stopped there and put her arms around her lover's waist. "Now, yer not ashamed about me none, are ya?"

Dani grinned and wrapped her own arms around her neck. "Lemme disabuse you of that notion…"

They shared a tender, long kiss, one of remembrance and thankfulness for a night of passion. As they broke off, Dani whispered, "I have yer ship's ID, I c'n look fer it whenever we come in-system… D'ya think I c'n see you again?"

"Oh, definitely," Lori promised. "I still owe you some attention, an' you still gots freckles to find."

They shared a giggle, and Lori continued, "Captain Book prefers to stick with a route, but Captain Riker likes ta move 'round. 'Tween the two of them, we tend to stay within a system fer 'bout a month or so an' then move on. Mebbe I'll Wave you, tell you which system we're in, whenever we do move."

"Yeah," Dani replied softly. "I'd like that."

The two lovers smiled at each other, and then Lori turned to leave. Raising her voice, she called out over her shoulder, "Thanks for the hospitality y'all, and safe flyin'!"

Dani closed her eyes for a second, and then, knowing what she would see, opened them back up and turned around. Sara had managed to alert the entire crew, even the boys, and they were all lined up along the rails of the cargo bay. Every single member of her crew had identical grins on their face.

"Oh, _bi zui_ (shut up), don' even start with me none," she retorted humorously. But she couldn't keep the huge grin off her face as she skipped off to the bridge to prepare for liftoff.

"About gorram time," she overheard Keith rumble with a smirk.

"I know, right?" was Mike's reply.

Both were smacked playfully by their wives.


	16. Intermission III

Whew! So there we go, my first attempt at a sex scene. As I mentioned in the notes, this was a lot harder to write than I expected it to be, for various reasons. Also, for other reasons that should be obvious, my usual Beta readers (my daughters) refused to touch the Lemons. Prudes. :-D

Seriously, though, I can't go an Intermission without thanking them both. And to all you, dear readers, who have gotten this far. There haven't been all that many as of when I write this, but hopefully, at some point, this will change so that I can get more of the feedback that I crave!

The next two chapters (I keep calling them Episodes in my head and notes, maybe I should go back and just rename them that?) are a special treat. The first is entirely in Rain's voice (Rain Showers) as she has adventures of her own on Ariel, while the second I'm still working on where to focus the point of view. Might be Sara, might be Cali, maybe they'll both share it. Both episodes should be a fun change of pace as the girls go off-ship.

However, I'm going to pause first, go back and fix some things in the previous episodes. See, I just did it again, called them Episodes. _Jian gui_ (to hell with it), I might as well make it so. But I'll be tweaking some things, replacing the "breaks" with subtitles, etc. Hopefully nothing too obvious or detrimental. And every time I go back to re-read an episode, I spot another typo or error or a word repeated too many times. I do love Google Docs, but sometimes I think it sports an autocorrect feature or makes suggestions that are way off base (No, I meant "wanly", not "wryly", but thank you for asking GDocs). Also FYI, FanFiction dot net is serious when it says the .odt format is best supported. Download a gdoc in odt and all the formatting is preserved when uploaded to FF. Glorious.

So, just a short Intermission, much love out to y'all, and to Joss Wheadon, to whom I will always be grateful for dreaming up a 'Verse such as this for all of us to play in with our imaginations. All credit for Firefly and hugs are due to him. And another shout-out to Quantum Mechanix (Qmx) who have done, and continue to do, so much to keep the 'Verse alive in printed material, film, and game.

Oh, and one more tidbit. Being the Linux geek that I am, I usually operate under the Creative Commons License when it comes to open-source software, and it can be applied to other pieces of work. So I'm applying it here to my writings as an Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike (CC BY-NC-SA) License, and I'll mention that on my profile. In a nutshell:

" **This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon your work non-commercially, as long as they credit you and license their new creations under the identical terms."**

Unless otherwise noted in the materials I use, I try to treat them in the same fashion. I will give credit to the sources I use as much as possible, but if anyone notices someone or something I missed, please let me know so I can rectify the error!


	17. Episode 12: Rain Showers

En route to Ariel.

Rain yawned widely as she climbed the steps leading out of her bunk, closing the hatch behind her as was her habit. She was an intensely private person still, insofar as that was possible on a medium-sized transport like a Firefly, with a crew as large as the _Fortune's Favour_ had.

She trudged her way into the galley, looking for her morning salvation of very strong black tea. Sure enough, Julie was standing by the stove, tending a pair of kettles, one of coffee and one of tea. "Good mornin' Rain," the matronly retired teacher greeted her.

"'Lo Aunt Julie. C'n I get a cup, please?" She tried valiantly not to rudely yawn in her Aunt's face; mornings were nowhere near her favorite time of day. Very bottom of the list, in fact; though around here, noisy afternoons got pretty close.

"Absolutely. C'n you take a cup up to the bridge as well?"

"Sure thing, I was gonna head on up there anyways."

Two cups in her hand and taking sips from one, she walked back up the hallway forward. She made sure to keep track of whose was whose; _Kaasan_ liked her tea tad bit sweeter than she did (practically no sugar at all). Unlike her sister Cali who could dump an entire container of sugar in her tea. _Makes my teeth rot jus' thinkin' bout it._

Rain could hear the strains of music coming from the bridge and paused with a grin to watch Dani dancing around by herself, concealed by the shadows at the entrance.

Though she didn't let her emotions show very often, she did love all her family very, very much. Desperately so, at times. And while she also missed her Mom something fierce, every day, she was still glad to see her _Kaasan_ so happy. _Don't rightly recall readin' any fics where an afterglow could last a week; should include it in one of my stories…_

Clearing her throat after the current music track ended (one she didn't recognize, something about some guy called Perry Mason) she spoke up with her usual snark. "Is stompin' considered applaudin' with yer hands full? 'Cause that's 'bout all I c'n do here."

Spinning around, Dani looked over at her in surprise, then walked over to retrieve the proffered cup Rain had extended. "No need, I'll be here all week, performances on the hour."

Rain just snickered. As much as _Kaasan_ liked to tease that she got her sarcasm from Mom, they all knew where a good chunk of the blame lay. As she followed her deeper into the bridge, moving to sit in her chair, ( _yes MY chair, I'm the gorram pilot an' navigator of a gorram ship, thank you very much_ ) she saw a blinking light out of the corner of her eye.

" _Kaasan,_ I think you gots a Wave."

"Oh, must be close enuff to the satellites near Ariel." She flicked it on to see the smiling face of one of Rain's favorite Aunts. _Really wish she could fly with us, it'd make our family more complete._

"Kelly!" Dani chirped happily, sounding suspiciously like Cali. _Mebbe I gave her too much sugar in her tea_ , she laughed to herself, knowing good and well exactly what, or more appropriately who, had put such a lift in her voice.

"Hey girl, how are things? I hear you got a little action last week?"

Dani just laughed, trying yet failing to sound offended. "What, does everyone in the 'Verse know now?"

Kelly grinned back. "Nope, just got off with Maribelle. She said you were still glowing, and I had to see for myself."

The glowing Captain in question beamed back. "Well yer correct, though I ain't gotten t'see her again. Miss her already."

"We all know," Rain called snarkily from her chair. "Yer walls ain't as thick as you think, my bunk is next t'yers, an' I hear ya every gorram night." _Hmm, mebbe that was a lil' over the line of disrespect. I should prob'ly work on my mouth filter, it's gettin' harder when around family since I'm more comfortable._

Sure enough, Dani flushed a very bright red. Rain winced, expecting an angry outburst, but then realized it was in embarrassment. "I'm sorry, I'll wait till yer on the bridge, an' c'n we please never discuss this again?"

Both Rain and Kelly gave forth peals of laughter, and Kelly voiced what was in Rain's head anyways. "Oh, sweetie, I don't think there's any chance that's the last you hear of this…"

God, she loved her family.

* * *

On approach to Ariel.

Rain took a deep breath and gripped the controls tightly. Not as tight as she used to, less of a death's grip and more of a firm hand. She had come so far and was no longer afraid of piloting the _Favour_.

_Okay, mebbe still a lil' nervous, in the back of my brain, that we'll all end up crispified and screamin'._

Dani had already gotten their clearance, and Rain easily followed the beacon on down to the landing pad near the bottom levels of the city. _Landin' gear's still green… engine pods're level… decrease thrust… gentle…_ And with a soft thud they were landed.

She rotated the engine pods back to their horizontal position and looked over to see Dani smiling at her. "I swear, _baobei_ (treasured one) you get better at the landin's every time."

Rain beamed back. "Thanks, _Kaasan_!"

Her Captain got up and moved to the rear, likely to get things rolling on unloading her cargo. Rain liked to sit in the pilot's seat for a little while longer after they set down, just to relax her shoulders.

Light footsteps sounded behind her, two pairs of feet heavier than the boys but lighter than an adult's. And if that weren't indicator enough of her visitors, she could sense Sara and Cali behind her.

Since she was very young, Rain could sense things. Usually the mood of others, sometimes just a perception of what they were going to do or say. Both her parents had known and accepted it, but she hadn't told anyone else that as she got older it got just a little bit stronger. So much so that she had to sometimes actively work at blocking people, especially on the crowded boat they shared. And even worse in large crowds of people. _Makes planet-side hard._

Cali plopped herself in the navigator's seat while Sara took Dani's. They both looked at her with wide grins.

 _Oh, I see what's comin'…_ "Y'all know I don' like goin' off-ship none."

Cali's grin turned into a pout, the smudge of grease on her cheek drooping downward. "Told ya she'd pick up on what we wanted." Rain just smirked at her, she at least had reason to know by now there was no point in beating around the bush.

"Fine," Sara huffed out. "But I'm still gonna list all the reasons why you should."

Rolling her eyes good-naturedly, Rain crossed her arms and leaned back. "Alright, fine, go 'head."

Sara pulled her legs up under her and started ticking points off on her fingers. "Fer starters, you never come. We'd have more fun with you. You'd scare off anyone who would bother us." Rain had to laugh at that, oh yes she was mean-looking _biao zi_ (bitch), it was her attitude really that kept people from messing with her. _Frigid and frozen and freaky._ "There's a really cool marketplace Aunt Maribelle told us about," Sara continued, "an' there's a stall there that sells really cool pins, an' another that sells chocolates." Rain perked up a little at that, obviously, she had saved the best for last.

Both Sara and Cali were back to grinning, they knew they had her hooked. "Fine, okay, I'll come along."

Cali squealed and tackled her in a hug, then they both skipped off to get their things together. Sighing in amusement, Rain moved off to do the same, resolving to keep her pin-adorned flight cap and patch-covered vest on.

* * *

Streets of Ariel City.

The girls had stopped off first for a meal, as they had landed shortly before lunch. Rain had a love for sushi, and while the sushi bar they stopped at was very good, it wasn't quite as tasty as the ones on Sihnon. Now they were walking along, chatting happily and looking around at the sights, on the way to the market they had been told about. _Just like a bunch of tourists. Obvious touristry, check,_ Rain thought with amusement.

" _Dung e hwar_ (yuck/disgusting)," Cali screwed up her face comically, "why did I try the wasabi? That was nasty." The other girls just laughed at her.

Suddenly Rain felt a chill move through her, as if the sun went behind a cloud, though it was still shining like a bright white ball overhead. There was something nearby, someone who… Rain shook her head. She couldn't make out anything other than _danger_ and _menace_ , and she wasn't even sure it was directed at them. But it was enough to make her pause in the street.

Cali and Sara paused as well, looking at her with concern. " _Jie-jie_ (older sister)?" Cali asked.

Her bad feeling was getting worse, she just didn't know why, and it was irritating the _diyu_ (hell) out of her. " _Ai ya, huai le_ (shit on my head)," she muttered. "Are either of you armed?"

Though Cali just shook her head, her face pale with worry, Sara smirked and nodded. "Always."

She felt in her pocket for her folding knife that Dani had given her on her fifteenth birthday. The part of town they were in wasn't supposed to be bad, in fact, she was pretty sure firearms weren't allowed. Not that any of the three usually wore them. _That might need to change._

And then her feeling of unease was focused ahead on three men who were walking purposefully towards the trio. They were in Core-tailored suits and wearing identical sunglasses. She didn't recognize them, or what kind of person they represented, but she knew they were in trouble if they stayed put.

" _Cao_ (fuck)," she said quietly. Looking to her right, she spied an alley slightly behind them. "This way guys."

The other two followed her lead, and they walked rapidly down the alley, only to be met at the next intersection by three more of the men. They surprised them from behind as the girls emerged from the alley, wrapping solid arms around their prey. "Now, girls," said an authoritative yet condescending voice. "Just take it easy and you won't get hurt."

" _Wang ba_ (son of a bitch)," Rain growled. Her arm was pinned to her side, unable to get her knife free. Instead, she kicked backward violently and was darkly pleased to hear an audible pop as her captor's knee dislocated.

Turning, she saw Sara whip out a shiv from the sleeve of her loose arm and bury it into the middle of the wrist of the man holding her. She could see Sara grit her teeth over his sudden scream of pain as she pulled it up and out, slicing off half his wrist.

Cali for her part simply sunk her teeth like a wild animal into the wrist of the man holding her, ensuring her release.

The three quickly fled across the street and down another alleyway across from the first one, hearing the screams of those they had disabled, and the shouts of more pursuers.

As they ran, Sara looked over grinning, "We are so _huaidan_ (badass)!"

Cali spit out blood wordlessly, gagging slightly at the taste. Rain was panting with exertion ( _I really need t'get in better shape so's I c'n run fer my life more often_ ) and snarked back, "Oh yeah, tha's us, buncha _xiong jiao_ (handsome heroes)."

They reached the end of the alley and began to climb over a stack of crates. Each girl took turns hopping over the fence they were piled up against.

Unfortunately when Cali landed, she came down hard against a pile of debris and sliced her left leg along the calf. " _Go tsao de wang ba_ (dog fucking son of a bitch)!" she screamed.

Rain took a second to look at her leg. It was pretty bad, beginning to bleed profusely. Sara handed her a handkerchief that she drew from her pocket, and Cali's wound was bound as well as possible. _She's not gonna get far on that, gorramit._

She stood up suddenly, her course of action as clear as if it were written before her on a Cortex screen. "Sara," she said quietly. "I need ya to get Cali back to the ship."

"WHAT?" Cali shouted in between sobs. It must have been hurting her something fierce. "I'm not leavin' you none!"

"Yeah, y'are," she responded patiently. "I can't protect you none like Sara c'n, an' we need ta split up so's I c'n draw 'em away, give you two a chance to escape."

Sara just looked at her mutely as Cali leaned against her with tears streaming down her face. "You _ben dan_ (idiot)," Sara said finally. "Don't you go gettin' yerself killed."

Rain just smirked and answered sarcastically to cover up the butterflies in her stomach. "If'n I do, I'll make sure t'haunt you first."

Sara just rolled her eyes, and grabbed ahold of Cali, hobbled off to the right, back towards the landing field.

" _Jiejie_ (older sister)!" Cali wailed over her shoulder.

"I'll meet you at the ship," Rain called as she jogged to the left, circling around to try and get the bad guy's attention. She was cursing herself for their getting into this situation so unprepared. _No communicator, no gun, just a little fold-up knife. Didn' even give a firm time we'd be back, so's we won' be seen as overdue until tonight, an' tha's a long time away._

Rain poked her head around the next corner on the main street they had escaped their captors from. Right into the sunglasses of one of the suited bad guys.

"Eeep!" Rain squeaked, but fortunately, the man in front of her was just as surprised and even slower to react. She took full advantage of that, and delivered a hard punch to his stomach, then turned tail and ran as fast as she could up the street. _Well, got their attention, now what genius?_

Clutching her hat with her hand, she vaulted over a stall that was blocking her way - and promptly fell on her ass. " _Niubi_ (fucking awesome)," she muttered sarcastically. They made it look a lot easier in the vids. Scrambling back to her feet, she risked a glance over her shoulder to see two of the suited men closing in. With a squeak, she turned and bolted around the next corner.

Rain's heart pounded in her chest as she tried to gain some distance on her pursuers. As she approached the next corner, her instincts screamed at her, and she skidded to a stop, just in time to avoid the lunge of the first goon that she had punched. _Must've circled around._ He flailed forward, landing on his face, and she decided that just in case he hadn't taken the hint, she'd reinforce it. Screaming, she stomped on his back with both feet before darting off again. " _Cao ni zuzong shiba dai_ (fuck your ancestors to the eighteenth generation)!" she shouted over her shoulder, resuming her course again.

By this point, she was hopelessly lost. She had taken so many twists and turns, she'd completely lost track of what direction the landing field was. Leaning against a wall, she paused to catch her breath. If she could get higher up, she might be able to see the air traffic…

Hearing footsteps behind her echoing off the deserted alleyway she was currently resting, she abandoned that train of thought and began to look for a place to hide out, at least for awhile. Something made her decide to make a turn down a darkened alley, partially blocked by refuse, even though it looked all sorts of ominous and foreboding.

Her steps slowed as she passed by a board that was leaning against the wall next to an overflowing dumpster. Holding her nose against the smell, she pulled the board back to reveal a dark hole just big enough for her to squeeze through into the building. " _Jian gui_ (to hell with it)," she muttered under her breath, and darted inside, leaning the board back in place.

Sitting in the dark, her ears straining for footsteps inside, she tried to slow her heart rate. She had just about succeeded when a small voice piped up from across the room, "This ain't yer place."

" _Tai-kong suo-yo duh shing-chiou sai-jin wuh duh pee-goo_ (shove all the planets in the universe up my ass)!" she screeched in a harsh whisper.

A giggle was her only response. Straining her senses to their limit, she could tell there was only one person in the room… not that she could tell how big the room was, or where the exit would be… _Gorramit, why couldn't I gots sonar instead of … whatever it is I gots._

"You gonna just sit there like a stuck-up _biao zi_ (bitch) an' ignore me?" the voice said with an audible smirk.

"Oh, _qu si_ (go die / go to hell)," Rain snarked back. "Been an extremely bad day. Don' start with me none."

"Noticed that, else you wouldn'ta been in here with me." The voice giggled again. "I'm Mouse, by the by."

"Rain," she replied. "Izzit safe to turn a light on or somthin'?"

Her question was answered by more giggling. "There ain't no power in here, silly. Tell ya what, you help me carry my loot, and I'll give ya shelter from whatever _piyan_ (asshole) chased you in here."

"I c'n work with that. Can't see a gorram thing, though."

She heard a rustle, and then a small hand slipped into hers. It was obviously that of a small child. She was tugged along and steered around obstacles until she was in front of a doorway outlined by faint light. "Here's the exit, _pengyou_ (friend). You won't go back on yer word none, willya?"

"Nope, never do," she answered seriously. "And, _dao xie_ (thank you) Mouse. What I really need to do though is get back to the landing field."

The door was opened as she spoke, and a small figure stood, illuminated by the single dim light bulb in the next room, hanging by a chain. She wore a dirty yellow dress and tattered boots. Her mussed brown hair hung loose across her face, and she had to brush it aside to get a good look at Rain.

"Yer from a ship?" Mouse asked eagerly. She was practically bouncing up and down on her toes.

"Yep, I'm a pilot. Well, co-pilot," she amended, decided maybe she'd stick with the literal truth for the time being. "An' navigator. Fer a Firefly."

Mouse gave a little squeal and lunged at Rain, wrapping her hands around her in a hug. " _Wo kao_ (well fuck me / holy shit)," she giggled. "Tha's perfect! You c'n save my family!"

Before Rain could puzzle out her meaning, much less react to being given a hug by a stranger she just met, Mouse released her and grabbed her hand, tugging her deeper into the room where two large burlap sacks lay. "Here, grab a bag."

With a grunt, Rain picked up the one on the right. It clanked softly like maybe there was something metallic inside. "What's in the bags?"

"Well, I gots gears an' parts an' stuff in that one yer carryin', an' this one," she shouldered her bag with a whuff of air, "gots food I rescued from the dumpster. Let's go! I'm so glad I don' hafta do this in two trips!"

Rain had wondered why the smell from the dumpster hadn't faded yet; trailing behind Mouse as she moved up the steps she now knew. Briefly, her mind turned to Cali and Sara, hoping against hope they made it back to the ship by now. _Mebbe even now,_ Kaasan _and Uncle Keith are out lookin' fer me…_

At the top of the stairs was a rickety door that looked like she could knock it down with one upraised finger. Evidently, it was stronger than it looked, as Mouse pounded on it three times. She stood back, waiting patiently.

"Soooo, um, this where yer family lives?"

"Yep!" Mouse responded brightly. "You'll like 'em." At that point, the door cracked open and another small figure peered through. The one eye Rain could see widened almost comically when it saw Rain standing behind Mouse.

"Mouse, you brought an adult!" a voice wailed.

"Oh, don't be such a _si pi yan_ (damned asshole) Bug," she laughed and pushed her way in. "She's a _pengyou_ (friend)! An' she's gonna help us get in good wit' the Tong!"

As Bug stumbled backward, Mouse passed the little boy and turned to Rain. "C'mon in, I'll introduce y'around."

Shaking her head, Rain moved in and dropped her bag by the door where Mouse indicated. Bug had closed the door and secured it with rusty impromptu bolts, then scampered ahead of them to the large room ahead. _Did I hear that right? The gorram Tong?_

Mouse pulled on her hand and led them into the room, where five urchins were seated on various dilapidated furniture.

Bug, a small boy with dirty blond hair, was cowering behind the big upholstered chair in an eye-searing shade of orange. Seated there was possibly the group's leader, at least he was the biggest and seemed to puff up his chest aggressively as he stood up. Still, he barely topped Sara's height and sported a mop of curly brown hair. "Mouse," he said in what he must have thought was a deep manly voice. The effect was spoiled by the squeak as it changed pitch at the end of the word. "What d'ya mean, bringin' an adult in 'ere?"

"Relax, _gege_ (big brother)," Mouse said sternly. "She's a _pengyou_ (friend), an' like I keep sayin' if anyone'd listen to me, she's gonna help us!" Turning her back on the boy, Mouse began her introductions.

"This's Crow, he's our _gege_ (big brother)," Mouse started, pointing to each urchin in turn. "On the couch there're Benny an' Baby, they're twins." Both girls on the grungy brown couch sported identical curly blond hair that hung in dirty waves down their back, though Benny had a large bruise on her left cheek. "An' next to 'em is Stinky," indicating the rumpled-looking boy who wore an overcoat several sizes too big for him. Mouse leaned over and whispered, "Don' get too close to him none, he really does reek."

Then she pointed to the cowering boy behind the chair. "An' you already met Bug. He's our lookout, 'cause his eyes're so sharp."

Crow had finished sputtering by the time Mouse finished and pushed her aside to stand in front of Rain. "She's an adult! We don' allow adults in here! They lie, an' cheat, an' steal, an' they're bad fer all of us! Now, _nigeiwogun_ (get out of my sight) you _chou biaozi_ (stinking whore)!"

Rain bristled at the insulting kid. " _Gwan nee tzi-jee duh shr_ (mind your own business) and go back to yer chair, little man. I'm jus' helping Mouse so's I c'n get back to my ship."

At that, Crow reached behind his back and pulled out a revolver, pointing it at her face.

 _Huh,_ she thought almost eerily calm. _Didn' see that comin' none. Always knew it'd be my sarcasm that got me killed one day…_

Before anything else could happen, Mouse was back in between Rain and Crow, jumping up and down, heedless of the gun in his hand. "You _bendan_ (idiot), stop this _shen jing bing_ (insanity)! She c'n help us! SHE'S A PILOT!"

Crow pointed his pistol up at the ceiling, and Rain released a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. " _Ni zai jiang shen me pi hua_ (what the fuck are you saying)?" he asked the bouncing little girl. Then he turned his gaze back to Rain. "That true?"

Rain nodded quickly. "Firefly transport."

"C'n you fly a shuttle? Like, a big one?" He still hadn't put the gun away.

"Yeah I c'n fly anythin' that size. Learned to fly on shuttles."

Crow considered her words for a minute, then reached back and tucked his pistol back behind his waist. "Okay. Alright Mouse, stop yer jumpin'. You really wanna help us?" he directed the last bit back at Rain again.

 _I gots a choice at this point?_ she thought, rather than snarked back out loud. _Hey, gettin' better at that filter thing, mebbe there's hope fer me yet…_

Instead, she nodded again and replied, "Mouse said she'd help me get back to my ship. I got lost runnin' from some bad guys. So… what d'ya need me to do?"

Crow turned back to his chair and sat down, then indicating the others should take a seat on the floor against the wall in front of him. Bug stayed behind the chair, and the twins just stared at Rain with creepy eyes. Stinky, for his part, was searching for a particularly stubborn bugger up his nose. Crow then proceeded to let Rain know just how deep in she had gotten herself.

Seemed that their little gang kept getting just barely by, usually running away from other gangs with bigger kids or the adults who pushed drugs and mugged people in dark alleys. Their little group, which really didn't have a name, ( _Didn' all the gangs in the vids have cool names? How could they be a gang without a name?_ ) had decided if they were going to survive any longer they needed protection, maybe joining up with another group. Crow had the bright idea to approach the local Tong.

Rain knew a bit about Tongs from her conversations with Sara. They were organized, and usually into a whole lot of crime of all different types. And they were never, ever to be messed with. You go up against a Tong you better have a whole bunch of friends with you for help. That seemed to be Crow's reasoning, that nobody would mess with them again if they were associated with a Tong.

Amazingly, the Tong rep that Crow spoke to neither laughed outright at his proposal nor killed him on the spot, either of which Rain assumed would be the usual response. Instead, the man, one Kim Han, seemed somewhat amused by the idea. He told Crow to come back with their entire gang and he'd decide then.

Rain shook her head in amusement. _Did none of them have any sense of self-preservation?_ Again, rather than simply eliminating the entire group of urchins on the spot, Kim Han had instead devised a task for them. If they were to complete it, they would be in the Tong and would be required to work for them. He told the group that it wouldn't be anything inherently life-threatening, mostly as runners or spies on the streets, eyes and ears that could slip in where adults would be noticed.

Mouse beamed when Crow got to that point. "We could be like ninjas from the old vids! All sneaky an' stuff!"

The problem lay in their task they were given. It almost seemed like they were set up to fail.

Kim Ho wanted them to steal a shuttle from a certain shipping company. Didn't matter which one so long as it was on the route from the company warehouse to a restaurant across town.

"We think it's owned by 'nother rival Tong!" Mouse whispered to Rain.

So the urchins practiced on hover trucks and aircars they jacked from along the street. Turned out Mouse had an aptitude for machines, especially hotwiring. It was the closest they could get to the shuttles. The plan was to wait for a full shuttle to stop by the refueling station and grab it then, before it took off again for the restaurant. They got a shipment every week, and today was the next one.

And then Rain learned that the group was missing a member. Another boy, a tall one named Spider, had been Crow's lieutenant, and was the one practicing. But he'd crashed the aircar last night and got nabbed by the police.

"Alright, I see where this's goin'," Rain finally commented when Crow had run out of breath. "You need me to help you jack this shuttle an' get it to the Tong. Can't help you none with the stealin' part, but I'll fly it."

"Shiny!" Mouse squealed and hugged Rain again.

* * *

Refueling Depot. Ariel City.

Rain was crouched behind yet another dumpster. _Definitely needin' a shower after all this._ Her new friend Mouse was at her side, along with Crow, who decided he still needed to keep an eye on his new pilot. They were waiting for a signal.

After a few minutes, they heard the faint whine of antigrav thrusters. "That it?" Rain whispered.

"We'll see!" Mouse whispered back excitedly.

Soon there was a rhythmic banging against a steel drum nearby, from Bug who could see the shuttle's approach. "Yep, wait'll I say when…" Crow murmured.

Poking her head around the corner and over Crow's head, Rain saw the shuttle land. Soon as it touched ground, several things happened quickly.

Stinky slipped around the corner of the office for the fuel depot, and slipped a crowbar in between the handles of the front door. It would buy a few seconds.

Benny and Baby raced to the shuttle hatch and stretched a cord between the two of them.

As soon as the shuttle door opened, and the pilot began to step out, Crow hissed "Go go go!"

The three were up and running as the pilot flailed his arms, dropping flat on his face. He grunted in pain as Mouse, then Crow, and finally Rain stepped on his back to get into the shuttle. And again when Stinky and Bug raced in across his prone form. The twins, trying to be considerate, refrained from stepping on the pilot and just jumped over the threshold.

Inside the shuttle, Mouse was working frantically at the door lock. "Okay, it's jammed!" She piped up.

Rain was at the controls, looking them over quickly. Nothing seemed to be locked or password-protected, or if it were the pilot had left them open.

Crow plopped into the seat next to her on the left. "So c'n you fly this thing'r not?" he asked in a panicky voice.

Rain just gave him her trademark Grant smirk, and called over her shoulder, "Everyone hang on," and she launched the shuttle into the sky.

She skimmed the rooftops, slipping in-between buildings until she was fairly certain she wasn't tracked visually, then called out, "Mouse, better get the tracker! You 'member where I said it'd be?"

"Yep, I'm on it!" came small voice from under the console. Rain laughed to herself. _Just like her namesake. Didn' even hear her dive under there._

Wasn't but ten seconds later when Mouse held up a little black box, trailing wires, triumphantly. Crow, who was looking a little queasy from Rain's flying, asked, "And yer sure it's off?"

"Told ya, didn't I?' Rain snarked back. _Learned to fly from my_ Kaasan _. It's gonna be a little crazy, kid._

She followed Crow's shaky directions until she came to a warehouse district. One very large set of warehouses formed a square, with a small landing pad in the middle, hidden from view from the street. It was lit up, but as soon as Rain dropped down quickly and smoothly, the lights went out.

Crow blew out a breath. "We did it," he said wonderingly.

"We did it!" Mouse cheered, jumping up and down and pouncing on Rain for another hug. Rain kept the grimace off her face. _Startin' to get attached to the kid, guess I c'n endure another hug without complaint._

The urchin gang, plus Rain, exited the shuttle to see a doorway across the pad open, light spilling onto the mat. Crow started forward decisively, his confidence restored by having earth beneath his feet again. Rain trailed behind, wary that this still might not turn out well. She grabbed Mouse's hand and whispered, "Stick next to me, okay?"

Mouse looked up at her with bright eyes and nodded solemnly. Then she grinned and poked Rain in the side. "It'll be fine, don' be a worry-wart none."

In the office they entered was a single man with Asian features, dressed in a subdued yet very fashionable Core three-piece suit. His hair was clipped short on the sides but left in short spikes up top. And he had an intricate blue dragon tattoo on the side of his face.

"My friends," the man said, smiling. "I see you succeeded in your task. And who is this, you have a new addition?"

Rain just waved a little from the back row. "I'm just the temp help."

Kim Han narrowed his eyes, turning to Crow. "So, you recruited help from outside your little group?"

Crow just gulped and nodded.

The Tong man smiled again with good humor. "But this is excellent! A strong leader knows where he needs help, and where he is weak! I have such high hopes for your little group! Let us sit down and discuss the terms of our arrangement!"

Rain cleared her throat before the group could get all comfortable and immersed in details. "Um, sir? If I may, the, er, condition of my employment was help in gettin' back to my ship. At the landing field."

"Oh, of course!" Kim Han exclaimed jovially. "How rude of me, I did not mean to detain you. Would you like a ride in one of my cars?"

Rain really didn't want to get any more connections with the Tong, nor did she want them knowing what ship she came in on. "No, thank you, I c'n jus' have Mouse walk me there."

"Ah, yes and Mouse is…? Right, this little one. Very good, you may leave with my blessing. Through that door and down the hallway is a side entrance, you may slip out with nobody being the wiser."

Rain and Mouse made their exit, with the others from the urchin gang waving their goodbyes, even Crow. The twins spoke up for the first time, both saying "Goodbye, Rain" simultaneously in a monotone. Rain shuddered. _All sorts of creepifyin'_.

It was well past the time she should have been back with the others when Mouse walked with her back to the _Fortune's Favour_. Mouse just looked up with huge eyes. "And _this_ is what you fly?"

"Yep, sure is lil' Mouse," Rain said affectionately, rubbing the top of her head.

Mouse turned to Rain and gave her a tight hug. "I'm gonna miss you _jiejie_ (older sister). You won't forget me none willya?"

Rain smiled softly and hugged her back. "Never ever, lil' Mouse."

Sniffling, Mouse released Rain and slipped off into the shadows, not saying another word.

Rain sighed and headed up the ramp of her home. _I'm gonna have such the story to tell everyone…_ She opened the door and was greeted by a started Maribelle.

"Rain!" her aunt said joyfully and gathered her into a hug. _'Bout reached my hug allotment today,_ she grumbled to herself. "We've been so worried, Dani and Keith and Mike are all out looking for you girls! But, where are Cali and Sara?"

Rain suddenly thrust Maribelle away from her. "WHAT?" she shouted. "They're not back yet?!"

She was so shocked she couldn't even summon up a decent curse.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sara and Cali's story picks up in the next episode!


	18. Episode 13: Lab Rats

Streets of Ariel City.

Sara poked her head cautiously around the corner. She didn't see any of the suited men, but that didn't mean they weren't out there.

She turned back to look at the girl she had come to see as a little sister. Cali was trying valiantly not to whimper, but Sara could tell the younger (though bigger) girl was hurting something fierce. Going over the fence to escape their attackers, Cali had gashed her leg pretty badly.

Moving to crouch down next to her, Sara tried to take her mind off the pain, and the worry for her big sister Rain who was trying to draw attention away from the pair.

"Hey there _meimei_ (little sister)," she whispered, trying to sound upbeat. "You were pretty _niubi_ (fucking awesome) back there, takin' a chunk outta that big _hun dan_ 's (bastard) arm."

Cali smiled up at her weakly. "You called me _meimei_."

Sara grinned and rubbed her hair affectionately, knocking her ever-present panda hat askew. "That's 'cause you are, _bendan_ (idiot)," she said affectionately. "C'mon now, let's get ready to move, alright?" Sara used her hand to wipe away the tears on Cali's cheeks, smearing the engine grease smudge that was there. "Heh, you're startin' to look like a panda yerself with all the grease on ya."

That got a giggle out of Cali, but it was cut off by a quiet groan as she struggled to her feet. She stood there for a moment, leaning against the wall. "She'll be ok, right?"

Sara nodded. "You know yer _jie-jie_ (older sister), she's one tough _biao zi_ (bitch)."

Cali giggled again. "No, that'd be you." She started limping towards the entrance to the alleyway, Sara holding on to her for support. " _Dao xie_ (thank you)," she whispered, "fer not leaving me."

"Never happen _meimei_ (little sister)," Sara smirked. "We're in this together. Only a few more blocks and we're home, then we c'n send the air cav out for Rain."

Moving cautiously out into the street, the pair tried to stick to the shadows, but there weren't many people walking by to give them cover. Not for the first time, Sara wished she could have chosen a more populous route, but this was the quickest way back to the ship.

And then, their luck ran out.

Sara sniffed the air, aware of the danger on some primitive level that had never left her, a creature she picked up on Shadow that was now a part of her. Standing maybe 20 meters ahead were three suited men, and they were striding towards the pair. " _Cao_ (fuck)," she swore bitterly. And they were so close...

Turning her head, she knew what she would find, and sure enough there were another two men stalking up the street behind them.

"Okay, Cali, let's get against the wall here," she murmured. Cali had seen the group in front by now and was breathing hard.

"Sara, what do we do?" she whispered in a panicky voice.

"Just stay behind me," Sara ordered confidently, leaning Cali against the wall. She then turned, and filled each hand with a shiv, calmly waiting for their pursuers to arrive. The five men hesitated upon seeing the armed girl, but slowly moved into a semicircle, cutting off any escape.

"Right then ya _huh choo-shung tza-jiao duh tzang-huo_ (filthy fornicators of livestock), who's gonna be the first _biao zi_ (bitch) to die?"

The five men looked at this tiny little girl who held herself with such confidence and lethality. Sara began to hope that they may actually make it out... until the one in the center drew out a deadly-looking handgun. And pointed it not at Sara, but over her head at Cali.

"From what we've seen, _pengyou_ (friend)," he said in a dark monotone, "you're the one we want to bring along. Now, _mi you ling_ (listen closely). Your little friend is expendable. You want her to live, you come with us quietly. _Dong ma_ (understand)?"

Sara didn't even hesitate. She had lost so much, and been without anyone she could trust for so long... but now she had a family. And she would give her life to protect any of them.

She dropped her shivs to the ground and took a few steps back until her right hand could slip behind her back and grasp Cali's. "C'n you give my sister first aid? She's bleedin'."

"Sister, huh?" replied the first man, keeping his weapon trained on the two of them now. " _Shi a_ (yes, affirmative), we'll take care of her. First, though, and not because we don't trust you or anything..."

The men on the far sides of the semicircle had drawn weapons of their own, but in their case, they held tranquilizer guns. They delivered a dart to the neck of each girl, and the two of them quickly collapsed onto the street, and darkness overwhelmed them.

* * *

Unknown location. Ariel.

Cali opened her eyes slowly. And closed them again quickly as the overhead light seared into her brain. " _Ai ya, huai le_ (shit on my head), that's bright!" she muttered. She tried to remember what had happened, there was pain and running and Sara... it was all so hard to keep track of things sometimes...

"Such language for such a little girl," said a mellow voice at her elbow, sounding amused.

Ignoring the pain, Cali's eyes shot open again, and took in her surroundings.

She was lying in a bed, maybe like a hospital bed ( _smells like one anyways_ ). Both her arms were strapped down ( _gorramit I hate bein' restrained_ ), and her leg that was injured was wrapped up in bandages ( _can't feel much, so I guess it's better now?_ ). She wore a hospital gown ( _oh, ick, someone undressed me!_ ), and sitting in a chair next to her was an old man in a lab coat wearing steel-framed spectacles ( _how creepy, was he watchin'_ _me_ _sleep?_ ).

She was fairly certain anyone listening into her brain would go _shen jing bing_ (insane) in short order. Thoughts flew around in rapid progression, oftentimes leading her off in tangents that would sometimes circle back around to where she wanted to be, or where she was supposed to be, or where others wanted her to be... And then sometimes, like now, they just fluttered around like butterflies wanting to be caught with nets. She felt groggy, which she was sure wasn't helping any. _I had a point_ , she mused.

"No answer? Cat got your tongue?"

Oh, right, creepy old man. "Where's my _jie-jie_ (older sister), you creepy old man?" And there were times when her scattered thoughts came in handy, like now when she could call someone a name and sound courageous, but in reality her mouth was just working faster than her brain could connect back to it and say ' _M_ _outh, that's a bad idea, don't antagonize the creepy old man none when yer tied down half-naked inna hospital bed_.'

"She's fine, still sleeping off the tranqs. She's quite the fighter, isn't she? Her little body was full of sedatives and yet she was still struggling when they brought her in. I think you are both very special little girls, and we're lucky to have you," he ended with a somewhat grandfatherly smile. Cali still thought he was creepy.

"C'n I get out?" she asked worriedly. Would they just keep her tied up? She really, really hated being restrained. Even more than spiders. Well, no spiders were pretty _dung e hwar_ (disgusting) and scary. They weren't going to keep her tied down and then bring in the spiders were they? _No_ , her brain answered before she could give voice to her fears, _that'd be silly_.

"Certainly," the old man answered. "Just wait a few minutes and we'll bring you your clothes, and then bring you to your sister. And then, dear girl, you will begin your test."

He walked out of the room, closing it behind him with a click. Test? She hated tests. Never liked them in school, didn't like them when her Aunt Julie tried to give them to her. Though the one time, when her teacher tricked her into writing about her _Kaasan_ and what they did on a trip into the mountains with just the two of them, that wasn't so bad. Was still a test, though. Didn't even have to study for it. Wait, what kind of test was it going to be? She didn't know what to study! If only Rain were here, she'd help her through, she was the only one who could explain things in a way she could understand. Except when it came to machines, and for that her Uncle Mike was like a great big Buddha. Cali giggled to herself, thinking of the burly mechanic seated like a hairy Buddha statue. And then she sobered, as part of her brain went off on any and every topic she could think of that might be on a test.

In the meantime, another branch was really, really hoping Rain was okay and back on the ship by now, organizing a rescue party.

* * *

She was lying on a cot in the dark. Sara didn't think she was tied down, but the instinctual part of her whispered to just lie still and get her bearings. Didn't hear any other sounds, no breathing or movements. In fact, it was dead quiet.

Sighing, she figured it was pointless to hold it off any longer, and opened her eyes.

From the very dim light under the door, she could see the confines of her cell. It was pretty small, maybe two by five meters. Only contents were a cot and a toilet bowl. Feeling a little light-headed, she availed herself of the latter and then took stock of her situation.

 _No weapons. Still clothed. Not injured._ She walked over to the door to examine it. No door handle or lock on her side, or any hinges. She traced the outline of the doorway. Seemed to be pretty heavy. Not likely she could break out with her small frame.

Walking back over to her cot, she sat down thoughtfully. And noticed it did not squeak, more like a creak. She felt underneath her cot, where instead of springs there were thin metal slats holding up her mattress. _Oh, boys, that was very sloppy, I'm gonna make you regret that_...

Crawling under the cot, she began to work one of the slats out. The metal was fairly thin and bendable, to give some comfort, which would be perfect. She made her first shiv with much less to work with. The primal side within her growled lazily as she thought back to those dark nights on Shadow when the predators came out, both four- and two-legged. She had no regrets, really, she had to either become a predator herself or become prey. And she discovered that she was a very, very effective predator after only a few days.

With a pop, one side of a slat came free, and she started working on the other side, worrying about Cali, and hoping she had the time to arm herself before they came for her...

* * *

Dressed finally back in her clothes ( _though_ _my_ _left pants leg'_ _s_ _in tatters_ ), Cali looked at herself in the mirror of the room she had awoken in. She almost looked odd, freshly scrubbed and without a trace of grease. Her usually braided hair was loose around her shoulders, and it was annoying her. _Why did I let it get this long?_ She gathered up the end and twisted it around as best she could, tying it into one big knot at the back of her head. _There now, at least it's outta the way. Gonna be a pain in the_ pigu _(ass) to get the knots out later, though_...

As she dropped her hands to the side, she felt a tiny little lump on her right thigh, and she froze. _My multi-tool! They didn' find it!_

She wanted to jump up and down with excitement but managed to stop herself, instead just bounced on her toes a few times. Now, if she could just meet up with Sara they could try and escape! Oh yeah, time to be a _xiong jiao_ (handsome hero), a super-spy, break out of prison... _Wait! My hat!_ She looked around frantically and finally spied the dirty thing peeking out from under the bed where it had fallen. It was grungy, and the white parts were mostly grey now so it was hard to tell what creature the panda hat was supposed to resemble. _I need to wash it,_ she thought, holding it up and sniffing suspiciously. Wait, was that a blood stain? _Gorramit_. Maybe she needed to buy another hat. _Oooh, mebbe of a diff'rent animal!_

Her brain started off on all the different animal types she might be able to buy a hat of, until the door opened and the old man walked back in.

"Little girl," he greeted her.

"Creepy old man," she responded, smirking.

He just gave a huff and stood to the side. Cali could see two of the suited men outside ( _maybe one of them is the one I bit, hope his arm still hurts_ ), and the old man said, "Please come with us."

Cali stalked out without a word, trying for quietly dignified. That went flat out the door when she saw Sara at the other end of the hall. "Sara!" she squealed as she flew down to give her _jie-jie_ (older sister) a tackling hug.

"Oof," Sara responded, laughing. Hugging each other tight, Cali could see two more suited men escorting Sara. She perked up as the girl whispered into her ear softly, "I'm armed."

Grinning, she whispered back into Sara's hair, "An' I got my multi-tool."

They broke off from their hug and looked at each other with huge grins. _Oh yeah, we c'n handle anythin'. Big damn heroic_ biao zis _(bitches), that's us_.

* * *

She held onto Cali's hand as they were led into another room, which was bare of any furniture. Sara stopped, smelling an odd metallic odor - blood was underneath it, but there was something else off. She turned, but the old man who had accompanied Cali spoke up first. "Here is your test. Survive, and you pass and move on to the next stage. We'll head upstairs to monitor you. There won't be anyone outside the door to save you, you must save yourselves." And then he shut the door with a click.

" _Jiao ni sheng haizi zhang zhi chuang_ (May your child be born with hemorrhoids)!" Cali shouted at the door.

"Nice one, gonna hafta 'member that," Sara smirked and then examined the room closer.

The door they were led through had no handle on their side, but there was a keypad next to it. In the middle of the room was a small drain. _Well, that looks ominous_. And at the other end was another door, also without a door handle but in this case missing a keypad, so there was no way to open it from their side. Up in the corner, beyond their reach, was a camera.

"Cali, check the keypad..." she started, and then turned around to see Cali already had the cover off and was prodding the wires underneath. She just turned back to Sara with a grin.

Laughing, Sara said, "Never mind," and stood over her, facing the room, waiting for whatever 'test' had been devised for them.

As she waited, Cali was murmuring, "I still dunno why we hafta take a test, I hate tests, you'd think they could give us a hint or somethin'? Mebbe it's not written, I don' see a table or chairs or even somethin' to write on, unless we're s'posed to write on the floor, if it's like a physical I don't like those neither, I should work out more like you, willya help me work out when we get outta this?"

Sara was grinning widely and opened her mouth to answer in the affirmative, when the door across the room popped slightly, and swung silently into the room. She froze, her senses extending, but all she could get was that there was something very, very WRONG on the other side of that door.

"Cali..." she began quietly.

Cali stopped her tirade. "Yeah?"

"Hurry."

* * *

Cali continued to poke at the wires, waiting for them to fall into place in her head. Given enough time she could work anything out. But it didn't seem like she had enough time to think about it right now. She was dimly aware of Sara's chanting her name, and it suddenly rose in pitch until Sara cut off with a squawk. Cali looked up, and then fervently wished she hadn't.

Shambling toward them slowly was what had once been a man. His eyes were vacant, though, like nobody was home, and his mouth was open and drooling over what looked like a tattered grey jumpsuit. There were weird wires and tubes sticking out of his head. And Cali could see another like him shuffling along in their direction as well.

Sara had out two shivs, one filling each hand. "Sara," Cali squeaked. "Why do they gots stuff stickin' outta their heads?"

Sara turned her head slightly, keeping her eyes on the shuffling figures. "Don't you worry none 'bout them, I got 'em. You get that door open!" She then moved away, circling to the right, while the shuffling figure paused, and then started tracking her movements.

"Okay," Sara called out softly. "I gots their attention. You keep quiet and keep on goin'."

Cali turned back and focused all her brain on this task. _C'mon now, brain, this ain't the time to be all scattered and the like. We're in danger, and unless you want munched on_... All of the sudden it came to her, the vids they'd watched late at night, both on the ship and at home when their parents had gone to sleep already, the games they liked to play...

"Sara!" she squealed, forgetting to be quiet. "They're zombies!"

One of the shuffling figures turned it's head and started moving towards Cali. Sara muttered a curse, and moved across its path, slicing upwards across its chest. Little blood came out, mostly just black oozing fluid that reeked. "What?" Sara barked back.

"Zombies!" Cali answered, as her fingers flew deftly along the wires, suddenly all the colors fell into place and she knew what needed to splice where, what to cut... _Oh hey, this one too, that'd be fun_... "Y'know, like in the vids! Brain-eatin' zombies! The undead!"

Cali could hear Sara start to scoff, but then she cut it off. "Okay, that's not as crazy as it sounds. So how d'ya kill a zombie?" From the shuffling it sounded like Sara was still leading them in a tight little dance, staying out of reach and making quick slices where she could find an opening.

"Um," Cali answered, stripping the insulation off of a green wire. "Fire? Mebbe? Oh, head shots!"

" _Gao yang jong duh goo yang_ (motherless goats of all motherless goats), does it look like I gots a gun here?" Sara shouted a little panicky. "D'ya have that ruttin' door yet?"

Cali smirked as she tied the last two wires, and then made one final cut. The door popped open without a fuss. "Yep! Let's move _jie-jie_ (older sister)!"

The two girls bolted out of the room, and Sara stopped to close the door behind her. Cali grabbed her arm and tugged her along. "Don't bother, I locked it open. Figure we'll let the other _hun dans_ (bastards) here deal with 'em."

Sara grinned. "I like the way ya think, girl."

They both perked up at the sounds from the right, where feet were clattering rapidly down the stairs. Without a word, they turned the other way and fled.

* * *

The two girls had been creeping down deserted hallways and staircases for an hour now. Every now and then they came to another keypad, which Cali quickly defeated with her nimble little fingers, now that she had them figured out. She carefully replaced each one as Sara held the door opened, so it wouldn't be as obvious which way they came.

Their luck ran out when they opened a door within a hallway that seemed just like any other door, but in actuality contained four suited men. As they stared back in shock, Sara pushed Cali back into the hallway and launched herself into their midst.

Each man withdrew a metal baton instead of a gun. _Very poor choice, boys_ , she snickered to herself. And then it was time to let the creature out to play.

Her eyes glittering darkly and a snarl forming on her lips, Sara brought her left-hand shiv around in a sweeping arc low across the first man's abdomen. He dropped his baton to clutch at his stomach to keep his intestines from leaking out. _That one's dead soon. Move on to the next_.

She twirled around and buried the right-hand shiv up into the next man's chin, point facing outwards. His eyes bulged in terror, but he didn't have the time to react at all before she ripped the shiv forward, along with half his face. _Very dead._

Sara ducked under the spurt of blood, and the third man's lunge. Her foot flew towards his knee, and she heard the satisfying crack as it gave way, and jumped over his body as he collapsed to the side. _Disabled, move on and come back to him later_.

The fourth was swinging his baton in a tight pattern, keeping Sara at bay, or so he thought. The deadly little girl just gave a chuckle that sounded like death itself, and intercepted his swing with her left hand, digging a shiv through his forearm. With her right, she darted in and cut deep into his leg, right through the femoral artery. _Disabled and bleeding to death. Back to the third one_.

She ripped both blades from the screaming man and whirled around. In the time she had gone through all four men, their bodies had barely had the time to hit the ground. And yet, the first man must have dropped his baton towards the door, because a very determined-looking Cali was swinging it with both hands, repeatedly, on the third man's head as he lay prone on the floor.

Sara cleaned her blades on one of the bodies, noting that the screaming had stopped. She returned her shivs back up her sleeves and gave herself a shake. _Okay, back to normal, breathin' down, pulse down, calm, calm_... She took a few seconds to get herself under control before she walked over to Cali and gently took her arm to stop her from turning the corpse's head into further mush. "It's okay, sweetie, he's dead."

Cali just stared down, breathing heavily. Then she looked up at Sara with a little glint in her eye. "Not a wrench, but I like it," she smiled, indicating the baton which was now at her side, dripping with blood and gore.

Sara smirked, and gave her a playful punch on the arm. "Clean it off, I'm gonna see what they was guardin'."

She stepped carefully over the pools of blood so as not to slip, and stopped in front of the door at the back. It had a keypad, but the power was off. Instead, there was a simple lock on the door handle. She reached into the jacket of the closed body, and, fishing around, found a set of keys.

After a little experimentation, Sara found the correct one and opened up the door, readying a shiv in her other hand.

Inside, sitting on a cot very similar to the one she was resting on earlier, was another girl.

The Asian-looking girl had a short bob of straight black hair. As she stood up slowly, Sara noted that she was dressed simply in shorts, a tee shirt and a hoodie jacket, all in varying shades of blue. No shoes.

They stared at each other for a full minute. Sara could recognize something in this girl, an echo of herself... maybe another one whose _liang xin bei gou chi le_ (conscience was eaten by dog)?

Cali poked her head around Sara. "Oh! Hey there, are you a prisoner too?"

The girl switched her gaze to Cali and nodded solemnly.

Not to be put off, Cali piped up again, "My name's Cali, and this's my _jie-jie_ (older sister) Sara. We're bustin' outta here. Wanna come with?"

Sara wasn't sure about that. Was the girl a threat or could she help? The room's occupant, however, just cocked her head to the side, and murmured in a melodic voice, "Kirika. And yes, please take me with you."

Kirika stepped forward, and both Sara and Cali moved back into the room to give her space. At the doorway Kirika paused, looking over the remains of violence without emotion. Finally, she looked up at Sara and asked, "Any guns?"

"Sorry, no," Sara shook her head. "Just batons. And I made my own knives."

The girl quirked a little smile at that, and then, nodding, walked out into the hallway. Cali looked at Sara, shrugging, and followed her out. With a sigh, Sara followed. _I'm still not sure of this_...

* * *

There was not a person in the 'Verse that Cali could not get to open up to her. She considered it a talent, maybe even a superpower if you will. She was naturally bubbly, but she really liked to talk and liked talking with people, finding all about them.

Today she had met her nemesis.

She spent most of their trek down the winding maze of hallways chattering away about herself, her family, their ship, where they'd visited. But Kirika remained silent, just padding alongside them in her bare feet, poking her head into each doorway she came to as if looking for something.

Cali would have frowned if that wouldn't have given her away. _Won' let it show none that she's gotten to me, I_ will _make her talk_.

Shortly thereafter Cali cracked. She turned to Kirika and wailed, "I can't take it no more! Can't ya tell me ANYTHIN' about yerself?"

Sara was valiantly trying to hide her smirk, but failing. Cali shot her a glare, before turning back to Kirika with big puppy-dog eyes. _Nobody c'n resist th'eyes_...

Kirika just shrugged, nonplussed, and kept walking. "Not much to tell," she responded in her soft melodic voice.

 _Arrrggghhh!_ Even her ultimate weapon let her down. How can this be? _All my_ _powers_ _have failed me!_ She clenched her panda hat in her hands in anguish.

Snickering, Cali pushed past her and walked next to Kirika. "So," Sara said casually. "You like guns?"

Kirika nodded, then said softly, "They trained me here to use them. All I know how to use really."

Sara patted her on the arm. "We'll find you one."

Kirika smiled faintly at Sara. " _Dao xie_ (thank you)."

Cali's mouth just hung open in shock. Wo kao _(well fuck me / holy shit)_ _, h_ _ow did Sara do that?_

"Wait for me you guys," she called out, getting over her surprise and jogging forward to catch up.

"So, Kirika," she began again. "Anythin' else you like 'sides guns?"

The girl in question, just cocked her head to the side slightly, as if thinking, and then shook it. "No."

Cali practically growled like a ferocious kitten at Kirika's back, while Sara just giggled.

* * *

They snuck up on another pair of suited guards. Sara simply leaped up behind them, a shiv in each hand, and stabbed them cleanly and quietly in the back. She stepped back to avoid the gush of blood, and once they had collapsed, unmoving, she toed each one over. Both were armed with pistols, and Kirika appropriated the smaller one, tucking it into her right pocket.

They still had no idea where they were, or where the labyrinth would take them, but for the first time, they seemed to be ascending. They came across a staircase they led them back up two flights, maybe they were near street-level.

She was spending too much time getting her bearings and not enough looking for threats. They rounded another corner and were met by two more guards, both with stubby but deadly little automatic guns in their hands. "Hold it right there!" one of them shouted.

Both Sara and Cali stopped and raised their hands. Kirika, however, walked forward slowly, ignoring them, hands stuffed in her pockets.

"Wait, which one is this? I thought the alert was on just the two girls?" the second man queried the first. Their confusion made them hesitate, and Kirika stood practically in front of the first man as the second stepped to the left, keeping his gun trained on the other two girls.

Suddenly a gunshot rang out, as Kirika fired through her pocket, dropping the man in front of her. Without hesitation or turning, she brought her hand behind her back, still in the pocket, and shot the other man right between the eyes.

Kirika turned back to the other two stunned girls. "We need to move." And then she started walking again.

"Hey Sara," Cali whispered as they went to catch up.

"Yeah?" she responded.

"I think she's kinda like you, but with guns."

"I think yer right."

Cali grinned. "Shiny, mebbe she c'n be our friend too!"

Chuckling, Sara just shook her head. Then, at the next door, they saw a welcome sight. A window was in this room, and it faced an alleyway. All three girls looked at each other in disbelief. "Guess this's what those two were guardin'!" Sara said exultantly.

* * *

Ariel City. Just outside landing pad.

They had made it away from the building, which was unmarked and unadorned and didn't even seem to have a regular entrance, and made their way towards the landing pad. Cali was practically skipping along. They'd gotten away, they defeated real-life zombies, she got to club a bad guy over the head just like a super-spy, they made a new friend...

Cali stopped in her tracks and whirled around to look at Kirika in the falling darkness. "Kirika, are you gonna come with us? We gots a nice big ship, an' can give you a bed an' everything!"

Kirika just smiled faintly but shook her head. "No, I can't go anywhere. I'm going to make sure they never do this to anyone else again."

The little gunslinger looked around at the ships looming ahead. "I think I'll leave you now. _Dao xie_ (thank you)."

Before she could turn to leave, Cali flung herself into Kirika, hugging her tightly. _If she thought she was gettin'_ _away_ _without a hug, she had 'nother thing comin'._

Startled, Kirika just stood there until Cali let go. The diminutive engineer sniffled slightly, and then grinned. "Go kick their _pigu_ (ass)!"

Sara laughed next to her. "Be careful, an' don't get yerself killed none, _dong ma_ (understand)?"

Kirika gave another faint smile, nodded, and then slipped into the darkness.

"Whelp," Cali said cheerfully as they strode towards their home resting on the landing pad nearby. "We're gonna have all manner of stories to tell, amirite?"

"That we are, _meimei_ (little sister)," Sara smiled at her affectionately.

They strode up the ramp but were startled by the shout of "WHAT?" that came from inside. They peered in and saw Rain standing there with a furious and upset look on her face, talking animatedly to their Aunt Maribelle. Cali and Sara grinned at each other, then flung themselves the rest of the way up the ramp and tackled Rain. The three ended up in a mound of giggling, laughing, and crying teenage girls.

After a few minutes, while Cali heard Maribelle talking into the communicator by the door, evidently recalling the rest of the crew who had been out searching, the three girls stood back up, grinning and holding hands.

"What took you guys so long?" Rain exclaimed, concerned but still smiling.

Sara and Cali shared a glance, grinning. "Oh, you know." Sara said casually. "Some shoppin', grabbed lunch..."

"Fought zombies..." Cali continued with a laugh.

"Wait, what?"

"C'mon', we'll tell you all about it..."

* * *

 _Fortune's Favour_. Outbound from Ariel.

Sleep wouldn't come. Sara stared up at the ceiling of her bunk. _Was it 'cause I let the creature out? I don' feel guilty none, do I? I killed t'protect Cali, and I'd do it again fer any of our family, in a heartbeat_...

_But what do they think of you now, killer?_

Sara grunted with irritation and swung her legs over the side. Rain was on the bridge, she knew, but for once she didn't think that was the person she needed to talk to this time.

Instead, she opened the door that led to the walkway in-between the crew cabins and the head and knocked gently on the captain's door.

"C'mon in!" she heard the cheery reply.

Sara stepped into Dani's room. She saw that the captain was saying goodbye to someone on her Cortex screen. "Was that Lori?" she asked, curiously, once the connection was closed.

Dani nodded happily. "Just catchin' her up on our adventures. How are you doin', sweetie? I talked to Cali and Rain some, but not you. Are you okay with what happened today?"

Sighing, Sara reflected that the woman could be just as perceptive as Rain sometimes. _Must be in the genes._ She started to nod but then stopped. "I don' know," she said in a small voice.

Dani moved from her desk over to her bed and patted the space next to her. Sara crawled up, and they both reclined with their backs against the bulkhead,

They sat in silence for a few minutes before Dani spoke again, softly. "What's on yer mind, sweetheart?"

Sara struggled for what she wanted to say. Part of her was deathly afraid to lose what she had now, but she had to say it. "I'm never gonna be normal."

Dani just looked over at her, wide-eyed. Sara continued in a quiet voice.

"What I went through on Shadow, it changed me. Made me dif'rent. I know I'm good at fightin', but it's not just that. I'm good at killin'. Like, really good, _dong ma_ (understand)? Not just that, I actually enjoy it. I like the feelin' of slicin' into someone who's trying ta hurt me, or one of my family." She was almost in tears at this point. " _Jian gui_ (to hell with it). I'm a ruttin' monster."

She made to get off the bed but was held back gently by Dani's hand on her arm. "Whoa, now, _nu'er_ (daughter)." Sara turned back to her, startled. That was the last thing she expected Dani to call her, after her confession. _Don't she understand how dangerous I am?_

Dani just smiled as if she could read the expression on her face. "What, ya think I'd just tell ya to _nigeiwogun_ (get out of my sight) after your lil' bombshell? Sit back, let's talk 'bout it."

Sara did as she was told, and Dani wrapped her arm around her shoulder in a warm embrace. "I know some of how yer feelin', anyone who's been in combat could, Keith as well. I know," she forestalled Sara's protest, "it's not 'xactly the same. You went through _diyu_ (hell), literally, and came out t'other side changed. But you gotta know, we all love you fer who you are now, not who you were."

Dani tightened her grip. "Yer not a monster. You said it yerself, you like t'kill those who threaten us, our family. And you are so, so very part of our family, _nu'er_ (daughter). And you wouldn't do nothin' more than I would to protect us, same fer yer Uncle Keith, or Uncle Mike, or Aunt Jess, or anyone else." She smiled down at her. "Cali told me she bashed in the head of a bad guy. Does that make her a monster?"

Sara just shook her head numbly. She didn't trust herself to speak.

"Okay," Dani continued, settling in and leaning back again. "That's resolved, then. No more _fang pi_ (bullshit) talk about you bein' a monster. Yer mebbe a _sharen bu zhayan_ (stone cold killer), but yer our _sharen bu zhayan_ , an' we all love you very much."

Sara curled up on her side, burying her face in Dani's lap, and sobbed quietly but happily.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Braaaiiinsssss...
> 
> And that's all I got, 'Til next time.


	19. Episode 14: Dirty Little Secret

Persephone. Black Hole Bar.

Keith, Jess, and Dani were seated at a table along the side of the bar, sipping their drinks and trying not to be too obvious about their surveillance. They were waiting on their client to contact them at the bar, but a few suspicious types had wandered in, scoping out the place, and talked to the bartender before sitting down at the rear. The three men were dressed roughly, even for this _gou se_ (shit) corner of Eavesdown Docks. "Not speaking well for the caliber of our client, setting up a meet in a place like this," Jess murmured into her small cup of sake.

"True enuff," replied Dani. She had barely touched her own _chirori_ , the small metal cups that sake was traditionally served in. As much as she liked sake she had the alcohol tolerance of a lightweight pre-teen and really didn't need dragged out of another bar by her heels because she underestimated the strength of her drink. _Still like the smell, an' the taste. Little sips would do. Mebbe I'll get a bottle to take back to the ship..._

Keith just grunted. He had opted for a glass of whiskey, though considering the quality of the establishment, it was likely to be watered-down engine cleaner. To normal observers it would seem that the thought must have passed his mind, as he held his glass up to look at it suspiciously. But in reality he was keeping the three unsavory ruffians under observation while they sat at the back.

"Classy-lookin' lady in plain clothes just strolled on in," Dani whispered, as she was facing the door. "Jess?"

Jess nodded imperceptibly, her back to the wall and facing the bar. "Bartender just gave a signal to the back of the room."

Keith grunted again. " _Ben dans_ (idiots), could they be any more obvious? They're definitely here for the girl."

Quirking her eyebrow, Dani asked Keith, "How do we wanna play it?"

Keith just smirked, and loosened his gun in his holster. "We'll let them make the first move. Dani, you're in between her seat and them, keep her behind you. Jess you make sure the bartender doesn't get any ideas." Jess gave a very Keith-like grunt, which sounded odd coming from the refined woman.

Their client looked around the bar, spied the three crew members, and walked gracefully over to their table. "I'm looking for a Jessica Grant?"

Jess nodded with a friendly smile, still keeping an eye on the slovenly bartender as he wiped a greasy rag ineffectually across the bar. "I'm Jess. You would be Selene? Please, have a seat."

The blond woman eyed the chair and sticky table with distaste, but pulled the seat back and perched on the edge. "I should have examined this establishment before choosing it as our rendezvous, I apologize."

Jess just gave a small laugh. "We've been in worse. Selene, this is Captain Dani Grant of the _Fortune's Favour_ , and this is my husband and the first mate, Keith Grant."

Selene looked between the two. Her query of "Siblings?" was confirmed by the identical smirk each sprouted.

"Now that we're all here, miss, what c'n we do fer ya?" Dani inquired politely.

"I have need of a ship to assist with a simple salvage operation. I have the salvage rights to a derelict boat, a luxury liner that was disabled. I would require your ship to get me to it's location and help retrieve certain items," Selene said. "I understand you have the proper salvage license?"

Jess nodded. "We do, it's up-to-date, and would cover such an operation."

Suddenly Keith spoke up with a quiet rumble, his eyes narrowed. "Company."

Selene looked at where Keith was staring, and her eyes got wide. "I don't know them. Are they here for you?"

"Not likely," Dani said calmly, facing her. "They were waitin' fer you. Keith?"

"Hands on guns, lead one is a mite twitchy..." Keith grunted. " _Ai ya, huai le_ (shit on my head), yeah, do it."

In one smooth motion, Dani rose from her seat, turning and stepping in front of Selene with her Ares pistol drawn and held in both hands. Keith had also risen, coming to stand next to her, one hand holding his sidearm steady, the other one on Selene's shoulder behind Dani. "Stay down please," he said in a quiet baritone. Meanwhile, Jess had also risen, drawn her gun from it's shoulder holster and trained it on the bartender, who subsequently threw his hands up and beat a hasty retreat out of the bar, following the rest of the patrons. Smirking, Jess transferred her attention and aim to the three stunned-looking ruffians.

"Now then," Dani finally spoke in a calm voice. "I 'magine you get that this c'n go one of two ways. You wind up dead, or you walk away. Don't rightly matter much to us, either way, so's I'll leave the choice to you."

Keith chuckled, a dark sinister sound that reeked of violence. "I'm hoping you take the bloody way out, personally."

Looking rather like they were about to piss themselves, the three men, who hadn't even gotten their guns out, kept walking right out of the bar, looking over their shoulders nervously. Once they had left the three crew members holstered their weapons. "How about we continue this conversation on board our ship, Selene?" Jess asked the woman, not sounding at all like they had just avoided a firefight.

Wide-eyed and maybe a little bit intimidated, Selene just nodded shakily. "I have luggage to pick up, if you're accepting the job?"

"Oh yeah," Dani grinned along with the others. "You definitely have us all manner of curious."

Outbound from Persephone.

"Seem to you we left Persephone in a bit of a hurry?" Rain asked from her seat.

"Well," Dani drawled, checking Rain's calculations (which were spot-on as usual) and setting their course. "That's only 'cause we did. Threats of imminent violence will do that for ya."

"And that's why I stay on the ship now," Rain said with a good-natured smirk.

"Well, we gots a general sector within White Sun to head towards," Dani said with a grunt as she got up from her chair. "May as well have the rest of the conversation an' figure out the final leg. I'll let you know when I do."

She walked down the passageway towards the galley where she assumed their client would be residing. She dodged nimbly out of the way with practiced ease as her two nephews tore out of the galley and raced down the steps towards the cargo bay. Dani just shook her head in amusement and walked the rest of the way in.

Maribelle looked up from the table, her eyebrow quirked. Grinning, she waved away her sister-in-law's concern. "Just dodgin' yer _xiao gui_ ([affectionate] little devils)," she said with a laugh.

Dani sat down at her place at the table, and looked around. There was a distinct lack of a client in the room. "Keith," she began, addressing her first mate sitting beside her. "Where's Selene?"

Keith smirked. "Oh, you mean Princess? She's primping in her cabin. Informed us she'd be gracing us with her presence shortly."

Dani snorted at his response. "Not a fan, eh?"

Rolling his eyes, Keith leaned back with his coffee in hand. "Don't know what gave you that idea." Jess, sitting next to him, just gave him a playful swat.

Mike strolled in and helped himself to coffee from the stove, giving his wife a kiss as she tended the pots. Cali clattered in behind him, the tools on her belt swinging and making a racket.

"Peanut, what did I tell ya 'bout wearin' yer tools in the galley?" Dani queried.

"That it was loud an' obnoxious?" she replied innocently, sitting down at her place at the table.

"Pretty much, yeah. So why are ya here, then, with yer very loud an' obnoxious tool belt?"

Cali brightened. "'Cause Uncle Mike asked me to!"

Looking over at Mike, who had buried his face in his mug, Dani just smirked. "I take it nobody's a fan of our passenger an' client none?"

The silence was deafening. Dani just sighed. "Well, let's make an attempt people. She's payin' the bills."

At that moment the client in question swept into the room like royalty. Not for the first time, Dani wondered if the blonde woman was, in fact, a registered Companion. Though she'd not had any dealing with Companions, she knew how they were supposed to look and move, and this Selene just oozed the sort of class that she might have expected.

"Thank you all for assembling," Selene said regally, as she sat down at the foot of the table. She looked towards the stove, and asked, "Tea, please?"

Julie quirked her eyebrow, looking over at Dani. The lanky captain just rolled her eyes and nodded.

Selene graced Julie with a smile as it was brought to her. "Thank you. Now then, since I have retained your services, I can disclose more information to you and your crew."

_Really, an' here I thought we were sittin' down to a formal tea party..._

"As I mentioned earlier to the Captain," she continued, enclosing the rest of the table in her conversation, "I have salvage rights to a derelict passenger liner." Her traveling gaze stopped at Cali. The teenaged mechanic sat next to her, swinging her feet and grinning under her freshly-washed panda hat, tools jingling with every kick. "Ahem. This liner is within the Halo Asteroid Belt at the coordinates on this paper here, a four-day journey from Persephone." She pushed the paper down the table, and it was passed along to Dani.

"One second, please," Dani interjected. She got up from the table with the paper and pressed the intercom button. "Bridge, adjust course fer a spot in the Halo Asteroid Belt." She then read off the coordinates.

Rain repeated them back to her. "On it, Capt'n."

Sitting back down, Dani smiled politely and said, "Please continue." _I c'n be pleasant as all get-out, gorramit._

"Yes. As I was saying, I was a passenger on this boat. The captain, a man of some dereliction of intellect, decided to show off for the passengers and subsequently veered the boat too close to the asteroid belt. The liner was disabled and then battered heavily. Several passengers and crew were killed, and the remainder of us escaped via life pods. I want to retrieve as much of the luggage as possible and I require the help of this crew. I would like you to accompany me to the salvage site."

Dani sat back. She wished she'd thought to grab a cup of tea before she began. As if summoned by the thought, Julie brought over a cup for her. " _Dao xie_ (thank you)," Dani whispered with a smile. Taking a sip, she then looked over at Jess.

"Jess, the papers fer these rights are all in order?"

Jess nodded affirmatively. "Exclusive rights to the contents of the liner, but not the liner itself. It actually specifies the luggage, which Selene told us earlier is all she's interested in."

Selene nodded her head impatiently. "That's correct."

"Seems to be a bit unusual," Dani mused into her tea cup. "Gettin' salvage rights for the ship you were on. Specifically for the luggage. 'Fore the owners got to the ship. 'Less it was privately-owned by the captain hisself?"

The blonde shifted her weight uneasily. "I'm not sure about the ownership. I did have to, er, 'grease' a few palms, I think the term is, in order to procure these rights."

"Hmmm..." Dani murmured noncommittally as she sat down her cup. "An' the _hun dans_ (bastards) from the bar?"

Their client leaned forward earnestly. "I really don't know anything about them. Maybe they were just looking to rob us?"

Dani glanced at Keith, who nodded his head imperceptibly. _So he thinks she's tellin' the truth, or at least mostly..._

"All right, Selene," she said decisively, "we'll work out the particulars. If you gots an idea of where the luggage is you want retrieved, a diagram would be helpful. Any other information on the liner would help as well. For now though, as mentioned when you boarded, please confine yerself to the passenger dorms an' lounge or the galley while yer aboard."

Selene nodded graciously as she rose. "Thank you, Captain." She then swept out of the room as dramatically as she had entered.

Dani let out an explosive breath. "Right then, now that the Princess has left..." That got chuckles from the rest of the crew.

"Anyone notice she's in disguise?"

Dani looked over in surprise. She hadn't even noticed Sara was in the room, sitting casually in the domed observation area. _Lil' sneak c'n be like a ghost at times_ , she thought affectionately. "What d'ya mean, sweetie?"

"Well, I'm sure y'all noticed her classy way of talkin', kinda like she's a Companion," Sara began, to the nods of everyone. "So why's she dressed down so casually? She's tryin' to avoid attention, just not very good at it."

Keith gave a grunt. "Meaning?"

The lithe girl rose to her feet and headed towards the bridge to join Rain. "Meanin'," she said over her shoulder, "don' trust her none."

Dani sat back, lost in thought. Suddenly hitting herself over her head mentally, she looked over at Maribelle. She knew some of her sister-in-laws empathetic abilities; they were rather similar to her older daughter's. Raising an eyebrow, she asked, "What d'you think Maribelle?"

The blond doctor sat quietly, and then murmured, "I'd go with Sara's recommendation."

Keith just grunted again. "Why do I have the feeling we're gonna have to shoot someone on this job?"

Jess laughed. "Oh don't sound so anticipatory."

"He's right, though," Dani mused. "The mess at the bar may just be a prelude." She took another sip of her tea, then nodded decisively. "Here's what I think. If'n the liner is in vacuum, then Selene stays behind. Boardin' party'll be Keith, Mike, Cory, and myself, as we're the only ones rated fer suits. Unless you wanna try out yer zero-gee skills again?" she directed towards Maribelle with a smirk.

Her sister-in-law just shuddered and shook her head vehemently.

"Didn't think so. Right, so if'n we gots atmo, which is unlikely but preferable, boarding party will be Keith, Mike, Jess, and myself, with Selene. You too, Cali." Her youngest perked up at the mention of her name. "Might as well lend a hand, we'll get done all the faster. In an' out, no fuss. An' we all go armed."

Most of the crew raised their eyebrows at the pronouncement, but Keith and Jess just nodded their heads. They were at the bar with Dani, and it must have been bugging them as well.

"All right then," she drained her tea and stood up to wash her cup out. "Let's get to it people. Keith an' Mike, check out the suits. Jess, I think you gots the highest tolerance for the Princess, so yer on babysittin' duty."

"I expect hazard pay," Jess replied airily.

Laughing, Dani headed towards her bunk. Before they left the range of Persephone's Cortex satellites, she wanted to send a Wave to Lori.

* * *

Halo Asteroid Belt. White Sun.

"Well," Dani said thoughtfully. "There she is."

Upon reaching the coordinates, the _Favour_ and her crew hit upon some good luck for a change. The derelict liner, with the glittering name _Golden Gary_ emblazoned on the side, had drifted slightly since disabled and had moved out of the edge of the belt. It should be safe enough for docking.

"Scans?" she inquired quietly.

Rain looked up at her, grinning. "Full atmo everywhere but the bridge."

"Huh. I don' like the way this is goin'," Dani said pessimistically. "If things keep goin' right your Uncle Keith may get his wish fer a firefight."

She leaned over and picked up the mike. "Attention crew, we gots full atmo where we need to be. We'll be dockin' in five."

Settling into her seat, she smoothly closed the distance until the magnetic grapplers could latch on. Lining up the airlocks, she got a reassuring green light that the connection was secure.

She stood up and buckled on her belt. "Keep an eye out, 'kay?"

"Will do, Capt'n!"

Dani made her way down to the cargo bay to meet with her boarding party. All were wearing sidearms, even Cali had her little revolver slung into the strap on her toolbelt where a hammer would normally rest.

A few days ago, after the girls' adventures on Ariel, Keith and Dani took everyone out to a field next to where they landed on Regina and got them shooting. They determined that everyone should go out off the ship armed, even Sara who loathed guns. Whether or not they made use of them in a fight, sometimes the mere presence of a sidearm can head off trouble, make them less likely to be a target. Cali showed proficiency with the little revolver that Mike had brought along, and Rain liked one of Keith's backup automatics. Surprisingly, the one who took to the target practice the most was Maribelle. Discussing the matter with Keith afterwards, he and Dani agreed that at some point they were going to have to find a decent gun merchant to equip the crew. For now though, the motley collection they had would suffice.

Dani eyed the rather large-framed revolver that Mike had slung on his belt. "Quite the monster there, Mike."

Her mechanic grinned behind his bushy beard. "That there's my bear huntin' gun."

Grinning, Dani gave Cali a reassuring pat on the back and started them all moving towards the airlock.

 _Golden Gary_ derelict. Halo Asteroid Field.

The crew had been at the salvage for maybe an hour now. They cleaned out one smaller, easily-accessible hold, and transferred the contents to their own cargo hold, but the high-security one was proving to be troublesome. Both Cali and Mike were working on it, issuing forth streams of Mandarin cussing, much to the amusement of most of the spectators.

Predictably, Selene was impatient and had started to question the reliability and competency of the two. Dani had a few choice words regarding how she might be able to assist if they were not moving fast enough, and Selene remained silent after that.

" _Wo kao_ (well fuck me / holy shit), got it!" came Cali's high-pitched squeal of excitement. Sure enough, the heavily reinforced door swung slowly inward.

The crew each grabbed a piece of luggage and headed towards the _Favour_. Dani noticed Selene was digging through the piles as if looking for something in particular. On the return trip, the group passed Selene who was carrying two small bags, smiling with far greater cheer than they had seen on her so far. _That girl's gotta work on her poker face._

Back in the derelict's storage hold again, a crackle came over Dani's communicator, as Rain's voice piped up excitedly. "Capt'n, we gots a ship movin' into the area. Seemed to be headin' for our original destination, but changed course when it saw us. "

Everyone in the hold ceased action immediately and looked up at Dani. "ETA?" she queried, already heading towards her ship.

" _Ta ma de_ (fuck me blind), they're comin' in fast, almost on us now. I dunno how fast they can latch on, but I 'spect you can't get back in time!"

Keith's voice rang out in an authoritative baritone. "Move it, people!"

Jogging alongside the others, Dani held up her handheld again. " _Favour_ , is Selene still aboard?"

Sara's voice came back, "Affirmative, she's here in the hold with us. We'll keep the door secure til y'all get back."

Rounding a bend in the corridor ahead, the crew almost lost their footing when the entire wreck shuddered with a "boom" of hull contact. " _Feng li bendan_ (crazy idiot) tryin' to kill us all," Dani muttered.

They had just reached their own airlock when maybe 30 meters down the passageway, another airlock opened up and a motley group, garbed rather similar to the _hun dans_ (bastards) from the bar, began to spill out.

In the lead, Keith already had his sidearm out and on full automatic, sending a burst forward that sent the pirates stumbling backwards. It bought enough time for the crew to take cover on either side of the passageway in the alcoves by the hatches.

Keith, Mike, and Cali were poking their heads around the corner next to their airlock, taking turns at firing while the others reloaded. Jess was crouched at Dani's feet, while the lanky captain stood over her. Their alcove across the hall afforded a better shot towards the pirates, because of the bend in the passageway, but they had to be very precise in the shots so as not to cause decompression. Fortunately, the others did not have that problem as they were shooting towards the interior of the ship, and Cali's shots were not the most accurate.

Then two small, silver objects slid down the hallway towards them. Dani had a microsecond after Keith called out "Flashbangs!" to close her eyes. She couldn't do so in time, and could only slump back against the hatch behind her, waiting for her watering eyes and ringing ears to clear.

When they did, she looked around first to check on the status of her crew. Jess was curled up at her feet, feeling around blindly for where she dropped her gun. Mike had dragged Cali back with him, and the two were shaking their heads groggily. Keith, of course, had covered his eyes in time and was still firing at the oncoming pirates.

Dani gave her head a hard shake, took a step forward, kicked Jess' gun back towards her, and brought her gun up around the corner to resume their defense.

The stream of pirates seemed endless. Though it was obvious they were hesitant to throw their lives away, some tactical genius on their end must have made the decision to try and overwhelm the embattled crew with their numbers. Dani thought maybe they were reconsidering their strategy when her ears, still slightly ringing, could hear one of the pirates shouting into his handheld, then motioning the other pirates back into their airlock, screaming orders. After another few seconds, there was a clang, and the derelict shuddered again.

Looking around in wonderment, Dani raised a shaky hand to bring the communicator to her lips. "Um, _Fortune_? What just happened?"

Rain's voice came back quickly, "They're buggin' out! Another ship just closed in, it's an Alliance cruiser, lot bigger than either of us... oh, weird... okay the cruiser stopped chasin' the pirate ship an' now it's comin' back at us. Same airlock, looks like."

Dani looked around at her crew, still alive and unhurt. "Let's get back on the ship an' wait fer 'em."

* * *

_Fortune's Favour_. Halo Asteroid Belt.

Dani wished, fervently, that she had been blessed with better patience. It was something she had always worked towards in her life. When flying a ship she could achieve relatively momentous heights of patience waiting for an opening in anti-air fire. But right here, right now, she was seriously considering punching this pompous purple-belly in the face, and damned with the consequences. _Isn't that how you ended up in the brig at the end of the war, ignoring the consequences?_ Dani relaxed her fists again on hearing the little voice in her head, so very much like Beth.

The object of Dani's aggression was stalking around the hold where all of the _Favour's_ crew were assembled. The commanding officer of the cruiser, a Lt. Haviston by name, had finished delivering his scathing denunciation of scavengers and pirates (Dani still bristled over having been lumped in with the latter category), and now just tried for intimidation with his "steely" glare. In reality, the young pup could hardly intimidate a beggar at Eavesdown Docks. His watery eyes didn't do much to distract from his quivering jowls that flushed when he got irritated. Which, from the way he composed himself, must happen on a daily basis.

When the Alliance soldiers boarded her ship, weapons at the ready, they immediately disarmed the crew and kept them at gunpoint. The injured pirates still aboard the derelict had been taken back to their ship for medical attention and arrest, and then Lt. Haviston arrived to inspect Selene's salvage papers and Dani's salvage license.

He proceeded to interrogate the crew at large asking about what was brought on board, and if the pirates were able to take anything. In the meantime the soldiers searched both the _Favour_ and the liner, tossing everything inside out. They paid special attention to the newly acquired luggage, and eventually just carried it all back onto the derelict.

The Alliance officer was still holding the papers in his hand, querying his executive officer via his handheld regarding the number of cells they had aboard ship, and if any of their flight crew had experience piloting a Firefly. Sighing, Dani turned to her brother. "I know you don' wanna, but it's time,  _didi_ (little brother)."

Keith gave an irritated grunt and pushed himself up from the bulkhead where he'd been reclining next to Jess. He walked over to the arrogant officer, who looked rather indignant to be even approached by the rabble he was clearly no longer interested in.

Before he could make a noise, Keith just held up a clear ident card and pointed it towards the handheld the officer was carrying. "Run it," he said with a grunt.

Lt. Haviston raised an eyebrow imperiously, though he did as requested while addressing Keith querulously, "Obviously you don't know who you're..."

His voice trailed off as he examined his screen, and all the color drained from his face. His mouth just flopped open and closed soundlessly.

"Now," Keith began in a gravelly baritone that spoke of impending doom, "here's what you're going to do. You and I will go back to your ship and meet with your exec in a conference room. While we're doing that, our guns will be returned. By the time I get back here, all the soldiers will be off my ship. Are we clear?"

The Alliance officer, looking like he'd rather be anywhere else in the 'Verse right about now, nodded rapidly, squeaked out orders to the soldiers, and fled back to his ship, a smirking Keith on his heels.

"Huh," Dani mused. "Really shoulda done that from the start."

Jess just sighed. "He doesn't like to flaunt it because it will get back to those in the Alliance command. And eventually, he may get called out on it. Right now, he just wants to stay under their radar."

Dani gave a nod. "Yeah, I c'n understand. Okay, people, let's start straightenin' things up while we waits fer our very intimidatin' First Officer's return."

The rest of the crew, shaking their heads in disgust at the mess the Alliance had left, dispersed throughout the ship. All except for Sara, who sidled up to Dani nonchalantly.

"Sooo..." her little crew member drawled, "noticed Selene hidin' somethin' in a nook here in the cargo bay when she got back b'fore y'all."

Dani raised her eyebrows. "Oh, really now?"

"Oh yeah," Sara smirked, looking over to the other side where Selene was searching frantically in the corner of the bay. "Wouldn'tcha know it, I just had to grab it fer myself." She held up a data disk low in her hand triumphantly, where their client couldn't see.

"Nice work, _baobei_ (treasured one)," Dani smirked back, palming the disk. "'Preciate you keepin' an eye on her. Let's wait fer Keith to get back 'fore we all have a nice, friendly sort of sit-down."

Sara giggled and skipped off to help with the cleanup.

Wasn't too long before a grumbling Keith made his way back onto the ship, closing the airlock behind him. "Need to get moving," he grunted. "They're going to start towing the wreck."

Dani hurried up the steps and proceeded to undock from the derelict. Watching the cruiser move off, liner in tow, she picked up the intercom and requested that all crew, and their passenger, be present in the galley.

As the crew sat down at the dining table, the overall mood was somber. They had made basically a wasted trip and risked several of their lives in the process. Dani looked around at the galley, it had been put together quickly through the efforts of Julie and Jess, but there were still signs of disturbance.

Noticing that Cali seemed unusually chipper, she quirked an eye at her youngest daughter. "Cali, what's got you in such a good mood?"

Unable to contain herself any longer, the teenaged engineer squealed. "I was in my first gunfight! I never done shot anyone 'fore today!"

Over the laughter from the crew, Mike chuckled, " _Wai sheng nu_ (niece, sister's daughter), I was there, pretty sure you still ain't shot anyone."

Waiting for the further laughter to die down, and ignoring her youngest daughter's indignation, Dani turned to Keith. "So, what was the result of the spanking you gave the lil' Alliance _biao zi_ (bitch)?"

Keith smirked. "Well, good news, obviously, is that they let us go, and returned our license back to us. Haviston wasn't interested in pestering us with infractions and fines after I explained a few things to him. But, he still revoked the salvage rights on the liner, he was under direct orders for that."

"Really now," Dani murmured. "Well ain't that interestin'. So then, Selene," she turned to their client, who was looking a bit unsettled, "let's talk 'bout you an' this lil' item that you made off with." She held up the data disk in her hand.

Every eye at the table swiveled towards the blond, who dropped her mouth open in shock. "That's... that's my property! I demand you return it!"

"Nuh uh, Princess," Dani smirked. "Not a chance. Right now yer gonna tell us 'xactly what's goin' on here, 'fore we sit down and take a look at the disk ourselves. Or," she said casually, "we c'n just let you off here."

"Um," Cory spoke up nervously, "we're in the middle of an asteroid field."

Keith just chuckled darkly. "I think that's the idea."

Selene opened and closed her mouth a few times, then slumped forward in defeat. "Alright, I'll tell you what I know."

She confessed that she was indeed an unregistered Companion, and was with a client on the luxury liner when it was disabled. Her client (by the name of Michael Chan) confessed to her that he purchased a video from an Alliance officer, and wasn't sure what he was going to do with it. She'd seen the video and found it of some value. That's why she spent so much in bribes to get the salvage rights to the liner.

The video showed General John Cherokee of the Alliance interrogating four recently arrested Browncoat "terrorists." The terrorists were recently caught damaging and defacing Alliance supply depots. General Cherokee presses them for information on finding more of their contacts, but quickly grew tired of this, and executed them personally. He's then heard telling his assistant officer to dump their bodies, delete records of their arrest, and then to delete the video that was recording the interrogation.

Selene revealed that the unnamed assistant officer, in a moment of weakness, instead sold the video to Michael Chan for a large sum of money. Chan then went on a cruise liner with Selene; he wasn't sure what he was going to do with it, he just thought it was an amusing piece of "art." He died on the bridge along with the flight crew when the cruise liner was battered by asteroids.

An hour later, Dani sat back in her chair on the bridge. She and Keith had watched the video and confirmed it's contents, while Mike and Jess stood guard, confining Selene to her quarters.

This could be very big, in one way or another, depending on how they dealt with the disk. The original job was out of the question, as Selene had lied to them and put her crew in danger; her only concession to the counterfeit Companion was to return her to Persephone and not leave her with the Alliance.

Before moving off to secure Selene in her quarters, Mike gave Dani the idea of bleeding the video onto the Cortex for all to see. Once she might have entertained the notion; now, though, she really didn't want to land a whole heap of trouble on their heads. _Well_ , she conceded, _anymore'n we usually do._

Dani turned her head as Keith entered the bridge and sat at Rain's chair. Dani had let her teenaged pilot get to her bunk to start cleaning, and she had left grumbling in irritation at the invasion of her privacy just a few minutes ago.

Keith waited for Dani to finish plotting the course for Persephone and laying it in, before speaking up. "So, I talked to a few contacts, including one in this General Cherokee's command. Not going to like the results."

Dani sighed and sat back in her chair again. "Pretty much a given. Go ahead, lay it on me."

Keith had discovered the reasoning behind the Alliance cruiser's fortuitous rescue. When the assistant officer (who sold the disk) finally came to his senses, he felt the money he received from Michael Chan wasn't enough to hide him from General Cherokee if the video went public. So, he hired the pirates to get it back, once he found out that Selene had purchased the rights to the derelict salvage. Details from the pirates were already available from Haviston's interrogation of the wounded. First, they attempted to intercept Selene at the bar. After that failed, they were to retrieve it from the cruise liner if possible, or destroy the ship with a lot of plastic explosives if they couldn't find it.

The still-unnamed assistant officer then confided to a "friend" about what was going on. This "friend" (unfortunately for him) reported to General Cherokee about what was going on. General Cherokee then dispatched Lt. Haviston in a cruiser to get to the derelict, intercept the pirates, and acquire the disk. Keith was pretty sure the assistant officer would remain unnamed, as he had been made to disappear by this point, courtesy of the General.

Dani's head spun as she tried to come to terms with the convoluted plot twists. "So, _didi_ (little brother), what d'ya think we should do?"

After a pause, Keith replied, "I know you're not going to like it much, but I think you should let me handle it. Let me get the disk through the channels, I know enough people in Alliance Command still who can do the right thing."

Dani sighed again but nodded. "Okay, Keith. So long as it don't come back to bite us in the _pigu_ (ass) none. But I don' think it's gonna do any good."

* * *

En route to Space Bazaar, Red Sun.

Dani combed her fingers through her damp hair after getting out of the shower. Her mind was preoccupied with thoughts of a certain lovely redhead who she had only gotten to see once, and months ago at that, but spoke to on the Cortex a few times a week. A late night conversation with Maribelle, who had asked where she thought her relationship with Lori was going, kept digging claws into her brain. _Where ARE we goin' with this? I can't seem to get her outta my mind. An' it's not like I'm the only one instigatin' the Waves, she's sendin' them to me half the time... So mebbe she feels the same way?_

Dressed in a clean tunic and cargoes, feet booted, she headed up to relieve Keith on the bridge. Walking through the doorway, she noticed Keith was yet again pouring over the Cortex news.

Dropping into her chair, she just murmured, "Nothin' yet?"

Keith grunted, and shook his head. Shutting off the Cortex unit next to him with a disgusted snort, he sat back and crossed his arms. "Go ahead, say it."

"Say what now?" she queried.

"Say 'I told you so.'"

Dani sighed good-naturedly. "I won't do that none _didi_ (little brother). You did what ya thought was right."

"And I should have listened to my _jie-jie_ (older sister) for a change," he rumbled morosely.

Dani barked out a laugh. "Now that I need a vid of."

Keith just shook his head. "I know that General Cherokee did see justice, but the entire affair was swept under the rug. Nothing at all on any news channels, it's been long enough there should have been something by now." He gave a heavy sigh. "I'm starting to understand your dislike of the brass, no matter what color they wear."

Dani gave another low chuckle, as Keith heaved himself up from his chair. "Hey, what's with the shaved head nowadays?"

Looking a little embarrassed, Keith just grunted, "I like it this way."

"An' not 'cause yer gettin' a bald spot or nothin', right?" Dani smirked back.

Just then her Cortex unit lit up with an incoming call. Dani switched it on to see Lori's smiling face. "Hey there, beautiful," the redhead said warmly.

Dani glanced at Keith, who gave her a wink and closed the hatch to the bridge behind him.

Turning back to the screen, Dani smiled. "It's good to see ya. Everythin' going okay on the _Starscape_?"

"Well enough, if a mite boring. You?"

Dani's smile slipped, and she realized what she needed to say. _If I don' talk 'bout it now, then when?_ "Lori..." she began hesitantly.

Lori's brow furrowed. "Hey, what's wrong babe?"

Dani closed her eyes. "I... Lori, I just gotta get this out, okay? I... I'm fallin' in love with you," she finally blurted out in a rush. _There, said it, now let the mockin' commence..._

She opened her eyes again, to see Lori's stunned expression, which was slowly turning into one of affection. "Oh, honey," she purred. "I fell hard fer you awhile ago. I just didn' wanna scare you off none, y'know?"

Dani laughed. "Scare ME off? Never gonna happen. Why wouldya think that?"

Her lover on the screen shrugged, embarrassed. "I thought you might be, well, hesitant admittin' yer feelin's. With yer past an' all. Didn't wanna push you none. I know you still love yer wife," she said softly.

Smiling widely, Dani replied, "I do at that, _wo de ai_ (my love), but I think I've come to terms with things. What we have is different. You know I'd never compare the two of you, right?"

Lori gave a nod. "I know that, beautiful. An' I do love you."

They just sat there for a few seconds, smiling like fools at each other.

"So," Dani dropped her voice down to a conspiratorial whisper and leaned in. "What are ya wearing?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title track by All-American Rejects.


	20. Episode 15: Blaze Of Glory

Splendor, second moon of Newhope. Georgia System.

Dani walked through the streets of what she thought to be the aptly-named town of Hopeful. "Got kindofa nice ring, don't it? Like they're hopin' for somethin' better outta life?" she drawled.

"That, or they're hopin' to survive. Or hopin' to get off this rock," Rain grumbled at her side.

"Don't be such a _moshouchenggui_ (stick in the mud)," Sara smirked at her friend.

"Bless you," Cali chirped politely.

Dani laughed at the three. "Really, lighten up Rain. We're all together, just our lil' family, out on a night on the town." She pointed to a saloon down the dusty road. "Here we go. Yer all legal drinkin' age hereabouts, 'cept for little Cali. Bet we c'n get her somethin' she'll like."

Cali brightened. "Hot cocoa!"

Laughing, Sara rubbed the diminutive mechanic's panda hat askew. "It's hot on this moon! Why d'ya want hot cocoa?"

"'Cause I like it," Cali responded primly. Then she grinned and looked up at Dani. "C'n I, _Kaasan_?"

"'Course you c'n, peanut." Dani glanced over at her grumpy copilot. "Rain?"

The girl in question heaved a sigh. "Okay, fine, but I wanna try sake."

Dani threw back her head and barked out a laugh. "You don' start small none, do ya girl? Alright, let's do this."

Dani had decided that the four of them rarely got to do anything by themselves. She had been thinking more and more about actually bringing Sara into her immediate family in an official-like manner, even though she was eighteen, and thought it'd help settle her mind to get them together for a day out on the town. And besides, she enjoyed time with her girls. Rain had taken quite a bit of convincing, as she was convinced disaster would befall them the next time she stepped off of _Fortune's Favour_ , but she finally acquiesced. Since she had her Ares belted to her waist, Dani didn't insist on the others carrying their sidearms. Especially since she knew Sara always had her blades up her sleeves, and Rain had taken to carrying her pocket knife around everywhere she went.

The four female crew members of the _Favour_ headed inside the saloon called "Ace In The Hole", and saw numerous tables of card players set up across the room. "Oooh, hey can we gamble too?" asked a bouncing Cali.

"Uh, no," responded Dani succinctly. She steered them over to the bar where they ordered their drinks, then sat down at a table close enough for Cali to watch the games with eager eyes.

Sara was watching one game quietly, then smirked. Leaning over the table, she whispered, "That one in the silly lil' bowler hat is cheatin'. The big guy with the vest just picked up on it, though. Watch."

The other three swiveled their heads around as, sure enough, the big _hun dan_ (bastard) in the vest bellowed a curse and got up, chasing the little man into the street, calling him all manner of names. The other two at the table just smirked, and each stole a little bit from the other piles. Before long, the big guy came back, glowering, and raked the departed player's pile into his own. Another player, this one dark-skinned and rail-thin, sat down to play.

Dani turned back to the others, grinning. "How 'bout that, a free show with our drinks."

The laughing girls soon had their drinks delivered. Dani, Rain, and Sara sipped carefully at their sake. Rain held her _chirori_ delicately and mused, "Tastes kinda like a really strong rice tea."

Dani nodded, "I think this type gots some different ingredient to it. There's as many different types an' flavors of sake as there is of whiskey."

Sara finished off her _chirori_ with a gulp. The others stared at her, dumbfounded. "What?" she asked innocently. "Used to drink sake with the Tongs all the time. No big deal."

Laughing, Dani shook her head with amusement. "Fine, then, you c'n drive us back."

"Didn' we walk?" Cali asked, drinking her cocoa as fast as she could without burning herself.

"I think yer right," Dani answered. "Alright then, you c'n navigate."

Sara smirked, "I c'n do that."

Just then, a rather pale and rattled-looking woman entered the room, looked around hesitantly, then started in the direction of Dani and the girls.

" _Kaasan_?" Rain whispered.

"I see 'er," Dani murmured into her _chirori_. "No idea who she is. Girls?"

Cali and Sara craned their necks to look but shook their heads.

The approaching woman had deep brown hair tied up neatly on the top of her head and wore a fashionable business suit. She carried a briefcase at her side. Her precise walk spoke of confidence that her facial features did not reflect, though she seemed to visibly transform herself as she got to their table. "Hello," she said in a rich voice, "I'm your contact, Mercedes Wingate. Ready to do business?"

Without waiting for an answer, she dragged a chair over, sat down and placed her briefcase on top of the table. Rain and Sara quickly moved their drinks out of the way before they were spilled. The woman popped the case open, fiddled with something inside, and then spun it around to face the group.

"Here are the blueprints for the prison complex. Note the security systems in detail. I think this is what you require, yes?"

Dani noticed Rain was looking at the readouts on the portable Cortex unit with interest, but she just shook her head in amusement. "Miss... Wingate, was it? I'm 'fraid you gots the wrong folk. We're not here to buy anythin', just fer a quiet drink."

"Look," Mercedes responded briskly, "if it's a matter of credits, I told you people before we can negotiate. It's important this information gets out."

Dani was starting to get a little irritated until Sara grabbed hold of her arm. " _Kaasan_ , everyone left the bar."

Looking around, she felt a sharp stab of panic. " _Ching-wah tsao duh liou mahng_ (frog-humping son of a bitch)," she spat out. "What didya just get us into?"

The woman across from her paled. "No... oh no, how did they find out...?"

Rain's head perked up like she was catching a scent. "They're comin'..."

Dani didn't question her oldest daughter, just started to rise to her feet. "We gotta move. Whoever they are, they'll be on us soon. And I don' believe they'll think this was an innocent misunderstandin'."

Sara's whole body tensed like a predator readying to attack as she saw movement just outside the front door. "Too late," she whispered darkly.

The beginning of the fight seemed to happen in slow motion.

One minute they'd been trying to leave the bar, the next about six mercs had entered, drawing their weapons as they spotted their prey - and then, all hell had broken loose.

The first volley of darts from the merc tranquilizer guns hit Mercedes and Cali, and they both quickly went down like sacks of flour.

Sara dodged the dart fired at her and filled her hands with shivs, grinning wickedly. With a fluid movement, she closed to the first of the attackers and brought a blade up and across his throat. With a bubbling scream, the merc clutched his wound and fell to his knees, while his enraged partner lashed out with a club at the diminutive hellion.

She easily dodged his attack and spun around, burying her shiv deep within the man's back and ripping it up in a clean slice, opening his back and slicing through part of his spine.

Rain had drawn her knife as well, and lay into the next merc with abandon, screaming in fury. Momentarily taken aback and trying to defend himself, the merc wilted under the onslaught and then also screamed as multiple stab wounds opened up his torso.

Dani had stood up, blocking Cali's unmoving body from any harm, calmly picking off each reinforcement that came in through the front door.

It looked like they might weather the assault and escape, until more mercs burst in through the back and an unsuspecting Dani took a dart to her neck, collapsing immediately. With her gun silenced, the other two girls were quickly, if bloodily, swarmed under and drugged.

* * *

Merc ship _Swift Justice_. Inbound to Perdido.

Dani came to groggily. She was still in her clothes from earlier, but she could tell her gunbelt was gone, as well as the knife she kept behind her back. Her hands were bound behind her, and she lay curled up on the floor. Peering blearily at her surroundings, she could tell it was a small cell without room to stand up in. Maybe only a meter and a half on each side, and a meter tall. Groaning, she tried to stretch as best as she could, and shuffled towards the bars in front.

Across the narrow hall she could see both Cali and Sara were in cells of their own, and starting to stir. Cali sat up with a start. " _Tai-kong suo-yo duh shing-chiou sai-jin wuh duh pee-goo_ (shove all the planets in the universe up my ass)," she shouted. "Not again, gorramit! An' they took my hat, too!"

Sara just chuckled weakly. "Never just a quiet stroll on the town with you, is it _meimei_ (little sister)?"

Cali gave a wordless growl, muttering a stream of profanity in Mandarin and kicking out at the bars in frustration.

"Easy, peanut," Dani called over. "Let's not antagonize our captors til we figure out what's goin' on. Rain, you here too?"

"I blame you entirely for this," was the only response from the cell next to her.

Dani chuckled wryly. "Well, yes, we c'n save the recriminations til later, 'kay? Let's take stock. What do we gots?"

Sara shuffled around a bit. "Not a gorram thing. They got all my blades. An' there were some they shouldn'tve gotten unless they were gettin' _real_ friendly-like."

Cali giggled before speaking up. "Nothin' here _Kaasan_. On Ariel I still had my multitool, but they got that too."

Rain didn't answer, and Dani decided not to push it, just accepting that as a negative as well.

"Alright then. That Mercedes woman here as well?"

"Yes," came the rich voice from the saloon, albeit weaker now. "I'm very sorry to have gotten you into this. Truly, you were not there to receive the data?"

"'Fraid not, _pengyou_ (friend)," Dani responded. "So why don' you fill us in with a lil' story while we waits fer wherever we're goin'?"

"I can tell you our destination," Mercedes said sadly. "A little piece of hell called Perdido." And she proceeded to relate her tale to the four others.

Her father, Elias Wingate, was a titanium magnate, head of the Far Yukon corporation on Hera. His main competitor in this system was a malignant sociopath by the name of Colonel Jared Rejovic, who happened to be the warden of a prison for people the Alliance would just as soon forget. The Perditon Penal Facility was carved out of the moon called Perdido, covered in rock and ice, orbiting the dead planet of Prophet, also in the Georgia system. Rejovic ran the penal facility as a labor camp, working thousands of inmates to death in the extensive titanium mines beneath the surface of his prison.

Colonel Rejovic had a serious grudge against his competition. Wingate seemed to be able to underbid him with some frequency. Mercedes, for her part, worked as an advocate for the Miner's Guild. She didn't see eye-to-eye with her father on many things, and whereas Elias believed in honest competition with Rejovic, she earnestly thought that the man must be brought down. Rejovic had the implicit support of the Alliance military and ran his prison like a little fief of his own. Mercedes had heard too many horror stories about the prison to let the man continue.

"An' this is where you've landed us?" Dani asked, quietly but dangerously.

Mercedes just gulped. "I had no idea, this was supposed to be a contact with a nest of freedom fighters, ex-Browncoats who would help take Rejovic down! I thought you looked like the type!"

Dani just put her head back down on the floor. _Well, I s'pose I do look the part, don't I._

At that point, a door down the hall opened, and a cheerful voice called out, "Are we all awake, my lovelies?"

A tall, handsome man with Asian features and sporting a dazzling smile walked in between the cells. He wore tight shorts and a vest over his bare chest, all in black, and a deadly-looking automatic belted to his waist in a military-style combat holster. "Hello, my fine residents! I am your host, the very humble Xi Wang Black, captain of the _Swift Justice_ , and hunter of many lucrative bounties such as yourselves. I thank you for giving me a very nice payday, as the dear Colonel has put a high price on your heads! Especially the lovely Mercedes Wingate here. I trust your flight has been well so far?"

Two streams of Mandarin profanity told him of Cali and Rain's opinion of their accommodations. Black just laughed jovially, turning in a circle. Spying Dani, he said, "And you my dear, comfortable?"

"You do know yer makin' a mistake, and that we're not the folk you want, right?" Dani asked, and then smirked. "But I don' imagine that'd make a lick of difference to ya."

Black laughed again. "And you would be correct! You were there, with the evidence, and that's all I need for my payday."

Turning once more, he stopped and crouched down next to Sara's cell. "Ah, now you, my little kitten, are a dangerous one. You were the one with all the very sharp and pointy objects, yes? What would such a little girl like yourself need with so many knives?"

"So's I can rip out the intestines of a _si pi yan_ (damned asshole) like you," Sara whispered, her voice dripping with the promise of death.

Black tsked and stood back up. "Well, now that we have that settled, I'll be sure not to turn my back on you, little kitten. In any case, we will be landing on the moon of Perdido very soon, and you will be shown to your new quarters. And, Mercedes," he finished with a gleam in his eye, "the Colonel is so very, very anxious to talk to you..."

Laughing, he strode out and closed the door on Mercedes whimper.

"We're humped," Rain said miserably.

* * *

Perdido, moon orbiting Prophet. Georgia system.  
Perdition Penal Facility.

Once the merc ship landed, the five women were dragged out of their cells and chained together in a line. As they were waiting, Rain leaned up behind Dani and whispered, "I think I gots a good look at the security diagram that Mercedes had. If'n it was legit, it could help us get out."

Dani grunted in response. "Nice. Keep yer wits about you as we walk though."

"Right," Rain answered. Then after a beat, she added, "I still blame all of this on you."

Dani just rolled her eyes and shook her head.

The line was soon moving off of the ship, and into the prison itself. They walked down the ramp into a towering corridor made entirely of some black, oily metal. They could feel the sharp cold of the place grip them through the walls. Many of the lights hanging down from the ceiling had failed, leaving their passage a damp, flickering march into purgatory. Dani could hear a steady hiss of forced air from above, and the acrid smells of chemical cleansers and rot made her eyes water.

Dani was certainly no stranger to the inside of a prison, having spent the waning weeks of the War inside one, but this time she had ran afoul of the Alliance, and she wasn't looking forward to seeing what would happen. Worse, she managed to drag her children into this mess, a collection of bad circumstance and being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Her musings were cut short when they exited the airlock into the first room of the facility, where they were met by a burly guard almost two meters tall, dressed in Alliance-issued riot gear. "Listen up, _biao zis_ (bitches)," he started in a deep, raspy voice. "Welcome to the Perdition Penal Facility. There is no escape, no way off of this moon. You are here to stay. This particular maximum-security slam houses thousands of inmates of both sexes in several massive underground complexes. The moon's extensive ore-processing facilities also lie below the crippling cold of the surface. And you will be working those facilities. If you try and escape to the surface, exposed skin will freeze solid within fifteen seconds, and even if you could cope with the cold, there is no breathable air. But please do try and escape, life's boring here and we enjoy the show. An escapee once lasted fourteen minutes. That's the record." Looking down at Sara and Cali, he smiled humorlessly. "And it makes no difference as to your age, we get all types here, you still work the mines."

The guard turned on his heels and several other guards entered, flanking the chain of women and urging them forward. The first guard started walking as well.

"You will be processed in the next area, given a jumpsuit and a cell number. Memorize it. Obey the system or you will regret it. Don't fuck with the system, and it won't fuck with you. This is an Alliance military prison. You have no rights. We are the law." He stopped at the next door and unlocked each prisoner's restraints as they were pushed inside where a female guard handed out bright orange jumpsuits and shoddy shoes.

They were required to strip down, divesting themselves of all their clothes including underwear. Their old clothes were thrown into a large bin, and once properly suited they were urged into the next chamber, where they were told to line up again.

Sara, standing in front of Dani, turned slightly with a smirk and revealed that she had already palmed a set of keys off of one of the guards. Dani managed to keep the grin off of her face but gave her a wink. _Yeah, I think our stay here's gonna be a short one. The faster we figure a way out, the better chance of catching our good friend Black here still._ As they had been led away from the _Swift Justice_ , Dani saw Black arguing with a formidable-looking man with craggy facial features that seemed chiseled out of stone. The man, who she assumed to be Rejovic, had a broad frame, powerful limbs, and a thick neck. She was hoping the argument meant that the pay was in question, which could take some time to settle.

As they started moving through the prison facility towards their new cells, Dani picked up on a few obvious things. For starters, Rejovic obviously didn't care for his inmates. The cellblock was in disrepair, with pervasive rust and grime evident throughout. Walking through the squalor of several cellblocks, and through numerous security checkpoints, Dani also picked up on the fact that maybe half the inmates, and guards for that matter, had some sort of sickness.

Walking through the cellblocks, Dani also noted that there were fewer catcalls of "New meat!" than she expected. Still, she did see a few predatory looks among other inmates and they watched the group walk through.

The line of girls was brought up to a second-floor cell block. A railing surrounded the walkway on both sides, leaving an overlook to the blocks below. The guards stopped at an empty cell with two double bunks. "Grant. Danielle, Caliope, and Rain. In here. Wingate, Mercedes also in here."

"Now, wait one-" Dani began.

Unperturbed the guard continued. "Jameson, Sara. Next door."

Sara looked over her shoulder with a humorless little smile. "I'll be fine, Kaasan. See you in a bit."

The four women were locked into their cells. The furnishings reflected the shoddy state of the rest of the prison. No sheets or pillows were evident, just a dirty-looking blanket piled at the foot of each mattress. The steel sink and toilet bowl were rusty and stained.

"Well, I c'n see why so many inmates are sick," Dani murmured.

Rain plopped herself down on a bottom bunk, Cali leaped up on the one above her.

Moving quickly, Dani sat on the next bottom bunk, glaring up at Mercedes as if daring her to complain.

Evidently, discretion was not part of Mercedes' vocabulary. "Why am I on the top bunk?" she whined.

Growling low, Dani replied, "You do not wanna push me any further Mercedes. My children and I are in slam, solely 'cause of you." She stood, looking down upon the pale woman, and murmured grimly, "Keep it up an' we just might leave you behind when we escape."

Mercedes took a step back, and then realized the significance of her words. "Escape, really?" she almost shouted.

" _Gao yang jong duh goo yang_ (motherless goats of all motherless goats)," Dani sighed, sitting back down on her bunk. "If Sara were here I'd just have her shiv you and get it over with."

"Oh, gross," Cali suddenly piped up. "I think someone peed on this bed."

"Just flip the mattress over. Mine's got blood on it," Dani replied wearily.

Rain spoke up. "Bottom's not any better, squit."

The doors across the cellblock opened with a resounding clang. "Must be mealtime," Dani said, standing. "Let's see what we can see. I don't want to spend the night in this _diyu ban di difang_ (hellhole)."

They exited their cell to see a commotion already in progress. A few burly men were clustered around the cell next door. "Hey there, little girl," one of them leered. "Heard you were new meat. Wanna be my plaything?"

Rain, bristling, was about to move up, but Dani held her back with a hand on her arm. "Just wait a tic..." she murmured.

Sure enough, the speaker gave a yelp of surprise and stumbled away, hands clutching his throat. Sara tumbled past him, slicing behind her with both hands, severing the inmate's achilles tendons. Unable to stand, he fell backwards, and his head flopped over the side of the catwalk, exposing and widening the gruesome wound. He gave a final gurgle and stopped moving, eyes staring sightlessly upwards. The blood from his neck dripped steadily over the edge and onto the floor below.

Sara stood up from her crouch and concealed her shivs back up her sleeves. "Anyone else?" she purred with a promise of violence.

Grinning, Dani just made a tsking sound. "Now boys, didya really have to make my daughter kill on her first day? How am I ever gonna get a rep 'round here?"

The burly inmate closest to her, who had been backing up, whirled around, sneering, "You _chou biaozi_ (stinking whore)," and reached for her neck. Dani grabbed hold of his arm, twisted, and landed a knee in his crotch. As the man leaned over the railing, wheezing, Dani simply helped him the rest of the way over, and he landed on the floor below with a sickening thud.

"Whelp," Rain commented. "I think that might help yer rep."

"Might be, at that," Dani snarked, walking over to Sara. The other inmates beat a hasty retreat. "Already made two shivs, huh? Awfully industrious of you."

Sara grinned. "Nicole gave me one of her old ones, I only had to make the one," motioning inside her cell.

Dani noted three shocked-looking women inside the cell Sara had exited, all were rather worn-looking but still had an air of toughness. " _Ta ma de_ (fuck me blind), girl, you're alright," said one with a buzzed hairdo.

"Thanks, Nicole!" Sara chirped, and then turned back to Dani. "Can we take 'em with us _Kaasan_?"

"More the merrier," Dani answered, "'specially when it comes time to overwhelm the guards. I'll give the word when we reach capacity for the transport we came in on. Comin'?" she asked over her shoulder into the cell, as she walked ahead.

She heard her youngest daughter pipe up cheerily, "Hi! I'm Cali!" and the answering murmurs of the other three women who moved with their group.

Dani led them down the stairs towards the cafeteria, looking around for more security measures, and was pleasantly surprised to see how lax things were even here. Seemed most prisoners were just left to their own devices while they were outside the mines. Didn't even seem to be much of an uproar over the two recently deceased inmates. While walking, Dani questioned Nicole and the other two female inmates (Betty and Goldie) about the sickness. They confirmed it, and that it seemed to be some sort of virulent flu. _Well, then half the guards should be weakened as well._

They proceeded through the line at the cafeteria, receiving a slop of some unidentifiable mush ( _"Looks kinda like brains," Cali mused_ ) and sat together at a table. Dani had finally convinced herself that she might not really die from ingesting the vile slop, maybe just suffer internal hemorrhaging, when the first guard who had spoken to her marched up, four other guards in tow.

"Grant, Danielle. Wingate, Mercedes. You will follow me now."

Shrugging, not all that displeased in the postponement of intestinal disease, Dani rose and dragged a terrified-looking Mercedes along with her. "C'mon, girl. Time to meet this Rejovic and see what we're in for." She paused a beat. "Stick together. I'll be back," she instructed over her shoulder.

Dani was led along with Mercedes though several cellblocks and security stations until they came to a large warehouse. It was mostly deserted, with poor lighting. Dani could see a pair of forklift gravcarts along the left wall amidst a stack of wooden crates. On the right wall hung a complex array of chains and shackles that she eyed warily. There was a door marked as the Warden's office, and another as a communications room.

Much to her dismay, she and Mercedes were immediately shackled to the wall. Mercedes was moaning pitifully, but Dani tried to stay focused, formulating a plan as she tried to recall the paths they had taken. If she was correct, the passageway they had originally taken from the merc ship was just beyond the wall behind her, and so must be accessible somewhere close by.

The door to the warden's office opened, and the imposing figure she had seen earlier strode out. Now that he was closer, she could see that Rejovic was as tall as she was. "Thank you, Corporal Yang," he murmured. The Colonel stepped in front of her and smiled, but it was a cold thing that didn't touch his grey eyes. "And so now we will get acquainted, yes?"

Dani smiled back. " _Qu si_ (go to hell)," she answered pleasantly.

With a loud _crack_ , Rejovic's hand whipped across Dani's face, stunning her. "Now, now, no need to be rude. We will get to know each other quite well. You were the Browncoat terrorist she was going to sell the information to, yes?"

Dani spat out a glob of blood on the Colonel's spotless uniform. " _Shee-niou_ (cow sucking) idiot. Gots the wrong girl."

Rejovic hand rocketed out again, the other way this time, and Dani's head was rocked back against the wall. She saw stars momentarily. "Well, I can see this will require some more direct manipulation. Corporal Yang?"

The officer stepped back to the warden's office briefly and returned with what looked like cattle prods. Dani could help the widening of her eyes somewhat.

"Yes, we will get back to you. Just ponder upon your answers for a time, hmm? Now then," he moved over to Mercedes. "And now for the main attraction. Ah, dear girl. You are central to my plans!"

Mercedes just glared back at him wordlessly. Dani winced, knowing what was coming.

 _Crack!_ "I will have you know a few things before we begin." _Crack!_ Mercedes gave a little sob.

Rejovic stopped with his ministrations and began to pace. "Far Yukon, through your father, presents my only competition in this part of the 'Verse. Without his intolerably brilliant leadership, Hera's explosive labor issues would have sunk Far Yukon long ago. Control of the titanium trade should be mine. Mine. You father steals from me! He STEALS from me!"

The fury in Rejovic's eyes suggested a mad obsession. He leaned over Mercedes' shuddering form. "I promise to extract from you all of the information I need to undermine Far Yukon," he whispered. Leaning back, he smiled jovially. "You should be happy! I will destroy Far Yukon for you, I know how much you despise their labor practices. Through you, I will ruin the mighty Elias Wingate." Rejovic pointed towards two security cameras on the ceiling and continued, "I'm recording this first session. I'll record all our sessions together and send them to your father! Maybe Daddy will capitulate before we begin sending him body parts."

Before he could continue, the communications door opened and a hacking, coughing guard informed the Warden that Black was demanding his presence yet again. Rejovic grumbled, "Ah, just when we were getting started... No matter, we will have many session together you and I. And I won't forget you, my dear," the mad Colonel approached Dani, who just graced him with her usual smirk.

She likely should have anticipated the _crack_ against her cheek again, but it still stunned her. She was feeling a bit woozy by this point. _Man c'n hit like a hovertruck, I'll give 'im that._

Rejovic walked back to his office muttering, while Corporal Yang released the two from their shackles. They dragged the two women back through the security checkpoints until they were back at their original cellblock.

"Don't go far now," Yang chuckled in his deep, raspy voice, as he turned and left.

" _Feng li_ (crazy)," Dani muttered. "They're all _go tsao de feng li_ (dog fucking crazy) here." The walk from the warehouse managed to clear her head again, and the ringing had finally stopped.

"I can't go through that again," Mercedes whispered. "I'm not that strong."

"Well then, good thing we're gettin' outta here soon. _Dong ma_ (understand)?" Mercedes just nodded mutely.

When Dani and Mercedes returned to the cafeteria, both battered and bruised, a few more new faces had joined the group. All were talking excitedly. One skinny man with a metallic prosthetic arm stood up, grinning. " _Ai ya, huai le_ (shit on my head), it IS you! Angel!"

Dani's jaw dropped. "Jory?" she whispered in disbelief.

"In the flesh, well most of me, anyway," her old copilot joked.

Sitting down next to Jory, and leaving Mercedes to her own devices, Dani quickly got caught up on the relevant parts of Jory's past. Namely, that while his flying career ended when his arm was lost in the crash, he remained a Browncoat. "After Du-Khang," he explained, "I got this nifty arm. Not much stronger than a real one, but I've gotten pretty good usin' it. Enuff so they lemme pick up a rifle. Weren't at Serenity, though."

"Lucky, that," Dani commented.

Jory nodded. "I was off on Beylix, got captured with most of my company, along with a commando unit that was supportin' us. Spent the rest of the war in an Alliance prison. Got out, kept causin' a ruckus, and eventually landed up here. Been goin' on six months now in this _diyu ban di difang_ (hellhole), outlasted a lotta others."

"Well," Dani grinned, though her split lip was paining her, "the others fill you in?"

"Yep, yer _nu'ers_ (daughters) sure are somethin' Angel. We're gonna help any way we can."

"Please Jory, it's just Dani now. War's over, yeah?"

"For some mebbe. For some. Now," Jory continued, "the problem with escape, that none of us have been able to overcome, is twofold."

The rest of the table became silent, listening in.

"You can see they're pretty lax hereabouts, no need to come down on us, just let us self-regulate, more or less. 'Cause you can't get past the doors when they go on lockdown. We don' have the security schematics to handle that."

"That we can help with," Dani smirked, turning towards Rain. It was then she noticed her oldest daughter was sitting close to another teenager. The boy had a mop of blond hair, and the two of them were grinning shyly at each other, whispering at the far end of the table.

Dani cleared her throat. "Not borin' you none here, are we Rain?"

Rain sat up straight, face flushed. "Sorry _Kaasan_ , er, Captain, I'm good. Um... what were we talking 'bout?"

"Security schematics," Dani replied, grinning in amusement. "Still got 'em in yer head?"

"Yep, still in there, I 'member most stuff I see or read. Easy 'nuff. Got a couple'a passwords too, might be able to use."

"Right, you an' Cali will be working together on figuring out how to get us past the doors, and beyond. You need help," she nodded, indicating the boy next to her, "use yer new friend there."

The boy smiled shyly. "I'm Robert."

Dani nodded again, then turned back to Jory. "Dunno how that boy has survived in here..." she muttered.

"Newbie," Jory scoffed. "Just arrived yesterday. I been lookin' after the kid, he's alright."

"Can I shiv him if he makes moves on my _jiejie_ (older sister)?" Sara whispered at her elbow.

"No, behave," Dani smirked softly. "What's the other problem, Jory?"

"Oh, right, twofold. So, the other is that the Alliance supply ships that come in are so well-guarded there's no hope of gettin' off on one. That's what usually brings in the new meat. Didn' you do the same?"

"Nope," Dani popped the last syllable of the word. "Merc ship. And if we hurry, it'll still be there."

Jory gave a chuckle. "Alright, then, mebbe we got a chance after all..."

"Gonna need a few things," Cali piped up. "Tools fer one. Likely need a portable power source of some sort, like a battery, so's I can bypass the locks we come to. Oh," she added thoughtfully, "gonna need his arm, too," indicating Jory.

Sara just scoffed. "No, you don' none."

"Yes, I do! How d'you know I don'?"

"'Cause I know you, an' yer just causin' trouble."

"Am not! Well, okay, so I thought it'd be funny anyways, but that ain't causin' trouble! Rain, now, she causes trouble!"

"Hey!" protested Rain, hearing her name come up.

"So, Jory," the lanky captain asked, ignoring her girls, "you know of any other reliable ex-Browncoats we c'n recruit for this venture?"

"Oh yeah," Jory grinned. "I can help you there, I know a few still healthy. Wanna get a riot started?"

"When the time is right," Dani smiled. "Though I'm thinkin' soon enough."

She turned around on her bench and reclined back, examining her surroundings. "So there are three security stations or checkpoints between us and freedom. Two cellblocks in between that we could encourage to riot. If we stick together as a group, we c'n make it through each cellblock relatively unscathed."

Dani glanced over her shoulder at Sara. "Until we get firearms, you'll have to be our main offense, 'kay?"

Sara gave a wicked little smile back. "Capt'n, it will be my genuine pleasure."

Dani grinned and then winced in pain. "That _fay fay duh pee-yen_ (baboon's asshole) Rejovic... okay, so where c'n we get the supplies Cali needs?"

Jory turned on his bench as well and reclined next to Dani. "See up top there? Supply closet. If we c'n get into the door, should have everythin' we need."

"Right," Dani stood up decisively. "Let's do it then."

"Now?" Jory looked up, surprised.

"No time like the present. _Mi you ling_ (listen closely). Sara's with me. Still got the keys you palmed?" The girl nodded in affirmation. "Then we get up there, break into the closet, an' toss down the supplies. The rest of y'all hold here to receive 'em. Once we start movin' we're gonna have to keep movin', fast. If you can't keep up, don' step up none. _Dong ma_ (understand)?"

The others around the table nodded, looking excited, except for Mercedes who just looked sick to her stomach.

"Jory, you gots five minutes to round up folk you trust to keep up with us. That'll give us enough time to get up there, get the stuff, and get back." Dani turned with the trademark Grant smirk firmly in place, pain or no. " _Zhu hao yun_ (good luck)."

Dani and Sara made their way up and around the block towards the stairs. Their way was impeded only once, but their opponent quickly reconsidered when another inmate whispered to him their earlier encounter outside their cell.

The pair took their time getting to the closet. Nobody seemed to be paying any particular attention to them at the moment, so Sara slipped her stolen keys out, and after a few tries got one to fit. They both slipped inside the door and fumbled for the light.

The dusty storage room contained floor-to-ceiling stacks of prison uniforms, cots, blankets, toilets and some other unremarkable items. After a brief amount of searching, they found both a small toolkit and a large battery-powered handlight.

"Right, we're good. Let's head back down."

The two opened the door carefully, right into the path of a four-guard patrol.

Sara reacted instantly. She dove in-between the first pair of guard's legs, slicing with her shivs. They both toppled with howls, one backwards into his friends, the other towards Dani.

The lanky spacer grabbed the wounded guard by the vest and pushed him over the edge. Then, hopping up on the rail, she called out "Catch!" and threw the toolkit and handlight out towards the table they had left. Cali caught the toolkit easily, but Robert fumbled the light and it broke. _Well, we just need the battery anyways._

She turned to Sara, who was busy finishing off the other two guards, and shouted for her to come on. Matching action to words, she vaulted the rest of the way down. " _Kaasan_!" Sara shouted down.

Dani turned to catch the two sidearms Sara tossed down before she jumped and landed on a table. "Oof!" she exclaimed. "Further down than it looks!"

The rest of the inmates were beginning to wake up to the fact that there was some excitement going on, but Dani hoped they could stay ahead of the upcoming riot for now. She looked around wildly for her daughters, making sure they were all together and accounted for. _Where's Rain?_ she thought, panicked.

Hearing a shot ring out behind her, she turned to see Rain holding the pistol of the guard she had tossed over. The second guard that Sara had disabled had been moving towards the alarm. "Nice shot, _nu'er_ (daughter)!" Dani grinned.

Rain grinned back and held up her thumb. Then she, Cali, and Robert were moving towards the security station door.

"Sara," she called out. "See if you c'n get the door open, mebbe they ain't locked down yet."

Though she trotted over towards her two sisters, Sara replied, "I don' think that's gonna be the case," and pointed upwards to the security cameras. Alarms began to blare, and the cell doors all slammed shut.

" _Ta ma de_ (fuck me blind)," Dani cursed. She forgot about the gorram cameras. Keith should be here, he'd be so much better at this sort of thing. _'Course, he woulda single-handedly escaped by now._

Sara tried the door but shook her head in the negative quickly enough. Cali, who had been rooting through her toolkit, took her place and popped the security pad next to the handle. She looked at the wires for a second, brow furrowed, and then gave a little chirp. She deftly cut a few wires and started twisting others into place.

Dani turned to see Jory approaching with almost a dozen more inmates, male and female.

"Wow, you weren't kidding none 'bout the five minutes! This was all I could gather before the lockdown!"

"No worries, it'll be enough." She passed one of the guns to him. "Those with combat training pick up guns first as they come across 'em. Make sure you gather up ammo. Speaking of which," she crouched down at the guard's corpse on the floor and removed two magazines for her pistol. "These'll come in handy."

She turned to see Cali hooking the battery from the handheld up to the wires hanging out of the keypad. She gave a shout of triumph that turned into a shriek when Rain pulled her back abruptly out of the doorway. Several shots rang out, and one of the inmates milling about dropped to the floor in a bloody pool.

"Right," Dani said grimly. "Here we go."

She eased around the line of sight to the doorway and shot the two guards she could see. Just as she was about to continue around, a sidearm slid out on the floor and another guard came out with his arms up. He was quickly clubbed under by inmates who were starting to get into the idea of a nice riot to warm things up.

Cali, Rain, and Dani moved into the room and scanned the console in front. Rain gave a smirk, and her hands flew around the controls like she was piloting a ship. The alarms cut off abruptly. With a dramatic flourish, she tapped a few more keys and announced, "All set."

"Just like that?" Dani asked, eyebrow quirked.

"Just like that," she answered smugly. "All cameras disabled for the next block. The security doors should be open. Oh, an' I canceled the alarm. By the time they come check things out themselves, we'll be on top of 'em. Can't override the general lockdown from here, though."

Dani grinned and gave her oldest daughter an affectionate side-armed hug. " _Niubi_ (fucking awesome), girl."

The group, which had grown in size, moved quickly through the next cell block, where the inmates just watched in open-mouthed surprise. The next security room checkpoint was indeed open, the guards peering outside curiously, one of them attempting to fix the keypad outside which had gone dark. Dani quickly shot the three of them, and they hustled into the next room.

Rain paused at the console. "Okaaayyy... I c'n open the next door, but can't control the cameras, they've locked those down from somewhere. So they've seen us come in here and will know we're comin'."

" _Jian gui_ (to hell with it), we keep movin' and movin' fast. Anyone can't keep up, gets left behind." Dani gave a wink to her girls to reassure them that there was no way in _diyu_ (hell) any of them were getting left behind.

In the next cellblock, there were a few guards trying to set up a temporary barricade, but they were being swarmed by inmates who were fully into the notion of a riotous time. Dani stopped to deal with a few of those guards, to prevent them from getting at their backs, and let Jory and the ex-Browncoats proceed to the last open guardhouse in their way.

Cali had taken out a large wrench from her toolkit and was laying into one of the guards with abandon, smashing him about the head and arms happily. "Cali, stop playin' around with the _hun dan_ (bastard), we gotta move!" Dani called out.

The inmates were unable to make it any further, and sporadic fire from within kept them from rushing the guards. Dani moved up to the doorway, next to one inmate clutching a wounded arm but still holding a guard's pistol in his other hand.

"Alright!" came a shaky voice from inside. "We're willing to negotiate!"

" _Bi zui_ (shut up)," barked a raspy from inside authoritatively. "Nobody does nothin' without my say so. We hold here!"

Dani had peeked around the corner while the last voice was talking, spying Rejovic's lieutenant, the _hun dan_ (bastard) Corporal Yang. "May I?" she inquired politely to the wounded inmate next to her. He just nodded, relieved.

Dani stepped around the door and dropped Yang with one shot. The other guards just stared at his body in shock, and then looked up as other inmates flooded the room.

"Anyone else wanna negotiate?" Dani smirked, gun still raised.

The guards, to a man, dropped their weapons and raised their hands.

"Smart, fer purple-bellies. Now, into the closet over here, stay outta the way an' you shouldn't be harmed none."

"Shouldn't?" squeaked the guard who owned the first voice Dani had heard. "Don't you lead these guys?"

Dani smirked again. "Me? I'm just passin' through." Turning back to her followers, she asked, "Shall we?" And they moved on, those without guns collecting the ones that had been dropped.

Before long they were moving through the warehouse Dani was 'entertained' in earlier. She avoided looking at the shackles on the walls. Moving to the Warden's office, she examined the door. "I think, in this case, we'll just do it the easy way," she mused. Standing back, she kicked the door hard.

And then jumped back, yelping in pain. " _Liou coe shway duh biao-tze huh hoe-tze duh ur-tze_ (stupid son of a drooling whore and a monkey)," she yelled.

Jory gave a chuckle from behind her. "Lemme take a crack at it." He sauntered over to one of the hover forklifts, started it up, and drove it right into the door, splitting it in two.

Dani just grumbled and limped into the office. At the other end was another door, marked "Hangar."

"Finally," she grinned and massaged her leg until she could walk on it without limping. She then opened the door a crack and saw the same black, oily passageway they had originally arrived in. Looking over her shoulder with a smirk, she crooked her finger to have everyone follow her on through.

Dani strolled casually into the hangar, where Rejovic and Black were facing off. Evidently, the standoff had been bloody at some point, as there were bodies of mercs and guards littering the area near the ship. Black still had three mercs with him, and faced down Rejovic and his five guards, the latter looking decidedly unhappy about being there.

Noticing the lone spacer walking in, Rejovic sent a sneer in her direction. "So it's been you causing trouble in my prison. No matter. Black, I'll give you the originally agreed-upon sum after all, including a bonus if you rid me of this troublesome _chang fu_ (whore)."

Without waiting on Black's reply, Dani brought her captured gun up from behind her back and shot the warden neatly through his right eye.

"I'm sorry," she smiled darkly, as Rejovic collapsed to the ground soundlessly. "Didya wanna few minutes to consider his offer?" Her gun hand was steady on Black's face.

" _Qu si_ (go to hell)," the merc growled back. "You think you can take all of us?"

Dani smirked. "Don't need to none. 'Sides, yer not mine to kill today."

Black quirked his eyebrow in puzzlement, then jumped slightly as a dark little sing-song voice spoke up at his elbow. "You turned yer back on me after all," Sara sang.

Black whirled around to face the diminutive scout who had crept up unnoticed. His movement, however, simply assisted Sara in slicing neatly across his lower abdomen. Eyes wide, he stumbled back a step, and then dropped to his knees, shock and disbelief written across his face.

Sara spun with her right hand outstretched, and a narrow stream of blood arced across the path of her shiv from his neck. Pausing only a beat, she kicked him in the chest, making him fall backwards, spilling his intestines out. "Toldya so," she grinned, a spot of blood on her cheek.

"Eewwwww, _dung e hwar_ (yuck/disgusting)," Cali complained from behind, as she walked up.

Dani could tell Rain was valiantly trying not to throw up. Mostly for Robert's benefit, she suspected. "So, then," she drawled, stalking forward with her sidearm still raised. "Does anyone else wanna impede our progress?"

The guards threw down their weapons without hesitation, the mercs following suit once the other armed inmates entered the hangar, the _jing-tzahng mei yong-duh_ (completely useless) Mercedes trailing behind.

Two of the mercs stepped forward, grinning. "We're the pilot and engineer for the _Swift Justice_. You're gonna need us to get off this rock."

Dani barked out a laugh. "Oh, boys, we got that covered. Go stand with the others. You c'n wait fer the next Alliance supply ship, if'n y'all c'n survive the prison riot till then." Turning, she smirked over her shoulder. "Still alive Mercedes? Well, I suppose I c'n still offer you a lift. Let's board, people, and get the _diyu_ (hell) off this gorram moon."

* * *

Outbound from Perdido.

Sitting in the captain's seat of the hijacked merc ship, setting a course back to Splendor, Dani mused on their incredible good fortune, which could very easily have gone a different way. Fortunately, the combined technical, security and criminal expertise of the four women were enough to quickly make their escape. Dani shuddered to think of the results if they had been left in that _diyu ban di difang_ (hellhole) for months.

She was happy to find her beloved Ares sidearm was still there on the _Swift Justice_ , along with the rest of their weapons. They also found Cali's hat in a bunk; one of the mercs must have taken a liking to it.

Dani reached over and punched in a number she knew well, but not one she often had to use herself. The welcome but worried face of Keith came up on the screen.

"Dani! _Wo kao_ (well fuck me / holy shit), you are a sight for sore eyes, _jiejie_ (older sister)!"

Thinking her face might split in two if she grinned any harder, Dani replied, "You too _didi_ (little brother). We're on our way back to Splendor. You been keepin' my ship safe?"

" _Shi a_ (yes, affirmative)," he replied impatiently, "but where the _diyu_ (hell) have you been? We scoured the entire moon, nobody would admit to seeing the four of you!"

"Long story, I'll relate when we get back. An' then we gots a saloon to visit an' have a few conversations with the clientele. Take care Keith, we'll see ya soon."

They signed off affectionately (she should go missing more often, it seemed to make his disposition much sunnier) and then Dani turned back to Jory.

"Hope you don't mind the detour too much. I'll leave this boat in yer hands to do with as you will. The Mercedes woman, too, she seemed to be all fired-up to go up against the Alliance. Mebbe she'll be of help."

Jory grinned absentmindedly. "Don't hurt none that she's cute too. Right, Angel?"

" _Nigeiwogun_ (get out of my sight)," she laughed. "An' I told you, war's over."

"Not for everyone," Jory smiled knowingly. "You ever get an itch, you gimme a call, _dong ma_ (understand)?"

" _Dao xie_ (thank you), Jory. For everythin'."

Walking towards the door, Jory laughed. " _Ni zai jiang shen me pi hua_ (what the fuck are you saying), I'm the one who should be thankin' you."

Jory left the bridge and passed Dani's daughters sitting in the small lounge just aft.

"I still think it woulda been funny if'n we used his arm," Cali scowled darkly at Jory's back as he departed.

"Even better if'n it'd been a leg," Rain mused.

"Yeah! Okay, next time we stay on the lookout for a guy with a prosthetic leg. It'll be _niubi_ (fucking awesome)," Cali grinned.

Sara sat back in her seat, sighing contentedly. "I love you guys."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really, really had a blast with this one. Took me days to put together. See if you can spot all of the movie references! (Spoilers: _Fifth Element, Guardians of the Galaxy, Pitch Black, Chronicles of Riddick_...) I did want to stick in a "death-by-tea-cup" scene from _Chronicles of Riddick_ , but that's not really Dani's style. Now Keith, on the other hand...
> 
> Also, credit to the _Freedom's Flight_ module, written by Ted Reed for the Serenity RPG, for much of the background and descriptions of Perdition. Title track by Bon Jovi.


	21. Episode 16: Between the Raindrops

* * *

Greenleaf. Red Sun system.

Dani relaxed at the head of the dinner table as the food was passed around. Cory seemed to have cooked up some tasty noodles with beef cubes and peppers in some kind of citrus sauce. Whatever it was, it smelled heavenly. Mouth watering, she spooned a healthy portion onto her plate before handing the bowl to Keith.

Every time she sat with her family and crew, she marveled at how they all came to be here, together, and how they functioned as such a large extended family. Dinnertime was, without a doubt, still her favorite time of the day.

The Bilkes sat towards the other end of the table near the engine room, LT and Junior happily conversing with anyone who would listen about the latest book they were reading for their Aunt Julie's lesson. It had something to do with ancient Earth-That-Was legends, and it stirred their imaginations something fierce. Maribelle and Cory were caught up in the tales of glory and excitement.

Mike and Julie sat across from each other at the middle of the table, smiling indulgently at each other over the boy's ramblings. Keith, sitting next to Jess on the captain's right, was entertaining Cali and Sara across from him with a story from his younger days, when he was every bit as reckless as a teenager could be.

Quirking her eyebrow at Rain's empty seat, she called over her shoulder towards the bridge. "Rain! Food's gettin' cold!"

"Be there in a sec!" came the shouted reply.

Dani settled down to enjoy her meal, her thoughts wandering to their current job. They had delivered some supplies for one of the medical facilities within the dense rainforests of Greenleaf, but their return cargo wasn't ready yet. The research center needed a few more days to put their shipment together and was willing to compensate the _Favour_ for the wait. Dani shrugged mentally; wasn't much of a hardship, gave them time to do a little maintenance, get some fresh air. _Though I can't get Rain to step off of the ship's cargo ramp_ , she thought humorously.

The object of her musing strolled into the galley then and took her seat. "So _Kaasan_ ," Rain began casually, as she reached for the serving bowl. "I just picked up a signal, seems the _Starscape_ is inbound."

Dani fumbled her chopsticks and dropped the food they were holding back onto her plate, to the amusement of her crew. Ignoring their muted laughter, she carefully placed her chopsticks down and wiped her face with her napkin. "I see. An' when do they touch down?" she asked, trying for casual herself.

"'Bout an hour out still. Next landin' field over, they're scheduled to touch down on pad twelve."

Dani waited a beat, then bolted from the table towards her bunk, knocking her chair over.

"Okay-so-I'm-taking-shuttle-two-see-you-all-later!"

Grinning in excitement, she didn't mind the uproar of laughter that followed her out.

She popped her hatch open and jumped down into her bunk, not even bothering with the ladder. Dani quickly started going through the new clothes Maribelle and Jess had helped her shop for the last time they were in Londinium. _Too casual, too slutty, ugh what was I thinkin' with that one - oh, right, shows off my ass. Still, no. Oooh!_ She stopped at a dress she had found in a Sihnon import store, it was sort of an abbreviated _cheongsam-_ style, a body-hugging one-piece that wrapped tight around her, went down to just above her knees, and was cut high up the side, exposing lots of leg. It was sleeveless, but with a high collar. And best of all, it was a bright cherry red. _Perfect._

She also grabbed a set of lacy new red panties and bra to set aside before running for the shower. Setting a new personal record for herself, she showered and cleaned ( _So very thankful I just shaved yesterday!_ ), dried and ran back to her room where Maribelle was waiting, a grin on her face.

"Need any help?" she asked, a gleam in her eyes.

"Don't think so! Got the undies, the dress..." Dani shamelessly threw off her towel and pulled on her underwear, then struggling into her dress. "Oh, c'n ya help me with the zipper mebbe?"

"Sure thing, hon," Maribelle smiled and helped her the rest of the way. "Shoes?"

"Shoes! Right! Can't go barefoot, that'd be silly..." Dani muttered almost maniacally, searching through her meager selection. She held up a pair of low but functional flats. "These?"

"They'll work, I doubt she'll even notice them. She won't be able to keep her eyes off you in that dress anyway," Mirabelle smirked.

"You really think so?" Dani replied nervously. "I shoulda gotten some slippers or somethin'..." She sat down at her desk, fumbling with her makeup. She still wasn't comfortable with much, just a little eyeshadow and lip gloss.

"Here, let me, you'll poke yourself in the eye, you're shaking so bad," her sister-in-law giggled. "You sure you're okay to fly over?"

Dani gave a little laugh. "Oh, no worries, I always calm down when I'm behind the console. C'n you do somethin' with my hair too real quick-like?"

Finished up, she gave Maribelle a hug and raced up the ladder and around the corner to the shuttles (ignoring the whistling of her brother when he saw her fly by, though it did make her grin even more), and into the odorous shuttle number two.

Holding her breath against the harsh chemical stink, she quickly lit a stick of the incense they had taken to leaving onboard. She activated the controls to begin moving the shuttle bay arms outwards.

While waiting for enough clearance to launch off, she called the tower at the other field and asked if a pad near number twelve was open for a few hours or more, and arranged for the landing fee on that one to be billed back to the _Favour_. And then, she was on her way, butterflies crawling their way across her belly in anticipation.

* * *

Mining settlement landing field, pad twelve.  
Greenleaf. Red Sun system.

Dani had waited back next to her shuttle on pad number ten until the _Starscape_ finished landing, and then hastily walked over. She managed to arrive before the cargo doors on the Pilgrim-class transport opened up.

Leading the way out were the co-captains and co-owners of the ship, Eric Riker and Zannah Book, bickering as usual, she noted with a grin. And then all her attention was focused on the next crew member out the door, wearing the same short grey dress as she was the first time Dani laid eyes on her.

Eric had just asked over his shoulder if Lori wanted to go with them to the job delivery, but before a response could form on her lips, she halted and stared at Dani, standing at the edge of the field with her hands clasped behind her back. _Is this demure?_ Dani wondered. _I'm tryin' fer demure here, not overly submissive... oh well, too late to change my pose now..._

The beautiful redhead cleared her throat, and without taking her eyes off of her lanky lover, responded, "Actually I'd like a few hours off." Dani gave what she hoped to be a seductive smile. It must have been effective, because Lori actually blushed and amended, "Make it the rest of the day."

Eric and Zannah laughed. "Alright, liftoff in the morning," Eric said as he walked off.

"Lookin' good there, girl," Zannah murmured as she passed. Dani gave her a wink in response.

Lori took a few haltering steps towards Dani and then stopped. "How did you..." she whispered, wonderingly.

"Got a _niubi_ (fucking awesome) daughter who looks out fer me. Saw yer track, gave me enuff time to come by an' surprise ya." Dani looked down at her feet, a little embarrassed. "It's a good surprise, right?"

"You _feng li_ (crazy) gorgeous woman, come 'ere," Lori grinned and pulled her into an embrace.

Their kiss, for as long as it had been since they'd seen one another, was still slow and sweet, like they wanted to savor the moment and each other's taste. Dani likely could have stood there for another hour or so, just basking in the warmth, except for the clearing of a throat in the entryway to the _Starscape_. "So," an amused voice began, "this would be your girlfriend, then?"

Lori broke off her kiss with a giggle and turned. She moved her left hand down so it could clasp Dani's right. "Yep, Shen this is Dani. Dani, our mechanic, Shen. We're just..." She looked up at Dani, eyes raised. "We'll be in my bunk?"

Dani grinned and nodded enthusiastically. The grease-stained man in coveralls chuckled and moved out of the way. "Good enuff. I'm off for parts."

"I take it yer as eager as I am to get some privacy?" Lori whispered as they entered the cargo hold.

"Well," Dani replied. "I did just get outta slam."

"Yer gonna have to explain that one, beautiful," Lori giggled. "Later, though."

The two lovers chuckled foolishly the entire way back to Lori's dorm, Dani still feeling nervous. "It's nice and cozy," Dani commented when they entered. In fact, there wasn't much room in her bunk for more than the bed that occupied it. Most of her belongings seemed to be hung on the walls, or in small lockers. She walked forward, and leaned against the far wall, bracing herself with her hands behind her again. _That seemed to work well..._

"It's not much, but at least I don' have to share," Lori smiled widely, closing the hatch behind her. "An' the bulkhead is on one side, the cargo hold behind, so's my only neighbor is Zannah."

"That's good," Dani chuckled. "Save you from embarrassin' conversations with... um... nevermind," she stammered.

"What's this now?" Lori inquired, her head cocked to the side.

Dani just giggled nervously, but some odd compunction to be totally open with her gorgeous lover made her continue. "My oldest daughter, Rain, complained once that she could hear me at night when I was, um, thinkin' about you. An' that the bulkheads weren't as thick as I thought. And... and I promised to, um, wait til she had her shift on the bridge..." she trailed off, feeling her face flush red.

"Oh really," Lori's soft husky voice filled the air of the room. _Sweet Buddha, how did she do that, completely soak my pussy with only the sound of her voice?_ "So do you think of me at night?" She took a step closer. "Do you touch yerself while you do?" Another predatory step. "'Cause I masturbate every night, comin' with yer name on my lips," she ended with a purr.

Okay, she was wrong. NOW her pussy was soaked. Dripping wet, in fact. "God, the things you do to me," she whimpered.

"Beautiful, I ain't even gotten started with what I wanna do to you. An' I've had a very long time to dream of many, many naughty things." _Oh yeah, I'm a gusher._

Dani kept her hands behind her back, mostly to keep herself on her feet, as she looked down into Lori's light brown eyes that were darker and hooded in the faint light. Lori stood on her tiptoes and brushed her lips against Dani's trembling own. "An' it's my turn, ain't it?" Lori purred, her breath hot with promise against her skin. Dani gave a little whine, full of lustful need.

Smirking, Lori took a few steps back, and then her teeth snagged her bottom lip. Dani thought it was pretty adorable. "I'd like to see you naked. Would you mind takin' off that lovely dress fer me?"

Dani could only nod dumbly, and it took her a second to remind her hands they needed to help out here as well. With shaking fingers, she unzipped her dress and let it fall to the floor. Then she slipped off her shoes, and slowly unclasped her bra, letting it fall to the floor as well. Her panties she had a little more trouble with, as they were already sticky and clinging to her, but she managed to peel them off. Lori was staring at the warm slickness that had already spread down Dani's thighs and licked her lips.

Dani leaned back again with her hands behind her, back in her original position, and smiled tremulously. Even though they had already been together once, Dani still felt so exposed standing naked in front of the gorgeous redhead.

Eyes glowing, Lori stalked forward again, and ran her hands up Dani's sides, ending with a light caress of her breasts. Dani let out another little whimper of need.

Lori circled her arms around Dani, and held her close, kissing her again, this time with a devouring urgency that Dani eagerly returned, her own arms snaking around to clench the fabric of Lori's dress.

Breaking off, but not losing eye contact, Dani helped Lori undress until they were both naked in each other's arms. Then, with gentle guidance, Lori had her on the bed, with Lori above her on all fours.

Her lover's gaze ran along her body, and Dani gave a desperate shudder. "I love yer small, perky breasts. I've dreamed of 'em, an' I really wanna spend some more time with 'em, okay?" Lori said softly.

Dani could only give a squeak in response but nodded her head eagerly. Lori leaned down slowly, eyes still on her face, and lowered her mouth to Dani's bosom. She felt the swollen muscles between her legs growing thick and hot as Lori lavished her attention on her breasts with swirling strokes of her tongue. Her lips still fastened around Dani's nipple, Lori moaned when Dani let out a sharp gasp, coming quick and hard.

Smiling, Lori moved her head back up and lay down next to Dani, her body spooning her side. "Yer really sensitive there, ain't ya? I got you to come the last time, too."

"Oh, yeah," Dani let out in a breathless voice. "They're sensitive all right."

"Hmm," Lori murmured, her left hand tracing patterns across Dani's stomach, making her squirm slightly. "May I?" Asked Lori, moving her hand across Dani's stomach and down towards her pubic area. Dani swallowed and nodded bashfully, spreading her legs apart.

Lori cupped her hand over the hot, throbbing slickness of her pussy. She didn't keep herself completely shaved down there as Lori did, but left a neatly trimmed bush with short hairs. The feeling of Lori running her palm along the hairs, and scraping her fingers along her clit, was almost enough to send her over the edge again. And it did, once Lori moved her head back down and gave her nipple a little flick of her tongue.

" _Wo kao_ (holy shit)!" Dani practically screamed in a faltering voice.

Lori grinned again, and moved her hand to Dani's inner thigh, softly caressing there until Dani could recover her breath. Once she did, Dani just stared wonderingly at her gorgeous redheaded lover. Light brown eyes met bright green. "I love you so much," Dani whispered, cupping the side of her face with her hand.

Lori's smile widened even further. "I love you too, beautiful. But I still ain't nearly done with you yet," she snickered.

Lori stroked her fingers over Dani's small, hard clit, caressing up and down each side slowly before dipping her fingers lower. Dani's body lifted off the bed, her hips thrusting up in ecstasy to meet her hand, and Lori slipped inside. Lori gave a shuddering breath at the ease in which her finger slid inside the wetness, there was no resistance. As soon as Lori's middle finger filled Dani's body up to her bottom knuckle, her soaked muscles gripped at Lori's hand, drawing it in even further. "Is this okay?" Lori asked softly.

Dani was panting frantically at this point. "Oh, yes," she pinched out, then drew in a deep breath.

Lori added another finger and dug back in a little deeper, then stroking the front of her with her thumb. Dani threw her head back and screamed out Lori's name, her entire body shuddering in the grips of a mind-blowing orgasm.

Lori gave her a moment to come back to herself, tracing soft lines up and down her body, and sliding her body further down Dani's side. Then, unrelenting, she moved her head down and wrapped her mouth around Dani's clit. Dani's recovery was immediately reversed as her brain was wiped clean by a fresh wave of pleasure. Lori hummed against her lover's skin, and a feeling unlike any other she'd had before overcame Dani as she drove her hips against Lori's face. Lori gave a deep sound of satisfaction, almost a primal growl, at Dani's obvious reaction, sending tingles everywhere across her body.

Working her tongue around and inside her lover's clit, Lori wrapped her hands around Dani's ass, cradling it up and against her face. She started to move her mouth and tongue up and down, humming all the while.

Dani came hard once again, harder than she ever had before, harder than she believed was possible without some sort of serious physical injury. She felt a wet, hot rush surround Lori's face, coating her chin. Lori kept on lightly kissing and licking until Dani came down from her high and lay helpless on her bed. She rubbed her fingers through the hair on the back of Lori's head.

Lori gave a final, tender lick between Dani's legs, and moved back up, stopping to wipe her drenched face on her sheets. Then, reminiscent of their time in Dani's bunk, the redhead reached down and drew the covers over the pair, snuggling into Dani's side.

Dani didn't want to move. She didn't think she could, really, even with a shot of adrenaline. She was warm, she was comfortable, and she couldn't imagine anyplace else she would rather be than wrapped in Lori's arms.

She gave a soft sigh and tightened her arms around the wonderful girl in her arms. "We've gotta do this more often. The waitin' is gonna land us in the hospital." Lori just giggled and nuzzled her neck affectionately.

Eventually, Dani did move again, if nothing else to resume her mission of finding each and every freckle on Lori's body.

In between several of their lovemaking sessions, Lori was lying on top of Dani this time, her head nestled between her breasts, but looking at the large tattoo on her upper left arm. Her fingers traced the outline, and she asked softly, "I know there's a story behind somethin' like this, 'specially since you only gots the one. C'n you share it?"

Dani smiled and stroked the soft red hair lying on her chest. "I c'n share. It's not a big deal none, really. When we joined up fer the war, all us _huaidan_ (badass) pilots got together 'fore we shipped out to our first mission. We were all there at the beginnin', must've been three dozen or so pilots and copilots, plus another couple'a dozen engineers. We all decided as a group that it'd be fun if'n we made up a logo, an' everyone were to get a tat right there on Hera. One of the guys had this tattoo already, said it was the skull of a mythical creature from Earth-That-Was, some sorta fierce predator."

She broke off, and mused quietly, "I don' really 'member what the name of it was. We were all so drunk anyways."

Sighing, Dani continued. "So we dragged this guy along to a tattoo parlor, a big one that weren't busy. Got 'em to take a pic of it, an' use it on everyone else. So all 55 or 60 of us had 'em. Took the whole gorran night to get us all done. We were brothers an' sisters, the mighty auxiliary wing, riskin' death to support the troops..." She trailed off sadly.

Lori didn't say anything, just looked at Dani with soft, caring eyes, knowing her story wasn't over quite yet.

Giving herself a gentle shake, Dani continued. "Out of all of us that were in the war from the start, only three or four of us are left, I s'pose. Me an' Tom, we were flight crew through the entire war, up to the end. An' Ricochet, he survived, but I don' know what happened to his engineer, don't rightly recall his name neither. I think he might've had a replacement at the end there."

Lori moved her body up slightly and planted a soft kiss on Dani's lips. " _Duibuqi, wo de ai_ (I'm sorry, my love). I didn' mean to bring up sad memories."

Dani smiled back. "Don' apologize." Lori just looked back sadly.

Taking her face in her hands, Dani looked at her lover intently. " _Mi you ling_ (listen closely) sweetie. Don' ever you worry none 'bout dredgin' up bad memories, whether from the war or even from my past marriage. I love you, desperately, an' I wanna share everythin' with you. My past, my fears, everythin'. So don' feel bad, _dong ma_ (understand)?"

Lori grinned, and replied softly, " _Dong ma_ (understand)," and planted another kiss on her lover's lips. "An' I love you just as desperately."

* * *

_Fortune's Favour_. Greenleaf. The next morning.

It would have been difficult to sneak back aboard her ship anyway, especially since she needed to dock her shuttle with the help of someone on the bridge. She'd had a very long, but eminently enjoyable night. And neither of them got any sleep this time as if they were afraid to let a single minute go wasted. All too soon, though, the _Starscape_ had to lift, so Dani bid her goodbyes, affectionately with Lori in a bone-crushing hug, and somewhat less as affectionately with the others of the crew. She did, however, express her gratitude to Eric and Zannah at their acceptance for the impromptu rendezvous.

Once airborne in shuttle two (with incense lit once again), she contacted her ship and got Keith's voice on the line.

"So _jie-jie_ (older sister), coming back from your night of debauchery to take your shift on the bridge?"

Laughing, Dani responded, "Yeah _didi_ (little brother), I done been thoroughly an' properly sexed an' am on my way back."

"Argh, _bi zui_ (shut up), I don't need the details!" Keith replied. Then Dani heard a giggling voice say, "But I wouldn't mind!" as Jess broke in from where she must have been nearby.

Before long Dani was securely docked again on her ship, and stumbling blearily towards the bridge. She waved to the couple, Keith in the pilot's chair and Jess perched on his lap, as she plopped her weary body into her captain's chair.

"I'm pooped," she murmured.

"You sure you're up for watch? It's not like we're in the Black or anything, you don't really need to be here..." Keith smiled.

"No, no, it's all good..." she trailed off in a huge yawn. "Just need some tea to... to... wake up some."

"I'll get you a cup," Jess said brightly. _How's she so chipper at this early hour?_ Dani thought drowsily.

Jess moved off to the galley, while Keith turned to close down the Cortex unit he'd been looking at previously. As he glanced back at Dani, he saw that she had her head back in her chair, eyes closed and snoring softly.

Grinning in amusement and affection, Keith got a blanket out of one of the lockers on the bridge, draped it over his sister, then moved off to find his wife and see if she wouldn't mind returning to their own bunk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title track by Lifehouse.


	22. Episode 17: Cool the Engines

En route to Three Hills. Georgia system..

Cory Bilkes was on a mission.

He considered himself a generally mild-mannered person. Even with a pair of _xiao gui_ ([affectionate] little devils) for boys who liked to tear around the ship. Even with an assistant engineer who was sweet as any niece could be, and yet sometimes would misplace critical engine parts after she wandered off to look for something else. Even with an at-times _feng li_ (crazy) captain who insisted on dragging his wife, in a space suit, onto a plague ship.

Yes, even after all this, he still kept his calm.

But now, however, someone had crossed the line. They took what was not theirs to take, and there would be _diyu_ (hell) to pay.

He stalked around the ship, his usual smile absent from his face. His parents raised him to be unfailingly polite to others, no matter their station. And, truly, he did get along well with everyone aboard ship, no matter how standoffish they might be. So his near-growling should have been enough warning to anyone in his path that today, for once, Cory Bilkes was not a man to be trifled with.

Unfortunately, though he did receive several sideways glances, he did not scare the culprit into admitting their crime.

Finally, he could take it no more. He returned to the scene of the crime, his beloved engine room, where his brother-in-law Mike had now entered to help with maintenance.

"Mike," he began, "where is it?"

The mechanic in question just blinked his eyes uncertainly, his bushy beard twitching, possibly with guilt. "Where's what, man?"

Just then Cory heard a step behind him and whirled around in exultation. Aha! Another suspect come to see the results of their foul deed!

"Cory, you're scarin' the crew. What got into yer gasket today? Yer usually not this twitchy," said his captain and sister-in-law, Dani.

Surely he could trust Dani. Yes, he knew she was still fairly anti-Alliance, but she took him and his family on board, gave them a new home, gave him a new purpose. Yes, he decided, this would be brought to her attention.

"Captain," he started formally, "I have to report a theft."

Dani's eyebrows climbed up her forehead. "Really, a theft, here on the _Favour_?"

"Yes," he cried, "a theft! My socket wrench was taken from my toolkit! The one my parents gave me, the one everyone knows not to use! It is missing!"

Mike cleared his throat behind him. "Ya mean that socket wrench?"

Cory whirled around yet again. There, on his small workbench, was his shiny, gleaming toolkit.

With the socket wrench sitting on top.

He glared at Mike suspiciously, who just shrugged his shoulders in response and then went back to removing the engine panel he was working on before.

Turning yet again to Dani, he began, "Captain, I..."

It was then he noticed the giggling coming from down the hallway and just inside the galley.

Dani sighed and rolled her eyes good-naturedly. Giving Cory a pat, she smirked, "Mebbe they just want you to loosen up a bit," and walked away.

Cory just stood there, dumbfounded. He could hear Dani saying, "Now girls, it's not nice to play practical jokes with the man in charge of keepin' us in the air. Behave."

"Aye, Capt'n!" came the chorus of voices, before the three teenagers fell into a giggling fit again.

Cory just closed his eyes and sighed. Yes, he was a mild-mannered, easy-going person. And he did love his nieces. They just made his life more interesting at times, even more so than his boys.

* * *

Three Hills, Regional Spaceport. Georgia system.

Dani was up early, doing some kickboxing again. _One would think that the relieving of sexual tension would carry forward more than a few days,_ she mused. Truth of the matter was, she needed to work out some frustration above and beyond that of the sexual nature. She had a good thing going here, her family had been together with her for almost a year now. Her oldest was just about to turn twenty, no longer a teenager. And it was the latter that had set the wheels in her head spinning.

What was in her future? Could she keep her family, her crew together? Was that fair to them, really? Rain had enough experience under her belt to pilot a ship of her own, any merchant captain would be thrilled to have her. Same for Cali, actually, even though she had just turned seventeen last month she could easily fulfill the duties of chief mechanic on board another transport. Was she being selfish to keep them with her? And what about her brother and his wife, when would they get tired of traipsing around the 'Verse on an old Firefly?

As these thoughts whirled around her head, she gave the punching bag quite the beatdown. Spinning kicks and punches, flying elbows and knees. By the time she paused, panting, with sweat dripping down her nose, she realized she'd been at it for almost an hour straight. She grabbed her towel to mop the sweat off her torso and face, waiting for her body to cool off. Peering down at her usual attire of black workout shorts and a black sports bra, she wondered if she should mix things up a little, maybe get something other than black...

"Dani," Keith's voice came over the intercom. "You down there?"

She padded across the bay to the controls for the door and hit the intercom switch. "Yep, watcha need _didi_ (little brother)?"

"Incoming wave from Sweethome, a moon around Elphame. Girl by the name of Rachel Adams."

"Be right up," she responded and jogged up the steps. She tried to rack her memory, but couldn't ever remember meeting a girl by that name.

Entering the bridge, she tossed her sweaty towel over her chair and plopped herself down. Keith flicked a switch and the Cortex unit at her console came to life, with the visage of a plain-faced but sweet-looking girl, maybe eighteen or so. _'Course, looks can be deceivin', as Sara still looked like a thirteen-year-old, poor thing_.

The girl sucked in a breath, staring. Dani realized how she must look, sweaty and disheveled. "Er, sorry for my appearance, I just got done with my workout. You were askin' fer me?"

"You're Danielle Grant?" the girl asked in a melodious voice at odds with her plain appearance. "Angel?"

Dani gave a smirk. "Used to go by Angel, yeah. That was a long time ago, and the war's over now. And you are?"

"Oh, sorry! I'm Rachel, Rachel Adams. You knew my Dad, Rick?"

Still, Dani couldn't match the name up, until Rachel said the word "Ricochet".

"Oh!" Dani exclaimed. "Right, Ricochet! I'm so sorry, I'd forgotten 'is surname! Wow, and, um, also didn't realize he had a child!"

Rachel smiled. "He married my Mom after the war. My original daddy had gotten himself killed at Serenity Valley, and he's been a father to me since."

Dani leaned back, returning the smile. "And how is the old pirate? Still flyin' like a madman?"

Sobering, Rachel shook her head. "No, I'm sorry, that's why I'm calling. My father's been killed, and he said to call you if I was ever in a spot."

Dani's jaw dropped. " _Ta ma de_ (fuck me blind)," she swore softly.

* * *

Outbound from Three Hills. Georgia system.

Dani stood at the head of the dining table in the galley. Everyone from the crew was gathered around the table, save Rain who was piloting them off-planet and Cory who was watching over the core accelerator, but she had patched the intercom up to the bridge and down to the engine room so they might listen in.

She took a deep breath, then looked around. Keith just looked on impassively, as he already knew the situation, but he gave her a brief nod of support. Confidence bolstered, she leaned forward on the back of the chair started to speak.

"Here's the deal. I just heard from the daughter of the only other pilot who lasted through the war with me. And now he's dead, murdered 'parently though she don't know the who or the why. All's she knows is that he left her instructions to get ahold of me if somethin' went wrong."

Dani took another deep breath, and let it out explosively. "From what she could tell me, Ricochet got into some trouble, had a price on his head he was tryin' to get taken care of. To do that, he needed to do a job. Transport a crate of somethin' very valuable from Sweethome, a moon around Elphame, to Whitefall, a moon around Athens. It's all in the same system, but Rachel, that's the girl, now has no transportation or any way to fly it."

She looked around the room. The eyes of every crew member were on her, even the boys, who were listening just as solemnly. "Now I gots no cause to ask you of this, but I aim to get this crate to where Ricochet meant to take it, to help this girl out. There's no pay in it, and there might be some danger involved, not sure what we're headin' into. But anyone who don't feel like takin' part, or stayin' aboard, I can set you down on Sweethome and, God willin', pick you up again when this is all over."

She stood up and crossed her arms. "Believe me when I say there's no hard feelin's. Like I said, I gots no cause to drag you into somethin' that's my personal business." She looked around the room again to judge the mood. She was a bit taken aback to see smiles and acceptance all around.

"You know we're with you, Dani," Jess said softly, laying her hand on Keith's arm, who just grunted in affirmation.

Mike and Julie looked at each other, nodding. "We're in it too. Might be fun," Mike grinned.

Dani smiled back, and then looked towards the end of the table. "Cory, Maribelle? I know this is askin' a lot, with yer boys along and all."

Maribelle smiled. "You know we wouldn't let you down like that, this is the boy's home now. Can't leave the _Favour_ once you become part of it. I know I can speak for Cory in this."

"Gorram right you can," came a voice over the speaker. Then after a beat, "Oh, sorry honey, forgot I wasn't in the engine room by myself." The boys were giggling and rolling their eyes at their dad's profanity.

Dani looked at her two daughters present. "Sara, Cali? I mean to include you in this choice too, also you Rain," she added, turning to the intercom. "You want out, just lemme know."

Sara rolled her eyes in exasperation. "Honestly, for such a smart woman _Kaasan_ , you c'n be pretty dense sometimes."

"I know, right?" Cali smirked, as the two stood up to depart and join Rain on the bridge.

"But we still love our Capt'n!" Rain piped up over the intercom before she cut the connection with a click.

Dani just looked around in puzzlement as the two girls left. "So... I guess they're in?"

* * *

Sweethome, moon of the gas giant Elphame.

After they had landed, Dani walked down the stairs to the hold, where Keith and Jess had already brought the Mule down for transport. Mike was standing by the door, waiting, as Keith took the driver's control and Jess sat next to him. Dani was getting into the back when a lithe form leaped from behind into the seat next to her.

"Sara?" she asked incredulously.

"Someone's gotta look out for ya," Sara smirked back. Dani reached over and gave her a quick hug as the cargo bay doors opened, and then the Mule headed out.

A short trip later brought the Mule to a small ranch house. It was a little run-down, but it had a nice porch around the front. Standing on the porch, with her arms crossed, as a matronly-looking woman who was very clearly Rachel's mother.

"Uh-oh," Sara said quietly. "Looks like not everyone on this end approves."

Keith grunted. "Could be true. You want to talk to her Dani?"

With a sigh, Dani climbed out. "I'd better. I knew 'er husband." And she solemnly walked up to the porch steps.

"Mrs. Adams?" she queried. "I'm Dani Grant. I flew with your husband in the war."

"So," was the acerbic reply. "There was one of you old war buddies left that she could con into goin' on this fool's errand."

Dani couldn't really fault her for the attitude. She knew she was hurting, and that these people were there to take her daughter away, possibly to get killed just like her husband. Feeling slightly inspired, maybe because of the little murmur of a voice that always sounded a bit like Beth, she just smiled softly and asked, "May I come in? I'd like to just talk with you."

The woman stared at her suspiciously. "Just talk?"

Dani nodded back. "Just talk. Please."

After a few beats, the woman nodded curtly and opened the door for her. Dani walked into a sparse but clean living room. There was a small table for four next to it, and a little kitchen on the other side.

Clearing her throat, Mrs. Adams spoke up again. "Please, have a seat," indicating the table. "Tea?"

"Please, that would be wonderful."

Dani sat quietly as she looked around. There were many photograph stills around the walls of the house, of a little girl growing up, and some of Rick, smiling and holding onto the girl, sometimes of this woman who was also smiling. She sighed sadly.

Mrs. Adams returned with two cups of tea and sat one before Dani, who murmured her thanks. They sat there for maybe a minute, sipping their tea, before Dani spoke again.

"I was married once. Long before the war. I left my wife an' my girls at home to go off an' try to make a difference in the 'Verse." She stared into her teacup, not looking up or taking any notice of her surroundings, lost in her memories. "Beth was a wonderful woman, my best friend and I thought we were meant to always be together. Then, I came back from the war to find her very ill. It was a treatable disease, but that soon after the war there weren't no medicine, no doctors, and no way off-planet. An', even if there were, I had no money as my retrograde pay hadn't come through yet."

Dani took another sip of tea and cleared her throat softly. "She died a month after I got home. I was heartbroken, but I still had my girls. After five years or so we decided to try somethin' new, and we got a transport, collected the rest of our family, an' now we're a crew." She looked up then at the woman, who was staring at her, eyes brimming with tears.

"I can't tell you that you won't never be free of the hurt," Dani said softly. "But it does get better. Doin' things, keepin' active will keep the darkness at bay. But it's been many years now, an' I still love her very dearly, an' honor her memory by how I raise my girls. Even though I've found another person to love, I will never, ever forget Beth."

Dani watched a tear make its way down the woman's weathered face. She sniffled, and then spoke up. "My name is Beth too."

Smiling widely, Dani reached over and clasped her hand. "Well then, it's a pleasure to meet you, Beth. And I want you to know that what yer daughter has asked me to do, my entire family has agreed to. They'll be along, and I won' put yer daughter in any more danger than my own family."

Beth Adams sniffed again and nodded. "It's hard, you know, lettin' go?"

"Oh, honey," Dani replied softly, "there's nothin' in the 'Verse that's harder."

An hour later, they had loaded the medium-sized but hefty crate from the Adams' basement onto the Mule, and Rachel (after having introduced herself to the others) was on board, squeezed in-between Dani and Sara. They headed back to the ship, while a storm gathered on the horizon, promising rain soon.

* * *

En Route to Whitefall.

Dani was in the hold, staring at the crate. It was clearly labeled 'DO NOT OPEN' on all sides, and secured with metal bands which were in turn sealed with lead stamps. She really, really hoped this mystery cargo wouldn't land her in more trouble, but if this was the way to keep further trouble off of the heads of the Adams', then so be it.

She walked back upstairs into the galley to get some more tea. Rachel, Sara, and Cali were gathered at the table, giggling over stories and tall tales. _Well, with this crew, mebbe not so tall._ All four young women had immediately taken to each other, and in the short time since they began their journey were most often seen thick as thieves in this exact same position. Shaking her head with a smile, she headed to the bridge to relieve Rain and let her go join the party.

On the way she passed Mike who was lumbering up with a toolbox in hand. "That daughter o' yers gonna get back to work?" he said jokingly. Usually, you couldn't keep Cali away from the engines and inner working of the ship, but for once, she seemed content to just be a girl and spend time with friends.

Dani gave him a pat on the way past. "You know she'd jump in if'n you ever asked," she smiled.

"I know, I know, don' worry none 'bout it. Good to see all the girls actin' their age for a change."

Laughing, Dani entered the bridge and let Rain go on her way. She settled into her seat, sipping her tea. She finished it in short order and frowned at the cup. _I should get a bigger cup next time._

"Hey there, Cap," came Jess' voice from behind. "Want me to take that for you?"

"Sure, thanks, sweetie..." Dani's voice trailed off as she saw something appear on the edge of her scanners. It took a second or two to resolve into the profile of an old Shinigami warbird, the same _shee-niou_ (cow sucking) attack ship that gave her such trouble during the war.

"Dani?" Jess asked, noticing how her Captain had tensed up.

Dani watched the target for another few seconds to confirm it was indeed on an intercept course. No way was she going to believe this was a coincidence. She thrust the tea cup in Jess' hands and strapped herself in quickly. "Jess, go get Rain on up here, now, and buckle yourself in."

She rapidly scanned her console as Jess departed, looking for where they were and what was close by... _There._ _That'll have to do._ She started flipping more switches and then grabbed her intercom.

"Attention crew, _mi you ling_ (listen closely). I've got a bogie closing in, likely hostile. Intercept in sixty seconds if we continue our course, which I'm not 'bout to do. Engine room, get ready to give me all you can." She turned her head as Rain slipped into her seat and buckled up, eyes wide. Rachel came in as well and took the navigator's seat, while Sara just opted to stand behind Rain and watch. "All hands, secure everything you have, it's gonna get bumpy."

She looked at her console again and saw the Shinigami close in. "Sara," she said quietly. "You're gonna want to go buckle in, please. Ten seconds." She heard Sara audibly gulp, and then bolt out of the bridge and back to the jump seats in the galley.

After a precise count of ten seconds, she adjusted course towards the gas giant of Daedalus which was close to their path, accelerating quickly enough that the gravity compensators weren't able to catch up right away. They were all pressed back into their seats.

Dani glanced at her screen again. The Shinigami was still closing, but not as quickly.

"So, ya lil' _go tsao de hun dan_ (dog fucking bastard)," she murmured, "upgraded yer engines, eh?" She kept her course steady, calculating how soon he would catch up, and reassured she would make it.

" _Kaasan_ ," Rain began tentatively, "ain't we in general s'posed to avoid gas giants?"

"Normally, sure. But the thing 'bout gas giants is that they gots extreme atmospheric pressure. Now, there's no way a ship can land on the surface, it'd get crushed instantly." She made a minute adjustment in their course. "But a Firefly, even as old a ship as we are, c'n withstand a lot more pressure than that Shinigami behind us."

"Shinigami?" Rachel squeaked behind her. "Isn't that, like, a warship?"

"Yep, an old one, likely as old as our ship. But it's gorram effective if flown by a competent pilot. So," she drawled, "we're gonna hope he's not all that competent an' follows us in. Or even if he is, we gain some time on 'im while he has to stick to the upper atmo. Don't worry 'bout a thing."

The gas giant before them loomed large in their viewscreen, a swirling mass of colors, dark purples and blues and reds. Dani leveled the ship out slightly to enter the atmo at a less steep angle, as the _Favour_ began to shudder violently.

"Rain!" she shouted over the noise. "Keep an eye on the hull readings. You see the slightest hiccup, you lemme know!"

"Okay!" Rain shouted back, eyes glued to her console.

Dani kept the angle tight, leveling out as far down as she could risk. Looking at her scanner, she noted with disgust that the other pilot was, indeed, competent and had leveled out well within his rated hull pressure tolerance. "Gorramit," she growled, "bet he's a merc _wang ba_ (son of a bitch), not just some _piyan_ (asshole) bandit. That's gonna be trouble."

"What do we do now?" Rachel asked in a panicked voice.

"Now, we hang on an' ride it out through t'other side of the gas giant. That'll put us a lil' bit ahead. Comin' up pretty soon now... fifteen seconds..." Dani waited, patiently, for her course to open up, keeping an eye on the Shinigami. Then, she yanked back on the controls, and the Firefly began to rise slowly out of the atmosphere again until the viewscreen was filled with a starry Black again.

" _Ching-wah tsao duh liou mahng_ (frog-humping son of a bitch)," Dani groaned, "He's good. Adjusted his trajectory too, and he's right back on our tail again. Gotta be a merc of some sort."

She sat up straighter in her chair and tightened her belts. "Right. No more playin' around." And she pointed the ship's nose straight at the small, craggy moon of Rea in front of her.

" _Kaasan_?" Rain inquired.

"Don't worry 'bout a thing, sweetie. I got this."

"Every time you say that, I worry more!" Rain responded.

 _Dani ain't no longer in the seat here. Angel's back on duty_ , she thought with a smirk. _Ha, listen to me, soundin' like a_ huaidan _(badass)_.

The moon loomed closer in their viewport, as the Shinigami closed to within weapons range. Dani started juking slightly, which made their progress slower but would throw off his aim. She saw a flash off to her right a millisecond before the ship gave a violent shudder. Both Rain and Rachel gave a squawk.

"Just tryin' to get our attention, he ain't serious yet. He will be soon enuff," she said grimly. She picked up the intercom again. "Engine room, we're gonna enter atmo soon, I'm gonna need everythin' you c'n give me and more." She didn't wait for a response, just slammed the mike back down and concentrated on her evasive maneuvering.

Rain spoke up in a small voice. "Why are you goin' down? Are we landin'?"

"No sweetie, we're evadin'. And we're going down, 'cause in atmo, that's my advantage." Dani glanced at her daughter with a smirk. And then they hit the atmosphere of Rea with a _boom_ that was felt throughout the ship. They came in much steeper than would normally be recommended, but it did seem to kick the Shinigami back a little as the smaller ship had a harder time with it.

Then Dani was leveling out across the terrain, searching for a crevice, a canyon, something... _Ah, there we go,_ as she kept one eye on the terrain scanners and one on the screen in front.

She lined the _Favour_ up with a tall canyon that seemed to bridge two mountain ranges. The opening was wide enough, but there was a chokehold closer in. _J_ _ust need some cover_...

As soon as she entered the canyon, she let the ship drift downward until there was maybe a meter of clearance from the ground, and then kicked in the thrusters, essentially bouncing them up into the air and raising a cloud of dust and debris. Rain and Rachel shrieked in unison as they saw the tight crevice ahead. "We can't fit!" Rain squealed.

"Sure we can," Dani replied in a calm voice. And then she twisted the controls to bring the Firefly in sideways, flying with the right engine towards the sky and the left one a few meters from the ground.

She couldn't keep it like that for long and stay in the air, but fortunately, it opened back up again. Unfortunately, what her scanner didn't show was a slight twist of the overhang. With lightning reflexes, Dani flipped the transport around in a full barrel-roll to follow the twist, until they were looking up at the ground, and then again the rest of the way so the ship was righted once again.

"Well," Dani said brightly. "I always wanted to try that in atmo."

Rain just looked at her, a loss for words.

Dani heard a clattering from behind as her youngest entered the bridge, preceded by a stream of Mandarin cussing. "What happened back there, did we flip or somethin'? I almost banged my head!" Cali started before she even entered the bridge. "They sent me up to try an' talk some sense into ya. They say a Firefly weren't meant to handle this none." She stopped, frozen by the sight out the viewport as the canyon walls flew by with mere meters to spare on each side at times. " _Ta ma de_ (fuck me blind)," she whispered. "Never mind, I'll go back." And she departed just as quickly.

"C'mon girl, just hold it together..." Dani whispered to her beloved ship.

Dani let a few seconds go by before she risked a glance at her scanners, and saw that the Shinigami was still on her tail and closing. This was soon evident by the explosion ahead as the rock face collapsed towards them. She dipped the nose slightly to ride under it, but a few rocks still bounced off the hull.

" _Kaasan_ , hull damage, small breech! An' it looks like the number two shuttle took a boulder or somethin', the dockin' is jammed up!" Rain reported frantically.

"Gorramit," Dani growled, "that's my favorite shuttle."

This time she saw the missile streak overhead to explode directly ahead of them. Instead of trying to go under the rockfall she rose slightly above it, which must have been the pilot's intention. A burst of cannon fire lit up across their nose, and at least one round sparked off the front as a piece of the ship went sailing away.

"Was the the ruttin' primary buffer panel?" Dani asked querulously.

"Um, I think so?" Rain replied, still sounding terrified. Rachel had stopped making any other noise other than a high-pitched squeal.

"Rachel." Dani tried to be as gentle as possible. "Please. _Bi zui_ (shut up)."

The squeal cut off into a whimper instead. _Well, that's far less irritatin' anyway_.

Suddenly their run came to an end as they rounded a sharp bend.

Rain gave a shriek. "Cliff... Cliff! CLIFF!"

Dani was already applying a hard brake with the thrusters pivoted forward, and she accelerated straight up. She was reminded for a second of the last time she tried such a maneuver with her Fenris at Du-Khang. Fortunately, unlike that craft, the _Favour_ had more than enough power to pull it off, and they sailed upwards and over with meters to spare.

Dani gave an exultant whoop, which cut off as an alarm began to wail. " _Gao yang jong duh goo yang_ (motherless goats of all motherless goats), he got tired of playin' around. Almost got a missile lock on us." The merc ship had stayed with them all the way, but evidently had gotten tired of the chase. Dani thought they'd be okay since the cargo's presence would keep them safe. But disabling fire is only required if said cargo is still desired. _Mebbe this is Plan B for 'im then. Well, I gots a Plan B of my own, ya_ fay fay duh pee-yen _(baboon's asshole)_.

Dani quickly tapped out a series of commands on her console, while pointing their nose at the sky in a wild, corkscrewing pattern. " _Jian gui_ (to hell with it)," she muttered, "this'd better work," and then reached for the mike again.

"Keith!" Dani yelled into the intercom. "I need you up here, nav seat, now!" Without turning her head, she called over her shoulder. "Rachel, honey I need you to move, quickly. Stand behind Rain, an' hold onto her chair."

Rachel obliged, eyes wide. She darted behind Rain and grabbed hold with her arms around the co-pilot's shoulders. Rain didn't seem to mind, she was just as happy to have something else to hold on to for dear life.

Keith barreled onto the bridge and into the seat, buckling himself in. "I'm in!" he barked.

"Alright," Dani began much more calmly, "Flip the cover open, yep the one that says 'Do Not Touch.' I'm gonna enable the targetin' on yer console. I gots it on mine as well. Soon as I line him up, you hit the button under the cover. Already armed the payload."

"Payload?" Rain practically screeched. "What payload?"

"EMP mine, honey. Don't worry 'bout a thing," Dani tried to reassure.

"Stop saying that!"

Dani slowed her evasive maneuvers until she could line the Shinigami up briefly. Keith didn't hesitate for a second and slammed his fist down on the button. A green light glowed, and Dani could see in the rear-view monitor that their payload had been successfully deployed on target. " _Niubi_ (fucking awesome)!" she screamed, triumphantly.

* * *

Shinigami fighter. Rea.

The merc had to admit, this pilot was good. Better'n any he'd come across. Couple of times he almost bought the farm, especially when she did that _feng li_ (crazy) maneuver back at the chokehold. But he'd had enough of this _shen jing bing_ (insanity). He still had to get the cargo, but maybe they didn't know that. Maybe if he got a solid missile lock on their ship, they'd surrender. He cursed the fact that his radio was shorted out when he skimmed too close to his ship's limit in the atmo of that gas giant.

Feng li _(crazy) pilot. Who was this_ wang ba _(son of a bitch)?_

Then he noticed the Firefly in his sights had stopped the crazy maneuvering that made it so difficult to get a lock. Hopeful that maybe they had seen reason at last, he noticed a relatively small, cylindrical object tumble from the ship towards his own.

"Wait, was that...? No... it can't be..." He looked in disbelief, unable to swerve before the magnetic mine latched on. Wincing, he braced for an explosion... but didn't get one. Instead, all systems started to fail, lights flickering and then the entire ship fell silent.

His momentary relief at avoiding the anticipated explosion died as his craft twisted around and began to fall from the sky. He let out a screaming curse as the ground rushed up to meet him.

* * *

Whitefall, moon of Athens.

Dani had brought the _Favour_ down to the surface while still on Rea to do some quick repairs. Rain almost reneged on her vow to never leave the ship, but decided her fear of imminent disaster outweighed the need to kiss the soil they landed on.

Fortunately, it didn't take much to ensure the ship's space worthiness, as the hull breach was very small and easily patched. Anything else could wait for the next real port they landed at.

So in short order, they had traveled to Whitefall to meet with a certain robber baron by the name of Patience, who was apparently in charge of the moon.

Dani, Keith, Jess, Rachel, and yes Sara, all traveled in the Mule towards the residence of the Mayor of Whitefall. It was a long ranch house, well-kept, with plenty of cattle in the yards and plenty of ranch-hands to greet them.

Said ranch hands gathered in a circle around the Mule once they pulled up. Keith glanced over his shoulder at Dani, but as they hadn't made any hostile moves, she just made a soothing motion with her hands and climbed out of the Mule.

"My name's Capt'n Dani Grant," she addressed the hands standing in front of the house. "I gots a delivery fer Patience, from a man called Rick Adams."

"Is that so?" a harsh voice called out from behind the line of ranch hands. Between them walked a weathered old woman, dressed in a farm dress but with a vest and holster over her clothes. She had a rather old revolver at her side, but it looked well-used.

"Patience?" Dani queried.

"Mebbe. Where's Rick?" answered the woman.

"Dead," Dani said flatly. "This's his daughter behind me, Rachel. She's come to make good on his debt."

The woman gave a grunt, then peered up at her face. "So what's in it fer you?"

 _Perceptive old bat_ , Dani thought. "Used to fly with Rick in the war. We were in it from the start together. Did it as a favor fer him, in his memory, and fer his daughter."

The woman gave a sharp nod. "Alright then. I'm Patience, you got that right. Who else you got with ya?"

Dani indicated her other crew members. "My brother an' first mate, Keith. His wife an' my cargo master, Jess. An' my daughter, Sara." The girl in question gave a little beaming smile at being publicly called her daughter. _I really need to settle that with her..._

"An' what does yer daughter do?"

Knowing what was coming but unable to find a good reason to stop it, Dani just grinned in amusement as Sara hopped down, whisked her shivs out in each hand, and just as quickly made them disappear. "I'm her bodyguard."

Patience barked out a laugh that sounded more like a wheeze. " _Ai ya, huai le_ (shit on my head), I like yer style, girl. Y'all come on in now. Ruddy, Bertram, get the crate in here too." She led the way up the steps and into her ranch house, talking all the way.

"Fact of the matter was, Rick was my boy. He did plenty of errands fer me, I got some pilots but they were pretty well _gou se_ (shit/crap) compared to him. He flew a ship of mine on errands 'round the system. But he got mixed up with some folk that are my competitors, as it were." She eased herself into a comfortable plush chair that looked as weathered as she was, as the other crew, plus Rachel, sat in several couches around the room.

"Now Rick went an' got hisself a price on his head from these competitors. I liked the boy, he always done good for me, but I can't just pay off somethin' that big. So I asked him to make an important delivery for me. He got it at his house, but then his ship went missin'. I'm glad to hear he didn't turn on me, but sore that he got hisself offed. Damned shame.

"Now, then, s'pose y'all would like to know what is inside the box?"

"Only if you wanna," Dani replied professionally. "As a rule, we don' pry none into our client's business."

Patience gave another wheezing bark of laughter and shook her head. "That's a good one. But yeah, I think you'd like this."

She sat back as her two ranch hands brought the crate in, and proceeded to open the seals and pry it open.

Inside, nested in straw, were bottles of whiskey.

" _Fang pi_ (bullshit)," Dani breathed incredulously.

Patience cackled, sounding like rustling paper. "Believe it, girl. New Canaan whiskey, finest in the 'Verse. Crate like this would be more that your ship is worth, I wager."

Keith gave a low whistle. "You'd be correct," he rumbled. "Good stuff."

"An' that's what that merc ship tried to blow us up over?" Dani asked, still seeming a little off-balance by the revelation.

"Likely my competitors. They didn't know what was in it, mebbe thought it was something to help get leverage over me. Ha!" she barked. "Ain't nobody gettin' leverage over ol' Patience. Now then," she rubbed her hands briskly. "I 'preciate your help here. An' I wanna make it up to ya. Capt'n," she reached into the crate, lifted up and bottle and handed it reverently to Dani. "This here's yours."

Dani just blinked. If the value was what she said it was (and by both Keith and Jess' expressions, it likely was) then this was a huge gesture. She murmured her thanks, looking the bottle over in her hands.

"And Rachel, was it?" The girl nodded. "You showed some gumption gettin' this crate to me. I can 'preciate that as well, and I'd like to do honor to yer dad. Like to offer you a job here on Whitefall."

Rachel's eyes got huge. "Really?" she squeaked. "I mean, yes m'am, I'd love that. My momma is still back on Sweethome, though."

"Easy 'nuff, we'll send for her. Y'all can live here, steady income, decent living conditions." Rachel nodded enthusiastically at the old woman.

Dani stood up. "Well then, we'll be on our way. Pleasure doin' business with you, Patience. And Rachel, best of luck to you. Give yer mom my regards, let her know she c'n Wave me whenever she likes."

They said their goodbyes all around. Rachel gave Dani a hug, and whispered in her ear, "All the stories my daddy told me were true. You are one _huaidan_ (badass) pilot, Angel," she said before releasing her.

Then the _Favour_ crew were piled into their Mule and headed towards their home.

* * *

 _Fortune's Favour_. Whitefall.

Dani had decided to stay on Whitefall in the shipyard there for a day while they finished up the repairs on her ship, getting shuttle two unlimbered and the primary buffer panel replaced.

That night, instead of sleeping, Dani was in her bunk, sitting at her table. The bottle of New Canaan whiskey was resting on the surface, and a full shotglass was in her hand.

She slowly raised the glass to her lips and took a sip. She savored the slick burn of the aged whiskey as it slid down her throat and warmed her insides.

A knock sounded at her hatch, and she called out, "C'mon in."

Keith's booted feet came down the ladder, followed by the spec force trooper himself. He took a few steps inside and sat at the edge of her bed. Dani swiveled around in her chair to see him.

"You've been awfully quiet tonight," Keith began in a low baritone. "Got a feeling I might be the one person you could talk to about it."

Dani gave a small chuckle. "You know me too well, _didi_ (little brother)." She got up and swung her leg around so she was straddling her chair, and rested her chin on the back. "Why did we ever stop talkin'?" she asked in almost a whisper. It wasn't what was really on her mind, but now seemed as good a time as any.

Keith grunted. "Because we were both _bendans_ (idiots)," he replied, smirking.

Dani giggled. "Yeah, we were at that. _Dao xie_ (thank you)."

Quirking an eyebrow, Keith just made an inquisitive noise.

Sighing, Dani waved one hand aimlessly in the air. "Fer bein' here. Here in my bunk tonight. Here on the ship. Here in my life again. _Dao xie, didi_ (thank you, little brother). I don' think I could've done this without you."

Keith gave his sister a wink and leaned back on his elbows. "You'd not be as lost as you think, _jie-jie_ (older sister)."

Dani smiled back at him, and then lowered her eyes, staring down at the floor.

With a quiet rumble, Keith spoke up again. "So you started the war with Ricochet?"

"Yeah," Dani whispered back.

"An' not many of you left now, right?"

"Yup. Just two of us, far as I know."

The big man leaned forward again, resting his elbows on his knees. "I ever tell you I was the only one to survive out of my original spec force class?" Dani looked up at him sharply, and Keith nodded. "It's true. Don't know if that made me the best, or just the luckiest."

"I think," Dani said softly, "it makes us survivors."

"Nothing wrong in that, right _jie-jie_ (older sister)?"

"No _didi_ (little brother), not a gorram thing."

Dani reached behind her for her glass and snagged another one from the shelf above. She poured a finger in each, and passed one to her brother. They raised their glasses together in a salute.

"To old friends," Dani said somberly.

"To survivors," Keith replied.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title track by Boston.


	23. Episode 18: Shout At The Devil

En route to Athens.

Dani relaxed back in her chair as they made the short hop from Whitefall to the planet Athens. Really, it would take longer to get a landing pattern than the trip itself. But her thoughts wandered off to their usual favorite topic, Lori.

She sighed softly. She was really, truly in love with the girl, despite the age difference. _Well, okay so ten years ain't that bad, shoot Jess was a lil' less'n that much younger than Keith._ And it wasn't too hard for her to come to terms with that fact that she had feelings for the gorgeous redheaded gunslinger, real feelings beyond the "I desperately need to have sex with your fingers and mouth" type of feelings that had come over her every day, every minute since she had seen her in that saloon. _But what happens next?_ she wondered.

There was no way she'd give up the _Fortune's Favour_ or her family, her crew. Either to move off-ship or settle down somewhere. And she didn't think Lori was the type to settle down, maybe ever. She was a kindred free spirit. _So, what, ask her to move into my bunk? Leave_ Starscape _, join my crew, be more than crew?_

Was she really considering a long-term relationship? _Yes, definitely_. Marriage?

Dani brought her thoughts up short on that one. _Whoa_. She shook herself to clear her head. _Not goin' there right now, put it on the back-burner..._

Rain cleared her throat gently, almost startling Dani. She'd been so absorbed she'd forgotten she wasn't alone on the bridge. " _Kaasan_ , you going to ask for clearance, or you want me to?"

Dani gave her a smile. "You go ahead and take this one, sweetie."

With a grin, Rain picked up the mike. "Athens Central Spaceport, this is Firefly transport _Fortune's Favour_ requesting clearance..."

 _And mebbe I c'n use the time to get my head back on straight_ , Dani thought morosely.

* * *

Athens, Central Spaceport. Georgia system.

Dani sighed, fanning herself with a Blue Sun brochure while sitting in the shade of the _Fortune's Favour_. They had been on this _shee-niou_ (cow sucking), hot, dusty planet for several hours now, without finding a contract for the return leg. _What I get fer not settin' one up beforehand, I s'pose._ She looked over at Mike who was, disturbingly enough, sitting shirtless next to her.

"Remind me why Jess ain't doin' this?"

"Anniversary present," Mike grunted.

"Right, forgot I gave the both of 'em the day off," she sighed again. "Well, I'm givin' it 'nother two hours. I'll go trawl the merchants again fer leads."

Mike just grunted again, noncommittedly.

Dani stood up, groaning. "You want me to bring you back a drink?"

"Nah, none of the _shiong mao niao_ (panda piss) here is worth the coin."

Before she could trudge off again, Cali poked her head out the cargo bay doors. "Uncle Mike! There's a Wave fer ya, someone by the name of Todd Wilkinson!"

"Huh," Mike grunted as he hauled himself to his feet. "Now there's a name I ain't heard in a spell."

"Old friend?" Dani inquired.

"Yep, worked in the Independent Supply Corps together fer a bit. Good scrounger. Wonder what he's been up to..."

Dani gave him a wave, and set off yet again in what she considered a worthless venture. _Someone here has ta have a job fer us_...

* * *

 _Fortune's Favour._ Athens Central Spaceport.

Dani mounted the ramp into her ship with an irritated grunt. _What a waste of a day_. She hadn't been able to tolerate more than another hour of working the stalls and businesses. Nobody had any leads, or suggestions, or even a hint as to where she could find a job _How does Jess make it look so easy?_

Just as she entered the cool shade of the bay, her communicator squawked. "Dani?" Mike's voice queried. "Where ya at?"

Grinning, she picked up her handheld. "In the cargo bay."

"Oh!" was the response. "Be down in a tic."

She walked over and sat on a crate of supplies, fanning herself with the same Blue Sun brochure from before, which was now looking a little wilted from the heat and humidity. "Why would they terraform such a dismally hot planet, anyways?" she mused to herself.

"Oh, I know this one!" piped a small voice from behind. She craned her neck to see a carrot-topped freckled face peering out from the shadows. "This planet, it was all green and grassy and stuff, but there weren't air we could breathe, an' when we made it breathable, everythin' died off!"

"Huh," Dani smiled back. "Thank you, LT. Glad to hear yer lessons are goin' well. Now, stop with the lurkin' in the shadows of my bay. It's creepifyin'."

LT screwed up his face in thought. "Is that a word?"

"'Course it is, I just used it, it's a word. Now scat."

"But I'm playin' hide an' seek!"

"An' I just found you!" came the voice of Junior from the catwalk above. "Your turn!" And then the blond boy raced off, laughing.

"Aw, man," LT whined, moving into the open. "Thanks a lot, Aunt Dani."

Dani gave him a wink. "Next time try the pantry. Bottom shelf was just cleared out last night."

LT gave her a huge grin, then ran off to find his brother.

Looking up at the sound of Mike's footsteps, Dani noticed he'd retrieved a shirt and seemed much cooler now. That probably wouldn't explain the enthusiastic expression on his face though.

"Dani!" her Chief Mechanic exclaimed. "I got us a job!"

Dani just looked at him steadily.

"No animals, no pets, promise!" he protested, holding up his hands in front of his chest. "It's Todd, he's here on Athens and heard we were as well, wants to meet with us tonight here on the ship! He's got some really big salvage op that we c'n help with. From the sounds of it, it's big enuff he's plannin' his retirement on it!"

Dani let out a low whistle. "Well, then, mebbe we'll just have a lil' sit-down with this Mr. Wilkinson. It's 'bout dinnertime now anyways on the ship, so let's close up the doors and get some food. We'll talk more then."

Over dinner, Mike revealed a little more of what Todd Wilkinson wanted for this job.

"So my old buddy Todd," Mike began, "he's been runnin' a salvage business, an' he got word of a mother load of a salvage op. Seems the ships might be functional, so he just needs transportation fer him an' his two bodyguards, and help gettin' things runnin'. Mebbe an extra pilot."

Dani leaned back in her chair, digesting Mike's words. Surprisingly, Keith was the first one to speak up. "Don't like the idea of having bodyguards aboard."

"Yeah that's stickin' me a bit as well," Dani responded. "All depends on the coin, 'course. And we only gots the two passenger dorms. S'pose we'll have to see what the man has to say."

She smiled suddenly and turned to Sara. "I think, though, we c'n make sure there's no surprises. I keep jokin' about this, but let's talk about our 'scout' here."

Sara looked up from her food, surprised. "Me?" she asked warily.

"Yep, you. See what y'all think of this," Dani was starting to warm up to this idea. "Sara here shadows the bodyguards, you'll be the unobvious one. Mike and Keith will tag along with them durin' the wakin' hours, so if they wants ta pull somethin' it'll be when yer watchin' them."

"Hey now," Mike protested, "we ain't even met with 'em yet, an' yer already plannin' fer a double-cross?"

Keith gave a low chuckle. "I like to think of it as contingency planning. And I'm with you there, Dani."

"Right," Dani said, clearing her plate and utensils and rising towards the kitchen area. "Let's clean up here, an' I'd like to have Mike, Keith, Jess, an' Maribelle here to speak with Todd. Sara, you keep yerself scarce, outta sight for the time bein'." After cleaning her plate off, she turned to the couple sitting next to her place at the head of the table. "Keith, Jess, you mind cuttin' yer anniversary vacation time a bit short?"

Keith smirked, and draped his arm across his wife. "Sure, there's always tonight," and he planted a big wet kiss on Jess' cheek. She giggled and swatted at him ineffectually.

" _Dung e hwar_ (yuck/disgusting)," Cali complained, also rising from the table with her plate. "I'll be in the workshop, Uncle Mike. I'm gonna try fixin' that catalyzer part we got so it can be used again."

"You know the rules, Cali," Mike reminded her. "Gotta have a partner if you're usin' the workshop tools."

"Sara?" Cali asked, showing her puppy-dog eyes.

"Ugh, fine, just stop lookin' at me that way!" Sara complained good-naturedly, and the headed downstairs.

Mike heaved himself up from the table. "I'll go wait fer Todd and his group in the bay. C'n you get my dishes please, babe?"

"Go ahead sweetie, I gots it," replied Julie.

About a half hour later, the members of the crew were seated around the table with Todd Wilkinson and his two bodyguards, whom he named Ace and King.

Todd was a fairly young, fit-looking man, wearing a black suit that seemed to be on the expensive side. He met with the crew jovially, shaking hands all around.

His two bodyguards stood behind him as he sat at the foot of the table. The one, Ace, wore a tank-top shirt over his muscular frame. His scowling face was graced with a broken nose and a buzz haircut. He didn't say a word. The friendlier-seeming of the two was King, who wore a snappy three-piece frontier suit over his large, fit torso, and had a hat on. His substantial waxed handlebar mustache spread out to the sides when he smiled in greeting. Both men wore handguns at their waists.

"All right then," Todd started cheerfully. "I have this shiny job here, and I got the feeling this is the right crew for it. I can pay you five thousand credits in hard coin for the job, above and beyond a five percent cut of the salvage itself, plus fees for transportin' the three of us to the destination."

"And where, 'xactly, is it you'd be needin' to go?" Dani broke in.

"Ah, well now Captain, that's somethin' I can't reveal until you accept the contract and we're in the air. Then I can reveal more."

Keith and Dani shared a suspicious look, and both sat back at the same time, arms crossed, identical scowls on their faces.

"Whoa, now" Todd said with a laugh, "it's not that I don't trust you. But this is huge, something I've been chasing for years now, ever since the war in fact. I can't afford word to get out. Be assured, though, it's worth your time."

Keith gave a grunt. "How about what we can expect to find there?"

"Absolutely nothin' to worry about!" Todd reassured earnestly. "We're talking at least two ships, one a super-sized freighter and the other a refueler. Should both be intact and made flyable in short order. And that's more than I really should be sayin' right now, alright?"

"Two ships?" Dani queried. "We only have one extra pilot on board."

"Not a problem," Todd waved her concern away. "King here can fly as well."

Dani glanced down towards her ace-up-the-sleeve, as it were. She was relying on Maribelle to at least be able to tell if Todd was above-board on this. Her sister-in-law looked back and gave a small nod.

Jess had remained oddly quiet, but when Dani raised her eyebrow towards her, Jess had just shrugged and nodded her head as well.

"Keith?" she asked, as the scowl hadn't left his face.

"Yeah, alright, I'm on board," he grunted finally.

"Okay Mr. Wilkinson, we'll take yer contract. At least give us a system so's we can get goin', and then you c'n fill us in on the rest."

"Excellent!" Todd smiled. "King, please go retrieve our luggage. I understand, Captain," he returned his gaze towards her, "that you only have two passenger cabins. My men here will take turns sleeping in one cabin. You won't mind if I only cover the expenses of two passengers?"

Dani gave a short laugh. "No, that's fine. We always have enuff food with a crew our size, so I'll only charge for the beds. Mike, go with King please and show 'im where to drop the luggage."

"Well, then, once we're settled, you can start us heading towards the Blue Sun system."

* * *

Outbound from Athens.

They still had a half hour before they were to meet in the dining room again before the night cycle kicked in. Dani wanted to have a word with her senior crew first and had them on the bridge. She asked Rain to join Sara in the hold to sit casually and converse, keeping an eye on the bodyguards storing things, while Maribelle was in the lounge to keep an eye on Todd.

Sitting in her chair, she looked around at Keith, Jess, and Mike. Addressing the latter, she spoke up first. "It's not that I don' wanna trust yer old war buddy, Mike, it's just that... well, I don' trust 'im."

Mike gave a chuckle. "It's okay, I get that it seems a little fishy. I know Todd as a decent guy, sense of honor. But, he's also a thief. It's how he was such a good scrounger, imagine he's kept up with it since then."

Keith spoke up with a quiet rumble. "Did you catch that King can pilot?"

Frowning, Dani turned to him. "Yes, and?"

Sighing, Keith leaned up against the bulkhead, arms crossed. "It bugs me. Something about the two of them seems off. Like they're trying too hard to be casual."

"Yes!" Jess exclaimed. "Thank you! That's what keeps bothering me. Like the two of them were playing a part, trying to put us at ease, at least with King, being all friendly. But it never touched his eyes. And Ace, he's never said a word."

Suddenly, Keith stood up from the wall and snapped his fingers. "His hands!"

Dani smiled. "Yer really losin' me with these leaps in conversation, _didi_ (little brother)."

"No, I just remembered something else," Keith continued. "Ace. His hands, his fingers, they're scarred. Like this," and he held his hands out for inspection. There were distinctive pattern on his fingers, very faint and healed-over for the most part.

"Okay, and how didya get those scars?" Dani looked back up into his face, questioningly.

"By working with explosive detonators," he replied grimly.

Dani sighed. "Right, so we gots one bodyguard who c'n pilot an' another who knows explosives. Lemme guess, double-cross?"

Keith gave a low chuckle. "It's not paranoia if they're really out to get you."

The crew shared a laugh as Dani got up from the chair. "Right, so we keep the bridge an' engine room manned 'round the clock. Keep an eye on the bodyguards. Maribelle seemed to think Todd was on the level, I'll hafta ask her 'bout the others."

"And how does Maribelle know about Todd?" Keith asked, curiously.

Dani mentally cursed her negligence, the only other people who knew about Maribelle's empathy outside her sister-in-law's immediate family were Rain and Mike. She looked to the latter for inspiration, and he just shrugged. "She's always been good at readin' folk," Mike grunted dismissively.

Giving him a smile, Dani patted Mike on the arm and steered the lot off the bridge. On the way to the dining room, she called down to Rain to get her back up on the bridge.

Soon enough the same scenario from earlier was recreated, except this time Julie was on hand to serve up coffee and tea. Dani protested that she really didn't need to play hostess, but Julie just hushed her, saying she enjoyed it.

"All right then," Todd began. "First off, lemme give you the coords to plot in so's we can be headin' in the right direction."

He did so, and Dani passed them along to Rain. Afterwards, she tapped those coordinates into her handheld. _Somethin' about that sector within Blue Sun_...

"So now I get to tell you a sad tale that ends up in a nice payday for us all..." as Todd started his story.

A convoy of Alliance ships went missing during the war. Seems the crew members of several of the ships were afflicted by a mysterious disease. Due to the rapid spread of the disease, the ships were abandoned. In the confusion of the war and the enforced peace that followed, the location and information about the convoy were filed away and forgotten. The ships were never recovered. Todd, in the last days of the war, came across the mention of this convoy and held on to it. He'd gained knowledge of several 'lost' supply caches of Alliance equipment and fuel over the last few years, salvaging what he could and selling it off. But now he'd finally tracked down the discovery of his lifetime with the exact coordinates of this convoy and hoped to become very wealthy from scavenging the abandoned ships. Todd wanted to hire the crew to take him and his two bodyguards to the coordinates and help get the more profitable ships going.

"Gorramit," Keith muttered. "Another ruttin' plague ship."

"We have precautions for that, though," Todd insisted. "Each of us have a spacesuit. And you have some of your own, right?"

Dani nodded but then sat forward with a frown on her face. "Only problem here, Todd, are these coordinates you have us flyin' towards. It's in-between the gas giant of Fury an' the protostar Burnham, and tha's awfully close-like to Reaver territory."

Todd just scoffed good-humoredly. "Reavers? Really? You ever seen one, Captain?"

She just gave a patient smile in reply. "Wouldn't be here none if'n I had. Now," she held up her hands to silence further protest, "you c'n deny all you want, an' there's no official word on the existence of Reavers, but when yer livin' out in the Black you don' take chances. We'll get ya where we're goin', but understand that this is my ship an' my family. I'm not gonna put 'em in danger. If I say somethin' ain't gonna happen, you take it as the truth."

"Absolutely Captain, this is your ship and you're in charge," Todd replied as if he were just humoring her.

* * *

Asteroid field. Blue Sun system.

They had made a rather uneventful journey towards the coordinates Todd Wilkinson had supplied but were unprepared for what lay at the end of the journey. The moon where the convoy was supposed to be near was enclosed in a chaotic asteroid field.

"Can you see a way through?" Todd queried Dani, standing behind her on the bridge.

Dani didn't respond, just watched the field in the viewport, eyes twitching back and forth.

Keith gave a grunt from the nav seat behind her. "I've got something of a path, but I don't know how far it goes down, could end in a mixing bowl of rocks."

Rain was looking anxiously over at Dani, as if she knew what would happen. _An' perhaps_ , Dani thought in the back of her head, _she does_.

Dani slowly brought her hand over towards the intercom, flipped the switch, and brought the mike to her lips. "Attention crew and passengers," she said calmly. "Prepare for evasive action. Buckle up and strap everything down."

" _Gao yang jong duh goo yang_ (motherless goats of all motherless goats)," Rain muttered, buckling herself in. "I knew it, I knew it, _ta ma de_ (fuck me blind) I knew it..."

" _Jian gui_ (to hell with it)," Keith said with a quiet chuckle. "Been too easy a trip anyways. Mr. Wilkinson," he said to the confused-looking client still standing next to him. "You should really take her seriously. I'd get back to the galley and strap yourself into a jump seat."

Todd gave a nervous laugh but did as Keith asked.

Dani still hadn't taken her eyes off of the asteroid field. She reached over with her hand still holding the mike and flipped the switch to talk directly to the engine room. "Ready Cory?"

"Give me the word, Captain," came the tense reply.

Dani waited for another few beats, then shouted "Now!" and, dropping the mike, pushed forward hard with the throttles.

The acceleration forced them back into their seats as the gravity compensators struggled to keep up. Soon the pressure abided, but then they were in the midst of the field, collision alarms blaring.

Dani was completely in her element, almost a zen-like state. Each twitch of her controls avoided collision, every flutter of the throttle gave them just enough room to escape death, as they spiraled closer and closer to the moon.

And then, they were past the asteroids. The blare of alarms switched from collision to ship detection, and they could now see two large ships floating nearby, caught in the moon's gravity field, as well as a few other vessels.

Dani blew out an explosive breath she hadn't realized she was holding, and then looked over at her daughter. "See? No problem."

" _Tai-kong suo-yo duh shing-chiou sai-jin wuh duh pee-goo_ (shove all the planets in the universe up my ass)," Rain muttered, unbuckling herself from her chair. "I need t'use the head."

Dani just chuckled to herself and swiveled towards her brother. "Okay back there?"

Keith just shook his head in amusement. "I never, ever want to hear you complain about my driving again _jiejie_ (older sister)."

Dani's chuckle turned into a bark of laughter, and she picked up the mike again, switching over to the general ship's channel. "We're in the clear people. Mr. Wilkinson, you c'n come on back to the bridge." Then she turned to her scanners.

From what she could determine, the remains of the convoy consisted of three Alliance ASREVs, a large military cargo ship, and a refueler. Keenly aware of the region of space they were now in, she kept looking, tightening the scanners around each ship.

Todd came back on to the bridge eventually. "Well, that was some flyin' there Captain! I can see my money is well-spent!"

Neither sibling responded, their noses close to their screens. Todd sat himself down in Rain's seat, waiting patiently.

"See it?" Keith grunted suddenly. "On the refueler."

"Yeah, just noticed that..." Dani murmured back.

"What, what do you see?" Todd questioned, voice tight.

Dani leaned back thoughtfully. "Small ship attached to the refueler. Size of a cutter. It's in disrepair, but newer than the derelicts, they've been battered by the asteroids but this one ain't, so it's a newer arrival."

"What?" Todd repeated again, this time indignantly. "Someone beat us to the salvage?"

Dani looked over at her client. "I hope yer right Mr. Wilkinson. As it is, I know the refueler's the more valuable of the two ships, but do ya wanna dock with the cargo ship first?"

"No," Todd responded insistently, "we have to get to the refueler first. If there's claim-jumpers there, we'll handle 'em."

Quirking an eyebrow, Dani asked, "Is it claim-jumping if'n you don' have salvage rights?"

Todd just waved away her concern. "No matter, the boys and I will handle things, just get us over there."

"Right," Dani said grimly and started moving towards the refueler. She could read the name _Ajax_ in large letters on the side.

The plan they had come up with on the way over was fairly simple and born from their previous encounter with the _Copperline_. They would board, make their way in suits to the engine room, and from there void the atmo into space, killing whatever disease was still onboard. Seal things back up, get atmo going again, and get the engines running. Rinse and repeat for the second ship.

Now, though, the presence of the other ship put a kink in things.

The smaller ship was attached to an airlock towards the fore of the ship, near the bridge. Dani noted another airlock further aft, near the engine room, which was to be their destination anyway. She started moving the _Favour_ into docking position, but something was tickling the back of her mind, something she had heard once...

" _Ai ya, huai le_ (shit on my head)!" she shouted suddenly, and braked hard with the thrusters before the two ships could join. Todd practically fell out of his seat.

"What...?" the client started to protest.

"Keith!" Dani cut him off. "Get on the docking camera. Look fer some kinda trap. One that would latch on, mebbe, once we dock?"

Her brother grunted and flicked a few switches before peering carefully at the screen. "I think... yeah, might be you're right. There's something there, sure enough." He looked up again. "How did you know?"

Dani gave a sigh and a sideways glance at Todd. "Tales heard from old spacers. Reavers set 'em up as traps. They explode once you disconnect from the ship."

" _Ni zai jiang shen me pi hua_ (what the fuck are you saying)..." Todd started irritably.

" _Bi zui_ (shut up)!" Dani snapped. "Remember the deal? My ship, my rules. We'll get you on board, but we're doin' this my way."

Todd just held his hands out in a placating gesture and kept his mouth shut. Dani turned to her brother, and asked, "Wanna take a walk?"

Keith got out of his seat with a grunt. "Back in a minute." He passed Rain who was coming back in. "May I have my seat back, please?" she inquired politely.

"Oh, certainly little lady, my apologies," Todd said with a smile and moved over to stand in-between the two seats. Rain rolled her eyes irritably at being called 'little lady' but fortunately just sat down.

They waited in silence for a few tense minutes, before Keith reported he was suited up and outside. He reported on his progress, managing to defuse the trap without too much of a fuss, and was back inside the ship within fifteen minutes.

"Right, Keith," Dani said into the mike down to the bay. "Stay down there, I'm dockin' now." She switched over to the ship-wide and ordered all boarding party members to suit up and assemble in the cargo bay. Todd left without further comment other than to mention he was heading back to his bunk to get a few things.

Another ten minutes and they were docked, Rain was on watch on the bridge, and they were getting suited up. Sara insisted on helping Dani, and while doing so leaned in to whisper, "I just saw Ace leavin' the rear quarters, but he was lookin' around like he was makin' sure nobody'd seen him leave."

Dani gave her a quick peck on the forehead. "See if'n you c'n tell what he was up to, 'k?"

Sara nodded and sealed her up in the suit. Then the seven of them - Dani, Keith, Jess, Mike, Todd, Ace, and King - all squeezed into the airlock. Cali was standing by to work the controls and knew to seal things up tight behind them.

The boarding party was soon inside the refueler ship. The cavernous cargo bay showed evidence that it had once held thousands of fuel cells, but it had been mostly stripped bare. Todd started cursing in a stream of Mandarin until Dani ordered him to keep the line clear. They started towards the rear of the hold, where the engine room hatch should be, when they heard a noise behind them.

Keith, bringing up the rear, spun and crouched on one knee, his rifle at the ready.

"Anythin'?" Dani asked quietly, her Ares out and searching the shadows of the dimly lit bay.

"Wait..." Keith just murmured, and then a screaming form launched itself towards them. Keith's rifle barked three times, dropping their attacker quickly. The others stared at the body in shock, trying to restart their hearts again.

The form lying spread-eagled on it's back hardly resembled a human anymore. It seemed that he had deliberately gashed and cut on his own flesh, and was covered in open and partially healed wounds. Barbaric piercings and random bits of metal were shoved into his flesh, covering him all over.

" _Da-shiang bao-tza shr duh lah doo-tze_ (the explosive diarrhea of an elephant)," Mike breathed. "Ruttin' Reavers."

More screams and shouts could be heard from further inside the ship. "Mike, Jess, get back and secure the engine room, make sure it's empty," Keith ordered. "Rest of you, spread out. Watch your flanks and your angle of fire. Stay cool and make your shots count."

Her breathing hard in her ears, Dani stood in a classic firing stance, one leg slightly forward, and brought her sidearm up, bracing it with both hands. She'd never tried reloading with a suit on. Now was not the time to find out how clumsy that might be. And she was really, really wishing she'd thought to bring her shotgun along.

Not much more time was given for introspection as the first wave of Reavers hurtled out of the dark. All seemed to be wielding melee weapons of some sort, axes and knives and other long blades. Only a couple carried handguns, but they tried to close the distance rather than snipe from afar, fortunately. The dim light played upon the grisly piercings in their flesh, giving them a ghastly and corpse-like air. They seemed to shrug off most damage to their torso and limbs, trying with every ounce of their being to get at the meals in front of them.

"Head shots!" Dani screamed over the gunfire. She was dropping Reavers as rapidly as she could until her magazine ran dry. She ejected her empty one and reached for a new.

Fumbling, it dropped at her feet.

She crouched down to retrieve it, clumsily picking it up and inserting it before he heard Keith's shout of alarm. Looking up, there were three Reavers almost in her face. _Fast lil'_ hun dans _(bastards), ain't they?_ was all she had the time to think, as she seemed to bring her gun up in slow motion. She'd never shoot even one in time, much less all three...

Then one of them was blown backwards by a high-powered rifle shot to the head, another was lifted off his feet sideways by an automatic rifle burst, and Dani was able to squeeze off one shot before she fell backwards. The final Reaver collapsed at her feet, a bullet through his right eye.

"Dani!" Keith shouted, standing over her. "You okay?" He reached down a gloved hand that Dani gratefully accepted. She nodded wordlessly and then turned to give Mike a thumbs up in thanks where he was crouched in his usual overwatch position by the engine room door.

"We gotta get to the engine room," she said shakily. "That was what, a dozen or so? Dunno how many more there are, but if'n we c'n purge the atmo..."

"...Then we don't need to worry about them," Keith finished. "Let's go, everyone in the engine room. _Favour_ , you closed up tight?"

"We are!" Cali chirped back worriedly. " _Kaasan_ are you okay?"

"I'm fine sweetie, don't you worry none 'bout me, just keep things sealed up," Dani panted as she ran into the room. She turned around as the others filed in, including Todd... but not Ace or King.

"Where are yer bodyguards?" She asked her client.

"They were just here, must have run off during the shootin'!" Todd said incredulously. "Those no-good _si pi yans_ (damned assholes)..."

" _W'rin bu lai_ (things never go smooth)," Dani muttered. "They got suits. Mike, start the purge."

Nodding, Mike worked the controls, and the sound of the air whooshing by their ears faded as the atmo was purged from the ship. He was watching the engineering console closely, but then concern creased his forehead. "Capt'n, the bridge just sealed. I'd opened all the hatches remotely but that one just got manually overridden."

Dani cursed again under her breath. Reavers or the bodyguards? No way to tell now, and they had to wait until the atmo was fully purged before investigating.

"Okay," Mike spoke up, "purgin' done. Sealin' back up, startin' the air scrubbers again... Ten minutes or so til we got atmo."

"That soon?" Dani asked, incredulously.

Mike laughed. "Big ole boat like this gots bigger scrubbers, Capt'n. Fills it up faster."

Just then, their earpieces crackled, and King's voice came over the line. "Appreciate the help folks. Now, we're gonna be taking this ship. I'd suggest you return to your own, quickly, if you know what's good for you. You have those ten minutes to exit."

" _Liou coe shway duh biao-tze huh hoe-tze duh ur-tze_ (stupid son of a drooling whore and a monkey)!" Dani shouted. "What did you do to my ship, King?"

There was no response from King, but there was another crackle, and Sara's voice came over a private channel. " _Kaasan_ , I found where Ace had been! Up in the engine maintenance behind the quarters! It... it looks like a bomb!"

Dani was starting to run out of creative curses, so all could muster was " _Cao_ (fuck)!" She turned to Keith. "Get your _pigu_ (ass) back to _Favour_ , now! Rest of you, with me!" And she took off in a sprint towards the bridge.

They passed several corpses of Reavers, some suffering gunshot wounds, others were holding their neck as they expired from asphyxiation. Eventually, Dani came to the bridge hatch. Mike was right on her heels and skidded to a stop in front of the controls. "Jammed," he quickly grunted.

"C'n you get it open?" Dani asked, checking her Ares.

"Yep, give me a few seconds..."

"Wait, hold off. C'n you get it as far as possible without actually opening it?"

"Oh, yeah," Mike responded, understanding. "I'll have it ready to pop when we get the word from Keith."

Dani stepped away from the panting group and looked at her timepiece. Only a few minutes left. "Keith..." she whispered urgently into her communicator.

"I'm here," came the quiet baritone. "Give me a few."

"You only gots a few!" She was trying very hard not to let the panic reach her voice. Her children, her family, her ship was on the line like never before. She came to herself suddenly with resolve and tightened her grip on her pistol. Nothing she could to do affect the outcome, other than to ensure that neither man behind that door made it off this ship alive. _Nobody threatens my children_ , she thought fiercely.

The seconds ticked down. She didn't want to interrupt Keith, but she could hear Jess murmur, "C'mon... c'mon... c'mon..." under her breath. And then, "Done!" Keith barked.

Immediately, Mike popped the hatch open, and Dani dove through in a clumsy roll, but still came to her feet and under control. Two quick shots, and both Ace and King were lying in a pool of their own blood.

" _Wo kao_ (well fuck me / holy shit)," she breathed. "I need a drink."

"You and me both, _jie-jie_ (older sister)," Keith chuckled back over the comm.

* * *

Captain's quarters. _Ajax._

Dani sat wearily back in the chair after having listened to the last log from the captain of the refueler. She looked around somberly at the other crew standing around, plus Todd Wilkinson, all having discarded their suits next to the airlock now that the air was fresh again. "Well," she said quietly, "leastways we now know the cause of the disease."

The captain had left his recording with his dying breath, explaining how the bacteria that wiped out his crew and the others in the convoy came from contaminated fuel cells. His theory was that as the fuel cells burned on all of the convoy ships, the bacteria was released. It spread through the engine room and entered the ship's air ducts. Though the dumping of the atmosphere on the ship purged any lingering bacteria, burning more fuel would release more of the disease.

Also, though some had blamed Independents for the sabotaged fuel cells, the ship's doctor believed that it was too advanced for Browncoats, and rather was developed by highly funded scientists at a corporate rival of Blue Sun. Only the fuel cells marked as from Lei Shing were deemed to be safe.

"Mike," Dani began. "Did you manage to take a look at the fuel cells that were here?"

"Yep," he answered gravely, "an' most of 'em were marked Remington Fuel. Only a few had the _Lei Shing_ logo, mebbe a hundred? They were back in a smaller cargo hold."

" _Diyu_ (hell)," Todd moaned miserably.

"Alright, here's what I think, and Todd you lemme know if this sounds reasonable-like to you. We check fer the fuel here, see how much we c'n use. Then we head on over to the cargo ship, repeat the purge, an' see how much fuel is there, an' what we c'n use. We c'n decide from there."

"Sounds reasonable enough, Captain," Todd responded glumly.

Turned out that there was barely enough usable cells to fuel the cargo ship alone, much less both ships. Which, in Dani's mind, would make it easier to dispose of the contaminated cells to prevent their spread.

The cargo ship _Hermes_ , which was spaceworthy and in good shape, was mostly stripped of useful items. Much of the cargo had been smashed by marauding Reavers. They managed to find a few crates of military sidearms still intact but without power cells, two crated pulse drives rated for smaller ships, and eight crated reaction thrusters. A decent enough salvage, but hardly the retirement Todd was looking forward to.

In the end, after several days work, they stripped the refueler and the three ASREVs of any useful parts, sent all the _Lei Shing_ fuel cells over to the cargo ship, and then set the refueler (Reaver cutter still attached) adrift towards the thick of the asteroids where it would be eventually ground up into so much space junk.

Though they kept a close eye out 'round the clock, they were not disturbed by any more Reaver raiding parties. By the end of their salvage operation, the cargo ship and the Firefly transport were fueled up and ready to go. Dani, Cory, and Keith stayed on the cargo ship and Rain was left piloting the _Favour._

While the crew was loading the _Hermes_ up with salvage, Dani took the time to analyze the pattern of the asteroid field from the inside and found a mostly-clear path out from the opposite side of the moon.

Todd was crestfallen at the betrayal of his bodyguards, but more so over the loss of the refueler and the contaminated fuel cells. But he agreed that the crew of the _Favour_ went above and beyond what he hired them for, and was happy to promise them full payment upon their return.

* * *

 _Hermes_. En route to Athens.

Dani stretched in her seat on the bridge of the large cargo ship. It wasn't too much different from the bulky CL-64 Cargo Lifter she flew at the Battle of Sturges, maybe a bit clumsier. Certainly a bigger bridge. She looked around at all the seats for the full crew complement musingly. Then her eyes fell on the dozing form of her brother, sprawled out in the pilot's seat on the right. She was sitting at her usual spot, but it was the copilot's seat in this bridge configuration; the captain had his own chair up top.

"You shouldn't stare," Keith murmured in a low rumble. "It's creepifying."

Dani barked out a laugh. "Just lost in my thoughts."

"Oh yeah?" Keith asked, sitting up. "Anything good?"

Smirking, Dani shook her head. "Nothin' all that interestin'. Just reflectin' on survivin' a Reaver attack. Not many that c'n say that."

"True enough. Bet Todd's changed his tune now."

Dani laughed again softly. "I s'pose so."

She sat staring forward out the viewport for a few minutes. She could see the glow of the _Favour's_ drive ahead and to the starboard, looking in the distance like the actual firefly from Earth-That-Was.

"Keith," she began musingly. Then she just shook her head. "Nevermind."

" _Jie-jie_ (older sister)," Keith murmured. "Talk to me."

Dani gave a sigh, still looking out towards the _Favour._ "What I have with Lori... it's gotten more serious. Like, I'm really in love with her. An' she loves me. It's not somethin' I ever thought I'd have again, y'know? An' now part of my head can't get the thought out none, that mebbe we could spend the rest of our lives together... somehow..." she trailed off.

Keith just sat there for awhile digesting her words. "You thinking of leaving the _Favour_ , settle down?"

Smiling, Dani shook her head. "Once yer part of the _Favour_ , you can't leave it any. And I couldn't give that up. 'Sides, I don' think she's the settlin' type any more'n I am," she said, reflecting on her thoughts on the trip from Whitefall to Athens. "Soooo... d'ya think it'd work, with our crew an' family, if'n I asked her to join us? Or if'n I asked her to... to marry me?" she ended with a gulp.

"Damn, girl, didn't realize things were _that_ serious." Dani could hear the grin from Keith's voice.

She finally looked over at her brother. His eyes were calm and accepting of her and her choices, just as she should have expected, really. "I don' know, really. We ain't talked 'bout it. But I could see it... I just don' know how the girls might accept it..."

"Ahh, I see," Keith grunted. "That's what you're worried about."

Dani laughed. "Yeah, I s'pose that's what it boils down to. Would they?"

Keith stood up and stretched, then headed towards the rear. "I'm going to see if Cory wants a break from watching the engines."

"Hey!" Dani said indignantly. "Don' be a _pigu_ (ass), I asked a question!"

Keith barked out a laugh. "And you should already know the answer. Your girls love you more than anything in the 'Verse. They want you to be happy. Have a little faith in them." And with that, he walked off the bridge.

Dani huffed out a breath and turned back to her console. " _Si pi yan_ (damned asshole)," she muttered. _Just 'cause he was always right don't mean he had to be so gorram smug about it._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Credit to the Serenity RPG Adventure, _Mother Load_ by James M. Ward, for the background and idea. Title track by Motley Crue.
> 
> Stay shiny!


	24. Episode 19: Revenge Is A Dish Best Served Cold

* * *

Ariel. White Sun system.

The open-topped rental aircar glided smoothly into an open parking space across the plaza from Ariel University. Dani turned in her seat to look at Cali and Sara, lounging in the back. "Your stop, ladies. Don' ferget to tip yer driver."

Giggling, the two jumped onto the sidewalk. "Why thank you, kind madam," Cali snarked back.

Dani locked the controls and stepped out as well. They were in front of the University to pick her niece Emily for a ride around town, as they needed to also retrieve a courier package from an office there. Striding up the steps to the plaza, they immediately spotted the petite, curvy young woman standing in front of the fountain at the plaza center. She was wearing casual clothes in Core-style, with worn black leggings and a Sihnon-styled green tunic, and she was hopping up and down excitedly. Cali immediately charged through the square, screaming " _Biao jie_ (older female cousin, mother's side)!" and startling the other milling University students, until she could tackle her cousin. Dani and Sara strolled at a more sedate pace to catch up.

Emily managed to disentangle herself from her enthusiastic cousin to give Dani a warm hug. "I've missed you so much _gu ma_ (aunt, father's sister)!" gushed Emily in her usual bubbly voice. The family resemblance between Cali and Emily was always evident - Emily just had shorter and blonder hair, with scattered freckles across her cheeks and nose.

"You too, lil' _zhi nu_ (niece, brother's daughter)," Dani murmured into the top of her head. Holding her back a pace, she smiled. "Only not so lil' now, right? You almost ready to graduate from this place, Em?"

Emily laughed and shook her head. "I'm getting there, it's hard to leave when there's so much to learn, and I'm not in any hurry to go out and find a job in the psychology field." She turned her head and spotted Sara. "Hey, sweetie!" she said, grinning. "Been ages since I saw you! Mom and Dad have Waved me about your return to the world of the living!"

Smiling as well, Sara returned the proffered hug. "Hey there Em. Been an unusual few years, but I'm happy where I ended up."

"So," Dani started, as they all walked back towards the rental airspeeder. "I'm sorry yer parents couldn't be here, but havin' yer sister in port at the same time made it hard to juggle things. They're gonna stay on the Naval base with Kacy fer the day, but next time we're passin' through they said they'll pop on by to see you."

"No worries!" Emily said, smiling widely. "This is such a treat! And I get to go with you on a job too, right?"

Dani laughed. "Not much of a job, just pickin' up a package to bring back to the ship. Needs transported to the Space Bazaar out in Red Sun, but they didn' wanna put it through the mail. Guess it's somethin' sensitive."

"Anything will break up the boredom!" Emily giggled. "I'm just glad to get off campus for awhile! Term exams are done for me, but most of my friends are still studying and don't have time to play." She looked around curiously when they got to the aircar. "Rain's not here? I thought she'd be waiting in the car."

Sara and Cali shared a laugh. "She refuses to leave the ship," Cali answered.

"Nothin' personal, sweetie, you know she loves an' misses ya," Dani reassured, "but she's now convinced that anytime she walks off the ship somethin' terrible will happen."

"Why would she think that?" Emily asked curiously, climbing into the front passenger seat.

"'Cause the last two times," Sara smirked, "it has!"

* * *

North Hauer City. Ariel.

The pickup location was a few hours away from the University in Ariel City, so they had time to catch up on things and reminisce. Emily's eyes glowed with the tales the _Favour_ crew had to tell. "It all sounds so exciting!" she gushed "And I'm so happy you have a girlfriend, Aunt Dani!"

Dani smiled over at her. "I'm glad yer okay with it, sweetie. You know yer like another daughter t'me, and I do value yer opinion."

Emily reached over and gave Dani's hand an affectionate squeeze, and then turned in her seat. "And Sara, it sounds like you're really part of the family now? So I can call you _tang mei_ (younger female cousin, father's side) as well?"

Sara grinned widely in response. "I'd really like that," she replied almost too soft to hear over the wind whistling by.

Dani steered the aircar out of their traffic lane to descend onto the landing pad for Yakamoto Corporation. A guard stepped outside the door as soon as the aircar touched down and walked towards the driver's side.

"This is a private corporate pad, ma'am. Do you have business here?"

"Yes," she answered politely. "Captain Danielle Grant, here to retrieve a courier package en route to Red Sun." She handed over her Ident Card.

The guard looked it over, then inserted into the handheld he pulled from his back pocket. He gave a grunt, and then returned it. "Wait one moment, please." Then he stepped a few paces away to speak into his communicator.

"Wow, they're kinda strict here, huh?" Emily whispered.

"Nah, standard procedure," Dani smirked. "I could be a thief or the like. Just gotta be sure."

Then the door opened again, and two more guards exited the building, flanking a woman in a neat dark grey business suit, carrying a very small package in her hands. It was small and metallic, maybe a little smaller than a handheld Cortex unit, but larger than an assault rifle magazine.

"Here you are," the woman said briskly. "Please sign here for the receipt. Remember, it is not to be tampered with. Payment upon delivery to the Yakamoto Corporation branch in Space Bazaar."

"I understan'," Dani replied genially, humoring the corporate drone. She signed the handheld unit the woman carried, and then they were on their way again.

"Em, c'n you put this in the front passenger storage compartment, please?" Dani asked, passing the object over.

Emily did so and then leaned back with a sad smile. "So now we go back, and you drop me off?"

"Yeah, 'fraid so," Dani replied. "We need to get this offworld an' rendezvous with yer parents in the shuttle in low orbit. Got a schedule to keep. But we could have time for lunch, if'n there's somewhere near the University or on the way."

While Emily was musing the food possibilities, Sara leaned forward. " _Kaasan,_ we picked up a tail."

Dani looked in her side mirror and saw a small, black aircar with two men in it. The passenger was holding a rifle upright. "Oh that's not good," she murmured.

She switched lanes to the highest one up, and the black aircar followed her. Traffic was getting pretty heavy at this point, but the other car was managing to close in.

"Alright girls," Dani said calmly. "Get ready to duck, an' make sure yer safety harnesses are nice an' secure."

" _Wo kao_ (well fuck me / holy shit), are we gonna get in a chase?" Emily asked, eyes sparkling.

Dani barked out a laugh, keeping an eye on the mirror. "Em, you sound entirely too enthusiastic about..." she trailed off as the passenger behind them lowered the rifle to firing position. "Down!" she barked, as she slewed the aircar to the side.

A burst of automatic fire ripped through the space they had just occupied, and into a large airtruck ahead. Dani deftly slipped around the truck, using it for cover and moving laterally into another lane. Their tail lost them momentarily and then regained them as another burst of automatic fire pinged off the front.

" _Liou coe shway duh biao-tze huh hoe-tze duh ur-tze_ (stupid son of a drooling whore and a monkey)," Dani shouted. "He's lucky I paid fer this with a static cred stick! I'm gonna lose the deposit as it is!"

Their tail flew in behind them again, and bullets stitched their way across the rear of the car. Fortunately, Dani had asked for a nice robust model, but what it had in strength it lacked in speed.

"Why are they shootin' at us?" Cali asked petulantly. "We ain't pissed anyone off lately, have we?"

"Mebbe they're just _go tsao de_ (dog fucking) bandits," Sara replied from her position, curled up next to Cali on the back seat. "But I figure they want the package. Must've tailed us from the pickup."

"Yeah, that's what I figure too." Dani glanced down at Emily, curled into a fetal position but still peeking out the windshield. "Doin' okay down there, Em?"

"Just enjoyin' the _shen jing bing_ (insanity), Aunt Dani!" her niece grinned back.

Dani shook her head in amusement as she slipped around another commercial truck, spoiling the other car's aim. Emily was definitely part of this family, all right.

She was starting to move into even more traffic, hoping for maybe a patrol vehicle of some sort, but either they were all occupied in other parts of Ariel or their pursuers paid them off somehow. _Anythin's possible,_ she mused. _Gotta lose 'em, fast_.

Another ripping barrage of fire sailed overhead and then shattered the passenger-side windshield. Emily gave a little shriek as she was pelted by glass shards.

" _Jian gui_ (to hell with it), that's enuff," Dani shouted angrily, "I'm done with this _fang pi_ (bullshit)!"

As if in response, another burst of fire sailed over their heads from behind.

"You wanna play it soft, we'll play it soft." Dani tightened the straps of her harness. "You wanna play it hard," she flicked a few switches, "let's play it hard." She shouted a warning over her shoulder, "Hang on!" before she pushed her controls forward, sending their aircar into a dive, straight through the horizontal traffic lanes.

The girls were all practically suspended from their safety harnesses as the aircar hurtled downward. Dani dodged furiously, twisting from side to side, ignoring the blaring horns and shouts of outrage and she passed through several lanes of traffic until she was almost at ground level. Then with a howl of the engine, she leveled out with only a meter to spare and soared another block before skidding around a corner. She made a few more turns, slowing down each time until they were maintaining speed with the other vehicles around them. She couldn't see their tail anymore, anywhere.

"Everyone alright?" she asked, pulling behind a parked hovertruck and shutting the engine down.

"Just peachy back here!" Cali piped up.

"Yep," Sara chimed in, "didn't fall out!"

"Em?" Dani looked over at her niece, who was sitting up now and panting heavily.

Emily turned her head slowly towards her aunt. "That... was... _niubi_ (fucking awesome)!" Dani just looked at her askance. "Do you do this kinda stuff all the time?" Emily asked.

"Only once a week or so," Sara smirked.

"Please, please let me come with you!" Emily pleaded.

"What, come up with us in the _Favour_?" Dani queried. "Em, doncha have school?"

"I'm on break now, for a month! I don't want to just hang around here, find a temp job yet again. I have one term left till I have to be a real adult and find work in the psychology field. Please, let me come with you! I need some adventure!"

Dani laughed along with her girls. "Oh, we c'n give you adventure alright," Cali grinned.

"We'll need to discuss with yer parents but I doubt it'd be a problem," Dani mused. "Got some extra beds. It'd be fun to have you along."

Emily squealed and tried to launch herself at Dani but was brought up short by the harness. Laughing, she undid the buckle and then gave her aunt a tight hug. "Can I pick a few things up from my room?"

"Sure thing sweetie. Let's get goin' again, hopefully, no more surprises."

* * *

Inbound to Space Bazaar. Red Sun.

Dani reclined in her chair on the bridge of the _Fortune's Favour_ sipping her tea thoughtfully. It had been wonderful to have Emily along for this trip. Her girls had been very close to their cousin and were heartbroken when she had left for Ariel. Waving every so often just wasn't the same as spending time in person.

And she knew Mike and Julie were ecstatic to get to spend more time with their eldest daughter. They had a new relationship, a new dynamic now that Emily was, for all intents and purposes, an adult.

And Emily had taken to reintegrating herself back into the extended family with almost a manic sort of enthusiasm. She was always spending time with someone, whether playing with her nephews, hanging out with Rain on the bridge, or watching vids with Cali and Sara in the lounge. She was getting to know Keith and Jess as well since this was the first time she'd met them.

Just then the object of her musings wandered onto the bridge and plopped herself into the pilot's chair. "Hiya," Emily chirped. "Whatcha thinkin' about?"

"Just wonderin' when you ever have the time to sleep," Dani smiled over at her.

Emily laughed. "I have too much time to make up. I can sleep in class when I get back."

Dani broke off her answering laugh when she saw her Cortex light up. "Oh, hang on a sec, I think that's Amnon returnin' my Wave."

Sure enough, the broad, smiling visage of Amnon Duul was pulled up on her screen. "Captain Grant!" he said warmly. "Glad to hear you're back in our neck of the 'Verse. To answer your earlier question, I do have some packages here for your ship."

"Glad to hear it. We're still 'bout an hour out. You been holdin' up alright?"

"Had my ups and downs, but well enough. Do you have the, ah, package I requested before?"

Dani smiled. "I do Amon, one crate of wine from Greenleaf. I'm told it was a good batch that particular year."

"Wonderful, wonderful!" Amnon rubbed his hands together gleefully. "And have you given any further thought to taking me up on my offer?"

Dani shook her head, still smiling. "No Amnon, much as we like you, we like the current variety of our jobs too much to do a regular mail run to Kalidasa. We ever long for the stability, you'll be the first to know. My apologies."

Amnon waved away her apology. "It's fine, don't worry about a thing. I'll see you in a few."

Dani said her goodbyes and shut down her Cortex screen. Emily sighed next to her. "I keep wondering if I didn't get into the wrong field," her niece said musingly. "Being a psychologist, or working at a hospital, I'll be tied down to one spot instead of running around the 'Verse meeting all these interesting people and visiting far-off places..." she trailed off, gazing out into the Black.

"Have you talked to yer Aunt Maribelle 'bout the Long Reach? They do doctor stuff all over the 'Verse, 'specially out on the Rim, but mebbe they could use someone with psychiatric training as well?"

Emily perked up a bit at that. " _Shi a_ (yes, affirmative), I should do that! Thanks, _gu ma_ (aunt, father's sister), you're the best!" She got out of the chair and gave Dani a quick peck on the head, heading back out.

Dani smiled affectionately, remembering how she herself was at that age. _Was it really so long ago that I was determined to be the best gorram pilot in the 'Verse?_ With a start, Dani realized that she'd been close to Emily's age when she first met Beth. _And now look at the family I have from that meetin'. As difficult a journey as it's been, I wouldn' trade it fer anythin' in the 'Verse._

* * *

Space Bazaar. Red Sun.

The entire crew, save Rain, were out and about in the Space Bazaar to partake of the sights and sounds of a multitude of cultural markets and people. Dani had tried valiantly to convince Rain that Space Bazaar didn't count as it was a space station instead of a planet, but she would not be dissuaded from her path of being a shut-in. Dani shook her head in amusement as she waded through the crowds with Sara, Cali, Emily, Mike, and Julie. The Bilkes were off in another corner of the station where there were new toys and used books, while Keith and Jess had wandered into the shadier areas to pick up some interesting trinkets, maybe a cargo for the run back to Ariel. _I should find 'nother book for Rain_ , Dani mused. _As much as she reads on her Cortex unit, she still likes physically holdin' a bound book, rare as it is to find decent ones._

The first stop Dani made was to the Yakamoto corporate offices to deliver their courier package. Fortunately, there had been no further attempts to steal it, but Dani was just as happy to have it off her hands and get paid.

Their little group eventually wandered over to the Blue Sun postal office where Amnon worked. Seeing them approach, he heaved his bulk out from around the counter to greet them.

"My friends! So good to see you again! And I see you have some new faces since you were here last!"

Dani introduced Sara and Emily to the jovial mailman, and he then went to retrieve their post. He waddled back out with several boxes, plus a small box with no postage on it, resting on the top of the stack.

"What's the one up top, Amnon?" Dani asked curiously. "It come from here on Space Bazaar?"

Amnon nodded. "Must have, it just showed up a week ago, addressed to a Michael Wilson."

Frowning, Dani asked, "Is that usual?"

"Oh, we get all types in here. At least it's not a body!"

Dani glanced up at Amnon, eyebrows raised.

"Nothing, nothing," Amon muttered, moving back behind the counter.

Dani looked at the small box on top, resisting the urge to back away slowly. "Mike, should I be worried?"

"Now, Cap, don' be like that," Mike grinned. "Everybody loves me! Well, ok mebbe a few folk out on Persephone, but it was an honest bar brawl, really."

His wife rolled her eyes good-naturedly. "All the same, mebbe you should open it 'fore we board the ship."

The others laughed as they took their goodbyes from Amnon, walking back towards the ship. Dani stopped at a book stall to look through what they had. Amongst the refuse, she spotted a reprint of an ancient Earth-That-Was author by the name of Poe. She recalled Rain reading some of his poetry, and so picked up a copy.

Back at their docking port, Mike had finished figuring out how to open the box up and was now staring at what seemed to be a small audio recorder. "Huh," he grunted.

"Well, that's not likely to blow the ship up, so let's all get aboard and have a listen," Dani said, matching action to words. "I'm all sorts of curious now."

* * *

 _Fortune's Favour._ Space Bazaar. Red Sun.

Nobody else had gotten back yet, but Rain left the bridge and met them down in the galley to listen to Mike's recorder. She was very excited to get the new book and cradled it possessively.

Mike had gotten himself a cup of coffee, and then joined everyone else at the table. "Ready?" he asked. After everyone had nodded in the affirmative, he started the recorder playback. A gravelly male voice started to speak.

"Mike old buddy, this's Barney Harrison. I sure do hope you never have the chance to hear this. Reason bein', well, lemme just get it outta the way. If you're hearin' this, I'm dead."

Mike looked up in shock as Barney paused a beat.

"Reason you're listenin' to this, is 'cause I got myself into a bit of a fix, and I set up a, well, kinda 'kill-switch', as it were. On my death, this gets dropped in the mail to ya. Yer the only one I trust to set things right, 'cause I know my death will have been unnatural. I know fer a fact somebody's out ta get me, don' know who yet. But he's tried twice already. Think it might be 'cause of the war. Might be 'cause of my actions since then. Y'know I've always been a ladies man, _pengyou_ (friend), that ain't ever changed. I'm sure some of my, er, flings have been married women. Never mattered much to me. But I'm livin' here on Space Bazaar now, tryin' to keep a low profile. Might wanna start there.

"But yeah, so it all done catched up to me now. An' I know, I shouldn't expect ya to do this outta the kindness of yer heart. I got a hefty life insurance payout to deliver to ya if you help me out. So here's the deal Mike, _mi you ling_ (listen closely). You find this _wang ba_ (son of a bitch) who offed me, an' you deliver his head in a box, literally, to the address on the paper in the bottom of the box." There was rustling as Mike searched the box for the paper, eventually pulling it out. "Also on that paper is the amount of my payout. It'll be in yer name if you come through, _dong ma_ (understand)?

"Sorry to drag you inta this, and sorry as _diyu_ (hell) I weren't a better pal to ya. But thanks anyways." And the recording ended.

The group sat around the table quietly for a minute, somewhat stunned by this revelation.

Sara spoke up first. "Do people really do that outside of the vids? Deliver a head in a box?"

"Eewww..." Cali complained quietly.

"Mercs do," Mike grunted thoughtfully, looking at the paper in his hands. "Easy enuff to find a small cryo box the right size, even here on the Bazaar."

"You thinkin' of takin' him up on this, Mike?" Dani asked.

Mike leaned over and held up the paper to her. She gave a low whistle. "That's a lotta zeros," she said quietly.

He nodded grimly, and then planted his hands on the table with resolve. "Cap'n, I'd like to hire the crew."

"Oh really?" Dani smirked. "You givin' us a job then?"

"That's right," Mike smirked back. "Equal cuts for all the crew if you help me track down this _hun dan_ (bastard)." He stood up. "Think Amnon would know about a murder recently?"

Dani stood up as well. "Good a place as any to start. Everyone else stay here, let the others know when they get back. Mike an' I will make some inquiries."

* * *

Blue Sun Postal. Space Bazaar.

Amnon looked up with surprise. "Back so soon? No trouble with the post I hope?"

"Nope," Dani answered. "We were hopin' for some information, actually."

Mike walked up next to her. "Name of Barney Harrison mean anythin' to ya?"

" _Ai ya, huai le_ (shit on my head), yeah, that was the guy got hisself brutally murdered a week or so ago," Amnon paled as he answered. "Feds were all over the station lookin' for answers, but nobody saw nothin'. I think the local magistrate gave up on it, figured the perps ran out by now."

"Hmmm," Dani thought, tapping her chin with a finger. "You know this magistrate?"

"Sure, fellow by the name of Oliver Quinn. In fact, the wine is for him, was gonna get a good price outta him for the case."

Dani grinned at Mike and then turned back to the postman. "Now Amnon, I know yer an honest sort of man, so let's make a deal here. You tell me what you were hopin' to get fer the crate, an' we'll pay you fer it, make the delivery ourselves."

Amnon gave a big sigh that seemed to resonate through his large frame. "Now, why'd you have to go butter me up like that, I hafta give you a fair price..." he grumbled.

* * *

Magistrate's office. Space Bazaar.

Dani and Mike left the magistrate's office, a crate of wine short, a few questions answered, and even more questions added on. Mr. Quinn was overjoyed by the receipt of the wine and gladly looked the other way to let the two crew members look at the security tape footage from Barney's apartment the night he was murdered. Especially when Mike mentioned he was an old war buddy looking to solve the murder himself.

Dani considered herself to have a fairly strong stomach, but she almost lost her last several meals after watching the footage. Poor Barney had been butchered, hacked into almost unrecognizable pieces. This definitely wasn't a simple murder, there was a fierce passion in the way the man had gone about chopping up the corpse. Barney was definitely already dead by that point; the attacker's first hit nearly decapitated the sleeping victim.

"So," Dani mused, "the attacker could get past security easily, an' take him by surprise, even though he'd been expectin' it. And he was awful strong with that blade, to hack him up like that."

Mike grunted. "I gots a scan of the face. Dunno why it won't show in in their records."

Shaking her head, Dani headed back towards the ship. "Nope, it's really strange. The magistrate c'n hook into full fed records, there should be somethin' there, priors or service records or somethin'."

Dani stopped suddenly, her head cocked to the side. "So he's a ghost. I c'n think of one person who could tell us how to track him down."

Mike looked at her, grinning. "Yeah, let's talk to Keith."

* * *

 _Fortune's Favour._ Space Bazaar.

Dani and Mike strode up the ramp to see Jess and Emily lounging in the hold, talking. They stopped and looked up as the other two entered. "Any luck?" Emily asked.

"Got a lead. Mebbe somethin' we can use." He turned to Jess. "Need to talk to yer hubby."

"He had to run back out to grab some ammo he forgot for my pistol. We got some for your gun, Dani," Jess smiled at her captain. "Oh, I also lined up cargo for the return trip to Ariel. A small load of some miscellaneous exotics and textiles to a branch of the customer's."

Dani thought for a beat. "Any time constraint?"

"No," Jess shook her head, dark hair falling across her face, "anytime will do. So we can still handle Mike's mysterious murder case."

"I feel like we're some _huaidan_ (badass) detectives here, solvin' a case," Emily giggled, but then sobered. "I'm just sorry it was a buddy of yours, _baba_ (father)."

"No worries, hon," Mike gave her a squeeze of his arm around her shoulders.

The group turned as Keith strode up the ramp, a small box in his hand. He handed his parcel over to his wife and gave her a kiss before turning to the others. "So, any leads?" he asked in a low rumble.

"Just this, seems to be a ghost, no records. Think you c'n help find 'im?" Mike handed his handheld over to Keith with the attacker's face on the screen.

Keith frowned at the image, which he then turned into a scowl. "I know this face..." he grunted. Looking up, he asked, "Can I hold onto this?" At Mikes nod, he moved off to the stairs. "Give me an hour. We should be loaded up by then, and I'll have something for us, with luck."

* * *

Outbound from Space Bazaar.

The family was sitting down to dinner when Keith finally entered. He had called up from his bunk to let Dani know they could head out back towards White Sun, and that he'd give the details to the crew over their meal. Cory had done up something fabulous with a pork loin they picked up at the market, served with a dark tangy sauce with beans cooked in the same sauce. Greens from the hydroponics lab completed the meal.

"Honestly, I think I've eaten better on board here than I have at school!" Emily exclaimed.

Dani chuckled with the rest. "Well, that's what we get fer having a top-notch cook. First-class all the way."

After giving himself a generous portion from the plate before he passed it along, Keith turned to Mike. "So there's good news and bad news on that guy you're looking for."

" _W'rin bu lai_ (things never go smooth)," Mike said good-naturedly before stuffing a piece of pork in his mouth. "Go ahead, man."

"Well," Keith began. "The face belongs to a Colonel Andrej Karakov, formerly of Alliance Command."

Dani paused with a spoonful of beans halfway to her mouth at the bombshell. " _Ching-wah tsao duh liou mahng_ (frog-humping son of a bitch)," she breathed. Then, "Wait, was that the good or bad?"

"The good," Keith smirked. "Means I can find him. But not from here, I don't have access to the records for retired Alliance officers. We have to go to the source."

"Come again?" Mike asked, puzzled.

"Londinium," Keith grinned around his chopsticks. He swallowed, then elaborated. "I'm going to break into the Alliance Command HR department building."

" _Ni zai jiang shen me pi hua_ (what the fuck are you saying)?" Mike protested. "I can't let you do that, man!"

Keith waved away his concern with his chopsticks as he swigged a bottle of homebrew he bought at Space Bazaar. " _Wangdiao ta_ (forget about it). I'm looking forward to it. Haven't really gotten a decent workout lately."

Jess just smiled affectionately at him. "My _feng li_ (crazy) husband."

* * *

Londinium. White Sun.

Keith grinned to himself as he observed the street in front of the block where he hid, concealed in a stolen hovercar. He'd been out of the game far too long. Yes, he enjoyed the crew on his ship immensely, and there was always the chance of excitement on the jobs they ran. If he was being honest with himself, he was still a little kid inside at times, desperately wanting to go out and play again. But the play he now preferred was usually deadly for the opposing team.

In this case, he was preparing for a standard urban infiltration. Sneak into a neighboring building, either rappel or parachute down to the target building, secure the intel, and then exfilitrate through the front doors. _They never expect intruders to just waltz out the front_ , he mused humorously.

He was very good at what he did. Maybe even the best. He'd survived where others hadn't, either through luck or skill. Maybe a little bit of both, but Keith relied far more on his skill and training to ensure things went right. He had observed the buildings and the street for two nights now after the _Favour_ had left him on Londinium. They went back to Ariel to drop Emily off, as well as their cargo, and were inbound now. He'd start his op when they were landed, to make sure there were no unforeseen problems with his exit strategy.

The signal he was waiting for came over his communicator, as the _Favour_ entered its range. "Home one, down in five," came his sister's voice. 'Home one' was the _Favour_ , and 'Home two' would be a shuttle if it were required. Though if a shuttle was sent, it would be too easily tracked back to their ship, which could be landlocked if the authorities were on the ball. No, better for him to get away on his own, even if he were to link back up with the ship later.

Keith clenched his jaw, opening the channel back to the _Favour_. "Alpha, roger." He tended to keep codes short and simple. Nothing to come back to them if it were tracked or recorded. This being Londinium, even in a deserted downtown business city block, in the middle of the night, he was sure somewhere it was being recorded.

He waited patiently in the hovercar. He'd stolen a different car each night, leaving them in different parts of the city each morning. _Granted_ , he grinned to himself again, _I didn't learn to hotwire in spec forces, that was courtesy of a misspent youth_.

Almost exactly five minutes after the first communication (Dani was nothing if not precise when it came to flying), the next signal came. "Home one, secure."

"Alpha, moving out," he reported back quietly and stepped out of the car. No light illuminated him as he had disabled the interior lights already. He was dressed in a maintenance worker's uniform and strolled around the side of the office building next door to his target.

The Alliance Command HR Department was a towering building with decent enough security. Nothing he couldn't handle, of course. It was mostly just records-keeping and clerical offices. But they had their own closed system for some of the sensitive files, and access was extremely limited. Hence the personal visit. On either side of the towering structure were other office buildings which were higher still. Calculating ahead of time, he had realized a rappel line wouldn't be feasible from the building he had chosen, the angle was entirely too steep. Hence the parachute in the duffel bag slung across his shoulder, a little item he picked up at an adventuring store nearby with a credit stick registered to a fake name.

Keith walked up to the side maintenance door and quickly jimmied the lock. He had already noted this alleyway did not have a working camera in it, and the doorway had a rudimentary alarm that was easily bypassed. He closed and locked the door back behind him and moved quietly inside. Instead of heading further inside the building, he walked down the short steps into the maintenance area. Sure enough, there was an elevator door at the bottom.

Big office building like this wouldn't commit one elevator to just be used for cargo, so it would likely be shared with the building workers. He called the elevator down, and as he opened it had a door on the other side, just as he expected. He pressed a series of keys, holding down both the 'door close' button as well as the 'roof access' button. This would keep his ride from being interrupted, it was an override of sorts.

Five minutes later the door opened to a small drab lobby, with a door marked 'facilities' and another marked 'roof'. He jimmied the lock for the latter and stalked quietly up the stairs to the roof.

He looked around in the semi-darkness, lights bouncing from the streetlamps and billboards and large neon corporate logos. Across from him, on the other side of his target building, was a Blue Sun office lit up with Fruity O's advertisements. Knowing how Blue Sun corporate security could, at times, rival that of Alliance military, he opted for this building instead, even though he likely could have rappelled from that vantage point.

Keith crouched down and unlimbered the parachute harness from the duffel bag. Then he removed his maintenance uniform, revealing a skin-tight black jumpsuit made of a bullet-resistant material, and stuffed the over-clothes into the duffel bag. _Spec Force Command would have a coronary if they knew the equipment us grunts kept when we retired_ , he chuckled to himself. He zipped the duffel closed, shrugged on the parachute, and buckled the duffel to the front torso straps.

Taking a running leap, he launched himself into the air.

After only a few meters he pulled the cord. Wind was a bit high, whipping through the building corridors, but there was no radar to worry about, and he'd rather steer himself to a precise landing. There were antennae and Cortex satellites dotted around the top of his target building that he needed to be very careful not to hit.

What seemed like an hour of tenseness, but in reality was only maybe ten minutes, he was down on the rooftop, quickly curling his parachute tightly into a ball before it snagged on a protruding wire. He placed it next to the access door and lay his duffel on top of it to weigh it down. Hopefully, he'd just abandon it here, but he always liked to keep a Plan B open.

Before moving any further, he clicked open his comm unit. "Alpha, check one."

"Confirm check one," came Dani's tense reply. He knew she was worried about him, but he tried to relate her missions to his own in reassurance. It was difficult to do. _As close as we've managed to get again, there's still a chasm when it comes to the details of our military service_. At least they had managed to mend their relationship. He'd never have forgiven himself if he hadn't taken Dani up on her offer to join her crew. Jess hadn't taken much convincing either, adventure junkie that she was. _Wouldn't have married me otherwise_ , he smirked to himself.

Setting his focus back on task, he examined the doorway before him. Looked to be pretty standard, but there would likely be a hidden line that would trip if he opened it. At least this wasn't a higher-value target, or the roof would have been lined with sensors and he would have been humped already.

Keith withdrew several small tools from his belt pouch, holding some in his teeth, and set to work. Within five minutes he was in, and nobody was the wiser. He closed the door silently behind him, pocketing the tools and unstrapping his sidearm. There were two schools of thought as far as loadout for infiltration missions went. Most thieves and burglars preferred to keep themselves unarmed and travel lightly to avoid sensors and other complications. The military took a different approach. If trouble found them, they needed to be able to revert to their training and overcome those obstacles. Keith had been in several botched missions of that sort, some through no fault of his own, but at least a few where he missed something and set off an alarm, or came across a sentry where he wasn't supposed to be. So his standard equipment included his Ares machine pistol as well as his boot knife. He'd had the opportunity to use both, but with luck neither would come into play tonight.

Keith proceeded down the stairs cautiously, checking around the corners for cameras or sensors. He knew there would be sensors on the windows to prevent audio tapping and breakage, but only the upper management offices would have alarms on them when they were locked.

He was looking for something far more humble.

Heading down to the level around the middle of the building, where his intel told him the relevant offices would lie, he came across one labeled 'Senior Vice President, High Command Retirement.' Bypassing that door, he sat himself down at the desk of the administrative assistant, whose computer was out in the open. _They never secure secretaries_ , he mused. Checking his wrist comm, he noted he was slightly behind schedule. Clicking his mike again, he whispered "Alpha check two" to signify he was at the computer and starting his break-in attempt. He had a multitude of electronic tools that should bypass most of what he would come up against, but anything that took too long would start triggering alarms. Dani would watch the time and warn him when his time was running out. "Confirm check two," her voice came back.

Unbeknownst to Keith, there had been a security scare a few weeks ago when an office clerk was transmitting data out of the closed network, and measures since then were taken to alert in case unauthorized transmissions were ever made from within the building. Workers were required to leave all communication devices at the front desk, including management.

Several blocks away, at an Alliance Military Security monitoring station, an amber light began to blink for a building that was supposed to be deserted at this hour.

* * *

 _Fortune's Favour._ Londinium Docks.

Dani was drumming her fingers restlessly on her console again. Rain had to leave the bridge after the third time snapping at her, but Sara remained in her place, oddly patient with Dani's neurotic fidgeting.

"You know he c'n handle himself," Sara commented quietly.

"I know, I know, don' mean I can't worry none all the same," Dani said petulantly. She sighed, and then amended, "I'm sorry, sweetie, I don' mean to be this irritable." Looking back over at the girl she fully considered to be her middle child, she grinned. "You shoulda seen me when the three of you went missin'. I was bitin' everyone's heads off. I think they all left the ship to go search just to get away from me if nothin' else."

Sara laughed. "You really are a mama bear, ain'tcha?"

Smiling, Dani answered, "I s'pose I am. And a worrier. Can't help it none."

Then the communicator crackled again, only five minutes after the last. _Was he done already?_

"Alpha red, Alpha red."

" _Ta ma de_ (fuck me blind)!" Dani shouted, sitting up straight. That was the code for emergency, meaning he was humped in a big way, as opposed to yellow where he was simply detected. How did they sneak up on him?

" _Hao yun bu lai, huai yun bu jwo_ (good luck don't come, back luck don't leave)," Sara answered with a sigh.

After another beat, the comm came to life again. "Intel acquired. Exit blocked. Engaging Plan B."

"What's that mean?" Sara asked.

"Means he gots the data, but he can't get out the front door. He's runnin' back up to the roof to get his parachute again an' make his escape." Dani chewed on her bottom lip. She didn't want to get moving yet, it would be pretty suspicious if they were to warm up their engines already after they just landed, and the Tower might ask questions... She was struck by indecision momentarily, until Keith's next communication.

"Plan B is a neg. Get away, Home one. I'll find you." And then the signal cut off.

" _Si pi yan_ (damned asshole)," she muttered. _Leave him behind? Had he lost all his mental facilities? Didn' he know her better'n that by now?_ "Cory, we need t'get back into the air right now!" she barked into the intercom angrily.

She turned to the scanner, mumbling, "Topography, topography... aha! Got it." She turned to Sara sitting in the pilot's seat. "The roof of the buildin' ain't accessible fer landin', can't get too close 'cause of Cortex dishes an' antennae."

Dani picked up the mike again, and opened the shipwide. "Jess, get the cargo winch ready, an' unlock the bomb bay doors. Open the inner one fer now," she instructed. Turning back to Sara again, she smirked, "You ready fer some thrillin' heroics?"

* * *

Roof of Alliance Command HR Building. Londinium.

Keith still couldn't believe his bad luck. First, somehow he had tripped an alarm of some sort. Military police had swarmed the building from the bottom floor up, searching for an intruder. He had evaded them quickly enough to get to the rooftop again, and looked over to where he left the parachute.

He saw it, in tatters, dashed up against the numerous antenna across the roof. The wind must have picked it right up and blown it over. He couldn't even see where the duffel bag went.

After reporting the failure of his escape so far and warning Dani, he broke off one of the smaller antennae and wrapped it around the door handle to buy him some time. Wouldn't hold up against a determined effort, but he was out of options and ideas. There wasn't another rooftop in range for him to jump onto. Maybe he could ask for Dani to send a shuttle over, but there was nowhere even for a shuttle to land, it would catch up against the large Cortex satellites and wreck the underbelly thrusters.

Keith just sighed in frustration. Well, at least I can report the information, Mike can get working on it while I work my way through Alliance bureaucracy. He had no idea if he could still call in enough favors to get him out of...

His thoughts trailed off as he heard the sound of a Firefly's engines and over it a high-pitched whoop of glee. Keith looked up in confusion. "There isn't enough room in between these two buildings for a Firefly to fit," he mused out loud.

Suddenly the _Favour_ came sailing around the corner of another building across the way. Keith could see the small form of Sara swinging from a cable hanging suspended from the underbelly of the ship. He noted in a detached way that she was dressed in a coat several times too big for her and a pair of welder's goggles, hair whipping about wildly. As the _Favour_ moved over the building, tilted slightly and engines practically scraping the sides of the neighboring buildings, Sara dropped the end of the cable. Keith could see by this point that she was clipped to the middle of the cable.

"Your ride's here, Uncle Keith!" Sara shouted with a manic grin.

Suddenly spurred into motion, Keith grabbed the harness at the end of the cable and buckled himself in quickly, shaking his head. Sara shouted into the handheld clipped to her jacket, and the _Favour_ moved off. Keith had to take a running jump off the side of the building and then he was suspended thousands of meters above the ground, swinging wildly beneath a little girl who sounded like she was on a rollercoaster ride.

A short while later, Keith was lying on the deck of the bay, on his back, catching his breath. "You are all completely _feng li_ (crazy)," he groaned.

Sara popped her head over his. "That's just the kinda family we gots!" she giggled before skipping off. "I gotta return the goggles to Uncle Mike," she called over her shoulder. "That was completely _niubi_ (fucking awesome) Uncle Keith, we gotta do it again sometime!"

Jess pounced on Keith with a hug once she had fully closed the doors and wound the cable back up. " _Feng li_ ," Keith just muttered. "Completely _feng li_."

* * *

Persephone. Lux system.

After Keith had gotten over yelling at Dani for risking the ship over him, and Dani subsequently yelling at him for his lack of gratitude and the assumption she would ever leave him, the two siblings reconciled and their next course was set. Keith was able to determine that the retired Colonel Andrej Karakov was now a resident in Persephone.

They decided to keep their party a small one this time: Dani, Keith, and Mike (carrying the small cryo box they had purchased on Space Bazaar) would take the front door to the residential house that the Colonel lived in, and Sara would creep in the back and make sure he didn't escape. From what they would tell, Karakov was recently divorced and lived alone, without bodyguards or servants.

Crouching in front of the house in the dim light, Keith waited until he heard from Sara (using the spare communicator Dani usually wore) that she was in position before kicking in the front door. The trio moved rapidly through the house, clearing each room but not finding Karakov.

After a few seconds, they heard Sara call out in a sing-song voice, "We're back here guys!"

Dani was first into the rear hallway, where she saw Karakov on his back, eyes bulged out and arms raised pleadingly, while Sara crouched on his chest, a shiv held to his throat. Dani chuckled and switched on the light. "Nice work, _nu'er_ (daughter)," she murmured as she covered the prone man with her gun.

In short order, they had moved Karakov back into the living room, on his knees with his hands on his head. He had been frisked by Keith, and had a pistol removed. Mike stood in front of him impassively, while Keith and Dani watched the street and the back, respectively. Sara sat cross-legged on the couch, digging patterns aimlessly into a wooden coffee table.

"Please," Karakov said in a trembling voice. "Tell me what it is you want. You want money? I can give you money..." he trailed off, looking terrified over at the little girl with the very sharp knife. Sara just looked up at Karakov and winked. Karakov, for his part, looked like he wanted to piss himself.

Mike gave a grunt. "Barney Harrison," he said grimly.

"What, that scum? That's what this is about?" the man asked incredulously. Sara got to her feet, dragging her shiv across the table in a squeal, stalking towards him. _She does that entirely too well_ , Dani thought humorously.

"Wait, wait, okay, I'll tell you anything you want to know!" Karakov babbled, looking at Sara frantically. "Yes, I killed him, I used most of my money to track down that _wang ba_ (son of a bitch) home-wrecker. _Go tsao de_ (dog fucking) scum cost me my wife!"

Sara had moved on to the fireplace mantle, etching a long line into the marble there in a low screech of sound, moving ever closer to Karakov with slow, sure steps.

"Okay, yes, what else can I tell you?" His voice had reached a high pitch. "It was a perfect crime, I was a blank in the records, you shouldn't have been able to find me! But hey, you did, I can see you're professionals," he looked over to Mike now with pleading eyes. "So what can I do for you? Look, we can be reasonable about this..."

Mike raised his gun and shot him in the forehead. "Fuck reasonable, ya _hun dan_ (bastard)," he spat as Karakov collapsed to his side.

Sara looked over at Mike and asked, "You want me to handle the 'packaging'?"

Mike shook his head. "Thanks, sweetie, but I gots this."

* * *

Space Bazaar. Red Sun.

Dani accompanied Mike to the address on the original paper. He carried the cryo box negligently under his arm. Nobody gave it a second look as they strolled through the marketplaces, towards a set of offices. On one door was written 'Rollins & Rollins' in faded script.

"This the place?" Dani asked curiously.

"Yep," Mike answered, and pushed the door open.

The lawyers' office was fairly sparse, only a couple of dingy chairs in the waiting area, and two other offices in the back. One door was closed with the lights off, the other open with a dim light coming from within. "Hello?" a tremulous voice called out.

The two crewmembers glanced at each other and then moved towards the office. Entering, they saw a disheveled man in a rumpled suit, rather short and dumpy. He had a scraggly halo of hair around a bald plate and sported a small but bushy mustache. He sat behind a large desk, with two more dingy chairs in front of it.

"I'm Michael Wilson. This is my Captain, Danielle Grant. You knew Barney Harrison?"

"Oh! Yes, indeed. And you have the, erm," he stumbled, paling slightly at the sight of the box in Mike's arms. "...the package?"

"Yep," Mike unceremoniously dropped the box on the man's cluttered desk. "Got a full confession here on recorder as well, and Dani is here to sign anythin' else you want to make it official-like."

"Oh good, good, yes I do have papers to sign, one minute..." He shuffled around on his desk, scooting the box to one side. "Yes! Here, just sign here and here, and Captain please also sign here that you attest to the veracity of Mr. Wilson's claim."

Mike and Dani did so and then stepped back, waiting expectantly.

"Very good," the little man said, relieved. "So glad to have this matter behind us. Now then, yes, there's a recording for me to play... here you go!" And he produced another recorder.

Mike reached over and switched it on.

"Mike, ol' buddy, if you're hearin' this then you did it. I can't thank you enough, my soul will rest easy, I'll tell ya that. Now, here's the thing, and don't get mad at me buddy. The number I wrote, well it might have been a mite exaggerated. Rollins here will hand you an envelope with the full payout. I'm sorry I had ta trick ya into doin' this, hope there's no hard feelin's. But if there are, hey, least ya can't kick my _pigu_ (ass), right?" Barney's voice laughed a deep, raspy chuckle. "Well buddy, I'll see ya on the other side, hopefully not for some time yet. And then I suppose I c'n get the _pigu_ (ass) kicking I deserve."

As the recording clicked off, Dani's mouth twitched. Mike was looking at her apprehensively, perhaps remembering the incident with the crocodile. "So," Dani said, trying to keep her voice under control. "How much?"

Mike took the envelope that Rollins (one of them, anyways) handed to him, and ruffled through the contents. "Um... enuff fer the fuel we used, I think?"

Dani couldn't contain herself any longer. She collapsed into one of the dingy chairs, laughing uproariously, tears streaming down her cheeks.

Mike grinned back at her, shaking his head. "I don' always get you sometimes, girl," he said musingly.

It just made Dani laugh all the harder.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> From what I can tell _zhi nu_ refers to a niece who is your brother's daughter; that would apply to Emily as that was her relation to Beth. Likewise, _gu ma_ is an aunt who is your father's sister and would be how Emily would have referred to Beth, as well as Dani. I could be way off base here. Like I said before, roll with it (unless a native speaker wants to correct me, and then I'll stumble over myself in my haste to apologize).
> 
> Stay shiny!


	25. Intermission IV

This intermission is brought to you by Cherry Blossom Tea. Are you craving that exotic taste of Sihnon? Do you miss the peace and tranquility of the Buddhist temples? Then try Cherry Blossom tea, an all-new fragrant experience that will leave you calm, relaxed, and serene. Cherry Blossom Tea, the new flavor for the masses.

_(Cherry Blossom Tea is a product of Blue Sun Corp. Beverage Division. All Rights Reserved. Reverse-Engineering is prohibited.)_

* * *

So! Another intermission. Been awhile, had a few episodes posted, but I wanted to take a second to talk about two items of import.

The first is that the tone of the tale so far will be changing somewhat in the next episode, number twenty. All actions have consequences, often though not the ones you expect, but what doesn't kill you can make you stronger.

Secondly, over the next couple of episodes, I need to give yet another shout-out to both **dayzejane** , author of _The Firefly Chronicles_ , and **Thug-4-Less** , author of _The Firefly Chronicles: Untold Tales of the 'Verse_. I took a lot of inspiration from these two authors in bringing my story to life. Though my own tale is not a crossover, and thus will not be including the esteemed Richard B. Ruttin' Riddick, I do highly recommend these fanfics. I have really fallen in love with the 'Verse they have weaved, especially the Jayne-Kaylee pairing (it has spoiled me for any other fics concerning the two).

There are some characters coming up that I have actually borrowed from these authors for my own use. They're all original creations of theirs, I'm just using them in my own way. Both dayzejane and Thug-4-Less responded in PMs that they were okay with my use of these characters from TFC (they're so awesome).

And, again, the wonderful 'Verse that is Firefly is due to the brilliance of Joss Whedon, all love and credit towards him.

That's all for now, as always thanks for reading, and please review!

Stay shiny!


	26. Episode 20: Keep Yourself Alive

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **WARNING:** This episode contains violent imagery that some may find disturbing.  
>  **TRIGGER WARNING for Rape and Assault.**

Inbound to Silverhold.

Sara walked up towards the bridge, smiling as she heard the strains of music coming from the speakers. Her _Kaasan_ must be alone up there. She paused in the doorway, hoping for a show, and sure enough Dani's form came spinning across the deck, dancing with wild abandon as she sang with the beat. " _It just takes some time, in the middle in the middle_..."

She smiled softly at the woman who, if she were being honest with herself, was a far better role model and parent than her own biological mother had been. Dani had not shied away from who Sara had become, she'd embraced her and her whole being. This was her home, and this was her family. And even with all the crazy misadventures they managed to find themselves, she'd never been happier in her life.

"Like my mother would ever have let me dangle off a cable, thousands of meters over the ground, to rescue her brother from the top of a building," she scoffed to herself. It still gave her a warm feeling inside, not just that Dani had trusted in Sara's ability, but that she had entrusted the safety of her brother to her.

Dani twirled around, and stumbled as she saw Sara grinning in the doorway. "Ahh!" her captain squeaked out. "Why does everyone insist with the lurking?"

Laughing, Sara crossed the bridge to sit in Rain's unoccupied seat. "Yer just so fun to watch, _Kaasan_!"

Dani grinned back, ruffled Sara's hair affectionately, and then sat down at her own chair. "Well, it's 'bout time to look for a landing pattern, anyways. First time I ever made landfall on Silverhold, we'll hafta go off-ship an' get Rain a patch."

"Even though she won' leave the ship none, she still gets a patch?" Sara asked humorously.

"Yep, course she does," Dani smirked back. "Can't really blame her none fer her phobia, as amusing as it gets."

Sara turned back to the viewport, listening with half an ear as Dani called for, and received, landing clearance. Her mind drifted to the past, and the path that led her to this ship...

Dani broke into her thoughts. "So, sweetie, you wanna go grab a drink with me when we land?"

"Just us?" Sara looked up, surprised.

"Sure, when was the last time just the two of us went off by ourselves?" Dani responded. "The others c'n handle the cargo, we'll go find a nice little cafe and then hunt down a patch fer yer _jie-jie_ (older sister)."

"Sounds like fun!" Sara grinned back enthusiastically.

* * *

Circle K Cafe. Silverhold.

The owner of the cafe they found was a bit of a tea aficionado. Sara had never seen so many types. She decided on a fruity one, while Dani chose one called 'Chai', which was supposed to be some spicy blend, a carry-over from Earth-That-Was.

They both enjoyed their drinks quietly for awhile. Then Dani spoke up softly, "C'n I ask you a question, Sara?"

 _Well, that sounds serious._ "Well yeah, _Kaasan_ , what is it?"

Dani toyed with her teacup for a beat and then looked into her eyes. "Would you wanna be officially adopted by me?"

Sara was at a complete loss for words. She was sure she looked like an idiot with her mouth hanging open. _Adoption? Like, as in officially a Grant?_

"I know it might seem silly, since yer eighteen already," Dani continued, giving Sara some time to return to coherence. "But I keep thinkin' back to Perdition where we were all separated, and I don' want that to happen again. I don' want there to be anythin' that would cause problems, legally or otherwise, in you bein' a part of this family." She looked back up at Sara, her bright green eyes glistening slightly. "Wouldya like to be my daughter?"

Sara could only grin goofily. "I'd really, really love that, _Kaasan_ ," she answered finally.

"Okay then!" Dani gave a laugh. "That's settled. Let's go find a patch for your _jie-jie_ (older sister), an' we can go back to the ship an' break the good news to the rest of the family."

As they walked from the cafe, her spirits were buoyant beyond measure. She had a family again, now permanently, and nobody would take her away, ever again.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a feeling of alarm. Something within her, that primal side she let out to play every so often when her family was in danger, was trying to warn her.

Sara looked around warily, unable to see much over the heads of the crowds of people in the street, but she was brought up short by Dani's hand on her arm. "Trouble," Dani hissed.

The crowd parted slightly, and Sara could see three burly-looking men with tattoos and buzzed hair striding towards them. They looked like brothers, except their hair was different shades. All were armed, though their guns remained in their holsters.

" _Cao_ (fuck)," Dani whispered, looking around. "There's five more behind us. Tryin' to box us in. An' I see another five behind these _hun dans_ (bastards). What, they're sendin' armies against us now?"

Sara laughed weakly at the attempt at a joke but readied her shivs. No way she was going down without a fight. Dani's grip on her arm tightened, and then her captain glanced down at her.

"Sara, _mi you ling_ (listen closely). I want you to sneak off, get yerself back to the ship. I'll lead them off to an alleyway and meet ya there."

"What? No, _Kaasan_ , I'm not leavin' you!" Sara exclaimed.

"Look, we can't fight 'em all, all we c'n do is get away, an' we c'n do that easier on our own. _Dong ma_ (understand)?" Dani glanced down at her again, a worried look in her eyes. "I don' wanna lose you again, please, just do as I say."

Sara nodded mutely and sidestepped into the crowd. It was only for a moment, however, as she crouched down next to a vendor stall, releasing her hair from its ponytail and changing her stance to be more hunched in. It should be enough, even without changing clothes, to pass unnoticed. "I'm sorry _Kaasan_ , but the first thing I hafta do as yer daughter is disobey you," she whispered to herself, setting off in the direction Dani had taken.

She had a hard time picking up the trail, as tall as Dani was it was still difficult to see over the crowd. Eventually, she almost bumped into one of the tattooed thugs, and decided to follow him instead.

Coming to another intersection, Sara climbed up on a box to see how far Dani had gotten. She cursed under her breath as she saw that Dani had gone into the next alley across the way but had been blocked in. Sara saw Dani pull out her gun and then notice that someone was behind her. As she swung around, she took a club to the face and fell, hard, unable to get even a single shot off.

It all happened so fast, Sara couldn't even scream out a warning.

She hopped down from the box and struggled through the crowds to where Dani had fallen, but they were already gone. A dark glint caught her eye, and she saw Dani's beloved Ares pistol lying in the shadows. " _Liou coe shway duh biao-tze huh hoe-tze duh ur-tze_ (stupid son of a drooling whore and a monkey)," she growled angrily, cursing her lack of a communicator. She scooped up the weapon, tucking it behind her trouser waistband, pulling her shirt out to cover it, and then took off in the direction she hoped they had gone.

"I'm coming _Kaasan,_ hang on..."

* * *

 _Fortune's Favour_. Silverhold.

Sitting in the captain's seat on the bridge and drumming his fingers irritably (unconsciously mimicking Dani's movements from when he had been infiltrating the Alliance HR building), Keith wondered what in the 'Verse had happened to his sister. She wasn't answering her comm. She should have been back several hours ago, and night was falling.

He had called the local sheriff, the governor's office, and the Alliance base nearby. None had any idea, or at least none that they would admit to, of what might have happened.

Keith was beginning to become very, very worried. He did not want to start sending crew out yet to search. If something happened to the two girls, it might happen to whoever went looking for them.

Rain was sitting next to him, fidgeting restlessly. "What should we do, Uncle Keith?" she asked, a trace of panic in her voice.

He opened his mouth to answer, but then the Cortex unit in front of him lit up to notify of an incoming Wave. _Maybe the sheriff finally heard something?_

The sneering visage that appeared on the screen looked like some of the scum Keith had to take down when his unit worked some anti-crime tasks in support of the local federals. He was seated at a desk, his arms folded in front of him, exposing the heavily-tattooed arms. His large neck seemed to strain at the white button-up shirt he had on, sleeves rolled up tightly. Keith could tell, even seated, he was a massive man, fairly well-muscled, likely taller than him. The man's small, beady eyes stared at Keith under a heavy brow and over a nose that had obviously been broken many times previously, and his black hair was buzzed short.

"My name is Yuri the Shark," he began in a heavily accented voice. Keith thought it sounded maybe Slavic. "You will not talk, only listen. You have something of mine, a datachip, that you took from the late Colonel Andrej Karakov. I will have it back, to this address on your screen, or I will take another of your crew."

Yuri stood up and walked around the desk, twisting the Cortex unit to follow him. On the other side were two burly men in the same vein as him. Suspended between them Keith could see a bloody, beaten, and naked figure. His brain took awhile to catch up with what he was seeing, but it crystallized as Yuri grabbed ahold and yanked the hair upwards, revealing the battered and bruised face of his sister, Dani.

Keith was dimly aware of both the broken scream from Rain that she cut off by slapping her hands over her mouth, as well as the animalistic noise coming from deep in his chest. _This fucker was already dead, he just didn't know it yet._

Yuri dropped Dani's head and turned back to the camera. "You better hurry up, or I will rape this little _suka_ (Russian: bitch) again."

Keith could hear a rasping, bubbling laugh come from Dani, sounding like she had fluid in her lungs. "Oh, izzat what it was?" she said brokenly, the smirk evident in her voice even now. "Couldn' feel a thing, y'know they gots meds fer-"

Yuri whirled around and brought his fist across her face with a snarl, snapping her head to the side and cutting off her remark. She slumped bonelessly between the two thugs. Picking up a towel to wipe the blood off his hand, he growled back to Keith, "You have four hours, _vy pomimayette_ (Russian: understand)? I will use that time to teach _pizda_ (Russian: cunt) more lessons." And then he reached forward, cutting the connection.

Keith was motionless. From the outside, he looked to be in control of his emotions, but anyone who really knew him would be able to tell he was very close to erupting. He closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths before turning to Rain. His niece was still sitting in her chair, hands firmly clasped over her mouth, tears streaming down her face.

Rising from the captain's seat, he gently put a hand on her shoulder, and in a raspy growl he promised, "I will get her back." It was a voice from the grave, bringing the assurance of blood and death, yet it somehow comforted Rain. She lowered her hands and gave a trembling nod.

Keith picked up the intercom and spoke. "All hands. Galley. Now."

Placing the mike back ever so gently, not trusting himself not to break it, he walked in measured steps back to the galley and waited for all the crew to assemble.

Standing at the head of the table, arms crossed and eyes downcast, he ignored all attempts at conversation until everyone save Rain (and Dani and Sara) was present. Then he spoke in a deadly whisper that demanded the attention of all.

"We don't have much time, so I'll only go through this once. Dani has been taken by a monster, thinks we took something we didn't. I'm going to get her back. I don't know where Sara is, I hope to find her too. I need two things: One, this ship be ready to fly as soon as we get back, or if you do not hear from me in two hours. And two, I need the infirmary prepped for massive trauma." He looked up at the stunned faces, searching out Maribelle. " _Dong ma_ (understand)?"

Maribelle nodded wordlessly, understanding the significance of his request and knowing her work would be cut out for her once he returned.

Turning his gaze to a shuddering Cali, he then said, "Your sister needs you on the bridge."

Giving his niece a curt nod, Keith whirled on his heel, heading for the cargo bay.

He was working the controls on the top catwalk to lower the Mule when Jess jogged up to him. She just placed her hands on his shoulders and leaned her head against his back. "Can't you take me with you?"

Keith shook his head and grunted, "No. I need to move fast and alone. And I can't take any weapons, they'll search me." Mule on the deck, he turned and gave his wife a tense hug. "Protect the ship. Don't let anyone off. And I'm serious, you get the _diyu_ (hell) off the planet if you don't hear from me, you get off and call in favors from all our friends. Alright?"

She nodded tearfully and stood on her tiptoes to kiss him passionately. "Be careful. I love you."

Keith smirked. "Love you too babe. And it's the other guys that better be careful."

He jogged down the steps, opened the bay doors and then vaulted into the seat of the Mule. Starting up the ignition, he barely waited for it to rise off the deck before pushing the throttle forward and sailing out into the night. Jess closed the doors behind him again.

It took him a mere fifteen minutes to reach the target address, and another five to circle around until he found a likely vantage point on a building across from Yuri's warehouse. He parked the Mule behind the run-down residential apartment building, secured it, and began to climb the fire escape. His mind was working furiously the whole time. _I can't see an easy way to do this. I have to go in the front. How will I get her out again?_

Crouched on the roof and staring down from the shadows towards the warehouse, he couldn't come up with any answers, but it did not deter him. He would get in and get out. No _hun dan_ (bastard) would get in his way.

Hearing a slight noise on the same rooftop as he occupied, he whirled around, fists at the ready. Instead of an attack, he heard a whispered "Uncle Keith?"

"Sara," he sighed, relieved. "Over here, girl."

Sara approached almost timidly. "They took her Uncle Keith, I couldn't stop 'em, and I can't figure out how to get in. I saw 'em through the window, up on the top floor, they were beatin' her..." She gave a sniffle. "I didn' think I could carry her out, but I was gonna try."

Acting on instinct, Keith pulled her in for a hug, still crouched. Sara stiffened, then relaxed and gratefully accepted the comfort. "We're going to go in and get her out. Together. Okay?" he rumbled softly. Sara nodded her head against his shoulder.

"Alright," he began, holding her back with both hands on her shoulders in reassurance. "Got your shivs?"

Sara nodded again, wordlessly. "Also got _Kaasan_ 's gun."

"Good girl," he smiled darkly. "Then let's go make those fuckers pay. Nobody survives. I go in first and get escorted up. You slip in behind me and kill every _wang ba_ (son of a bitch) you come across, following us up." As he spoke, Sara's shoulders firmed up and her eyes darkened, as a predatory grin slowly began to form on her face. This was the girl he needed, the warrior and killer he'd seen before. "I'll meet you up in Yuri's office, we'll kill that _go tsao de_ (dog fucking) piece of _gou se_ (shit) and bring her home."

By now Sara's hands were twitching as if in anticipation of filling them with shivs. _We got a chance now_ , Keith thought to himself.

"Alright, _wai sheng nu_ (niece, sister's daughter). Let's go get your _Kaasan._ "

Ten minutes later Keith was in front of the door. He didn't bother looking around for Sara, he was sure she was in the shadows nearby but he doubted he could see her, which was an impressive feat in itself, really. The door opened to his knock, and he was pulled into a lobby with four gun-wielding thugs who thoroughly frisked him. Then a pair of them pushed him ahead and up the three flights of stairs, walking so close it almost offended his professional pride. _Bunch of undisciplined goons, used to being bullies. Sara will make short work of them._

Passing several sets of bored-looking guards at intervals along the hallways, they came to Yuri's office and ushered him inside. Yuri was back behind his desk to the left of the door, but Keith almost lost his control right then when he saw, huddled on the other side of the room, a very still form under a blood-stained and wet blanket.

He was brought before the desk, with the two escorts standing just behind him on either side. _They're making it too easy._ Yuri stood up, sneering, which seemed to be his default aspect.

"You better have brought datachip, yes? Or do I start on next crew, maybe you?"

 _Enough of this_ fang pi _(bullshit)_. Keith pulled his elbows back quickly. Hearing the satisfying 'pop' of a rib breaking on each goon, he waited for a beat as they doubled over predictably. He then delivered a backwards fist to each face, feeling the simultaneous crunch of the cartilage in their noses breaking. They crumpled to the floor, out of the fight.

Yuri leapt to his feet, scrambling for his gun, but Keith vaulted the desk in a smooth motion and pushed him against the wall, hand gripping his throat and slapping the gun away.

Yuri gasped out, "You _chertov durak_ (Russian: fucking fool). Don't you know who I am?"

"It's me you gotta worry about," Keith snarled in a deadly rasp. "That was my sister."

Yuri's eyes widened almost comically, and again as Sara entered the room. Glancing quickly over his shoulder, he saw her efficiently execute each of the disabled thugs, and then walk over wordlessly to hand him Dani's gun. The front of her white tunic was splattered with droplets of blood, and she had a small smear of it on her right cheek.

Nodding his gratitude, he whispered hoarsely back to her, "Can you go check on her?"

She returned his nod and moved back. Turning his furious gaze back to the gangster, he placed a shot to Yuri's groin and one to each kneecap, releasing him to slump to the floor, screaming incoherently in Russian.

"How long you live, and in how much pain you will be, all depends on whether my sister is still alive or not," he roared in a loud baritone over Yuri's pathetic babbling.

"Uncle Keith!" Sara almost screamed. "She's alive! Barely breathing, but we gotta move her, quick!"

Keith turned back to Yuri, hardly sparing him a glance. "Lucky _hun dan_ (bastard)," he muttered grimly and sent two shots into his forehead. _Let the other gangsters figure out how to interpret the execution-style slaying._

Sticking Dani's gun into the back of his waistband, he gathered the bundle on the floor ever so gently into his arms, with a tenderness at odds with the fury still in his eyes.

The figure under the blanket stirred slightly, moaning. He freed one of his hands to gently pull a corner back to reveal her face, almost wishing he hadn't.

Dani's face was a mass of cuts and bruises. Her left eye was completely swollen shut, the right gummed up with blood and grime. There was a long gash across her forehead still dripping blood, and both lips were split open. It was a miracle her nose hadn't been broken as well. "...Keith?" she whispered.

He paused before lifting her up. "I'm here _jie-jie_ (older sister). We're going to get you out."

Sara stood next to him, staring down with wide, shocked eyes to see the damage up close.

Dani murmured something, and then more clearly, "Promise... promise me..."

"What, Dani. We've got to move you."

"You... take care of... my _nu'ers_ (daughters), 'kay? All... all three of 'em, you... take care..."

And her head fell back against his chest, unmoving.

Sara looked up at Keith, an answering fire in her eyes. "I'll clear the way out."

Keith nodded, getting to his feet and cradling the limp form in his arms.

Neither Keith nor Sara commented on the tears running down each other's faces as they rushed Dani back to the _Favour_.

* * *

 _Fortune's Favour._ Location unknown.

Pain.

Her whole world was pain. It was a color, actually, a bright painful red that hurt to even look at. It was all sharp and jaggedy corners and spikes, dull throbbing and bubbling terror that it would never, ever end.

_I think, therefore I am._

_Am I?_

The pain was making her thoughts incoherent. Was there anything beyond the pain? Was it now her entire being?

Dani could feel herself rising back to the surface of the pain, and she really didn't want to.

Consciousness meant accepting the pain, and she was trying so very hard to run from it.

Her head seared with the light, even harsher than the red of the pain. Her left eye was still sealed shut, swollen from the first club she took to the face, and likely from later as well. She tried not to remember, remembering was bad.

Her right eye, though, was no longer gummed up from blood and would allow the tears to flow.

She tried to scream, but all that came out was a low moan.

There was a presence at her side. _Where was she? Who was that? Would they just rutting release her already from all this pain?_

Then she heard a soft voice that was very familiar. _Maribelle! So I must be home, on my ship!_

"Shhh, it's okay honey," she heard Maribelle say in a broken whisper. "I know you're hurting, I can feel it. I'm going to give you something more, it should help for awhile so we can fix you up okay? You're safe now, nothing can hurt you anymore."

Tears kept coming down from her right eye, from relief and joy now, mixed in with the pain. Safe, safe from the pain, from the beating and the cuttings and... _no no no no I can't think about that, don't think about the room, about HIM_...

There was a slight prick in her arm, and a coolness spread from there, across her body, and the pain began to ease. She felt herself start to float away again, the red had paled a little to a light pink. She heard another voice, a quiet rumble that could only be her brother Keith.

"How bad?"

She made out Maribelle's reply, though the words were just words and made no sense to her, they weren't talking about her, must be someone else...

"Bad. Both ankles broken, left wrist, right forearm. Two ribs that I can tell. Minor fracture of the jaw line. Abrasions all over, looks like he took a switch of some sort to her. Obvious sexual violation, she's bleeding down there too. There's some internal bleeding, I stopped that, maybe some kidney damage? Drained the fluid from her lungs, mostly blood. Keith, she's lost a lot of blood..."

Keith replied in his quiet baritone. "Well, we've got plenty of family to donate, I'll line 'em up."

And then the pink faded to black.

* * *

 _Fortune's Favour._ Location unknown.

She woke up again, and almost managed a scream this time. More pain, sharp and cutting, in her abdomen, why was she being cut into, hadn't they done enough to her, please God make it stop...

A refined, authoritative voice called out nearby. "She's coming to. Give her another dose, quickly."

"Yes, doctor," Maribelle's voice replied.

And the welcome blackness returned again.

* * *

 _Fortune's Favour._ Location unknown.

The next time Dani woke up, she could open her right eye. The lights were dimmed, but she could tell they were in the infirmary. On _Fortune's Favour_. Home.

She tried to move but couldn't. Wiggling her toes, they were both encased in something. Her left hand as well. Her right hand, she could move, but it hurt to do so. Felt like there was something around her arm right from her wrist up, but at least her fingers could move. _That's good, I have all of my fingers, and I think all of my toes. I didn't lose any, HE didn't take any when..._

_No. Not gonna go there. Leave it in the darkness for now._

Her neck didn't seem to want to move either. Was she in some sort of body cast? Maybe not, she didn't feel anything enclosing her body like that, though she could feel bandages all over, covering all the cuts, the bruises, all from...

_STOP IT._

Then she heard the door slide open gently, and Maribelle's voice whispered to her, "Dani?"

She licked her dry lips and tried to form the words to ask for water, but nothing came.

Maribelle must have understood, though, and brought over a cup with a straw. Dani took a small sip and swished it around her mouth. Tried to lick her lips again.

"It's okay, honey. Just relax, don't try to speak yet alright? It's been a week now, your body still needs the time to heal."

Dani managed to croak out a word, one that had been bugging her from her hazy memories. "Doctor?"

"Yes, we got very lucky. There was a passing ship nearby, another Firefly, with someone on the crew that Mike knew from the war." She paused, slid a chair over and sat down, leaning over her but not touching. "I think maybe they were keeping a low profile for some reason, the only person we saw was the doctor they sent over, Mike called him Simon."

Dani tried to nod but still couldn't move her head.

Maribelle leaned over to plant a gentle kiss on her forehead.

"Sleep, honey. You need it. I'll give you another smoother, a milder one, just to help."

A slight prick of her arm and she was swimming into the darkness again.

* * *

 _Fortune's Favour._ Location unknown.

Dani was in her own bed again. She was happy to be in her bunk. She could stay here, the others could run the ship just fine without her.

A nice rest would be good for her.

She still didn't want to think about the things that happened. That would make it real.

Dani opened her eyes (both of them), and looked over to see Maribelle reading from her portable Cortex unit, sitting at her desk. She immediately looked up and smiled. "Hey there," Maribelle said softly.

Dani tried to smile back. It was a tremulous thing, but it might pass for a smile. "Hi."

Maribelle put her unit down and scooted the chair closer. "There have been a lot of people waiting for you to wake up. We've been taking turns watching over you. How are you feeling?"

Dani opened her mouth, but she couldn't make the words come out to describe. How was she feeling? She couldn't go into her feelings, she was broken, violated, useless...

Maribelle nodded sadly. "It's okay, you don't have to talk about it yet. Really. Only when you're ready to."

Dani nodded and tried to ignore the tears running down her own cheeks again.

* * *

 _Fortune's Favour._ Location unknown.

Dani was still in her bunk. She didn't want to come out. All her family had been in to see her, her beautiful daughters as well. Sara was safe. All her daughters were safe, that's all that was important.

She had heard from Keith how they got her out. She couldn't speak after the tale for awhile until Keith got up to leave, when she whispered in a choked voice, " _Dao xie didi_ (thank you little brother)."

Keith paused before climbing back out and answered with a gentle smile. "Anytime, _jie-jie_ (older sister)."

But she couldn't talk about it.

Talking would make it real, everything that had happened to her. If she just stayed down in her bunk, she could keep it all at bay.

Staring listlessly at the wall, she could overhear Keith talking to Maribelle.

"She still not coming out?"

"No," Maribelle answered, "but I know what we need. Rain, I need you to look up..."

Dani drifted off to sleep again. None of it mattered.

* * *

 _Fortune's Favour._ Location unknown.

The next time Dani woke it was to Lori bending over her, kissing her gently on the lips, her tears tasting salty and yet sweet in her mouth.

Dani returned it hesitantly, and as Lori pulled away, she tried to speak but couldn't form the words.

"Yer sister-in-law, Maribelle, sent me a Wave. I'd been so worried, not hearin' from you in so long, I was afraid somethin' happened." Lori looked down at her own hands. "I was just about to try gettin' in touch with the _Favour_ , try to talk to someone, when she contacted me first."

Lori stared into her eyes, her light brown irises melting Dani's resolve. "I sweet-talked Zannah into changin' course. I came as soon as I could," she whispered morosely. "I'm so sorry I didn't Wave earlier. I keep gettin' so hung up on not pushin' you..."

Dani tried to talk again, to reassure her it was fine, being here now is what counted, God she loved her so much... but all that came out was a choked wail as the dam within her finally broke wide open.

"Lori... he hurt me, he wouldn't stop hurtin' me, over an' over again, an'... an'... I didn' think the pain would ever end... God, I just wanted it to stop..."

Lori curled up in bed with her lover, held her tight, and let Dani cry out all her frustration, pain, agony, and helplessness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whew. Apologies for all the feels. If it makes you feel any better it made me cry to write it.
> 
> Credit for Yuri's character goes to **dayzejane** and **Thug-4-Less** , used with permission, and apologies for killing him off before the crew of _Serenity_ could. I owe them a crate of whiskey.
> 
> Title track credit to Queen. Intro music credit goes to _The Middle_ by Jimmy Eat World.


	27. Episode 21: Money For Nothin'

En route to Space Bazaar.

Dani sat at her console, alone on the bridge, brooding. _I hate this_ , she thought.

She hated feeling so isolated. And it was her own gorram fault. She could walk again just fine, without crutches. Maybe still a slight limp, sure, but that didn't excuse her for eating her meals on the bridge by herself.

She hated this feeling of looking down at herself, like from a distance, at a woman who seemed broken yet should be so much stronger than this. She hated the feeling of helplessness, uselessness...

 _Gorramit, I can't even_... She cut herself off with a snort of disgust.

"There," came a low baritone rumble from behind her, "right there. What was that thought?"

" _Cao_ (fuck)," Dani exclaimed. "Willya please stop with the lurkin'?"

"No," Keith grunted, moving into the pilot's seat. And then just looked at her expectantly.

Rolling her eyes, Dani huffed out a breath. "Fine. What I was thinking was, 'I can't even protect myself, how c'n I protect my crew.' Happy?"

"Good," Keith grunted again. Dani's mouth dropped open. "It's good you realize that. You can't protect everyone, _Captain_ , because that's not your job. It's mine, and what you hired me for. And even I can't protect everyone all the time, or you wouldn't have gotten pinched."

He leaned forward, an earnest expression on his face. Dani had to swallow back the emotion that crept into her throat. She knew that under his gruff exterior, Keith loved her very much, and this must have been just as hard on him as anyone, if not harder. She opened her mouth weakly to apologize, but he just reached over and rested his hand on her knee.

"I know. Don't, okay? What we need to do, now, is make sure no other _hun dan_ (bastard) gets it in his head that we're easy meat. That they can fuck with us. Or they should at least know what happens when they do."

Dani grinned over at her brother. "I like the sound of that. Got a plan?"

"Don't I always?" Keith returned her grin. "As far as the consequences for going up against us goes, we already started with Yuri. I think we should let it slip the details some, so people know what happened."

"What?" Dani exclaimed. "Won' that bring the _mafya_ (Russian: mob, mafia) on our heads?"

Shaking his head, Keith answered, "Nope, I know how these _hun dans_ (bastards) work, their sense of honor. Yuri messed up, they'll be enough of a power vacuum that nobody's gonna worry about settling a score with us. Hell, those who might have cause to would be thanking us for their vertical move in the organization."

Keith sat back in the chair and laced his fingers behind his head. "Now, making sure nobody will fuck with us again. I think we're well past due looking for a decent arms merchant. Got to get the crew equipped. Comms for everyone, the nice ones that fit in your ear like mine that you used on Jiangyin with those pirates. And everyone gets a sidearm to carry."

Dani grinned enthusiastically. "So, where to, First Officer?"

"Let's try Space Bazaar first, there's a few arms dealers on there I've heard about and we're heading in that direction anyway. I've got another I heard about that would definitely fit the bill, but it's in Kalidasa, so we'll hold off on that for now."

* * *

Inbound to Space Bazaar.

They were still a couple of hours from docking with the Space Bazaar, so there was time to assemble dinner. The family had gathered around to sample Cory's latest creation, something new he wanted to try with seafood (they had just picked up a shipment from New Melbourne to deliver onto the Bazaar, and Cory had restocked the pantry). Small cooked and shelled shellfish were swimming in some white creamy sauce and tossed with thin noodles. It smelled wonderful, and the crew members weren't bashful in telling him so.

Rain was about to put together a plate for her _Kaasan_ when a hush fell across the galley. Dani stood in the doorway, pausing before she hesitantly made her way in and sat gingerly in her seat at the head of the table.

"Welcome back, Captain," Keith rumbled as conversation picked back up.

Dani gave him a wink from under the curtain of hair across her face. She was still hesitant to show the scars she knew crisscrossed her forehead or the deep scar next to her left eye where she had taken a club to the face.

But she was here, back with her family.

Grinning at her daughters, then across the rest of the table, she kicked herself mentally for taking so long to return. _This is still my favorite time of the day, and I was an idiot to deny myself this. I'm done feelin' sorry for myself._

"So, Keith," she began. "Have you shared yer plan yet with the crew, about our becomin' _huaidans_ (badasses)?"

Keith laughed and began. "I was just about to. Here's what I have in mind..."

* * *

Space Bazaar. Red Sun.

Keith, Jess, Mike, Dani, and Sara had spent most of the next day in the dark underbelly of the Bazaar, meeting with several gun merchants without luck. Most had _gou se_ (crap) wares, and the ones who had decent kit wanted to charge outrageous prices for them. Their current patron was a good example of the former, a greasy man with a greasy smile, wearing a rumpled suit several generations out of date from fashionable.

"Voila! The ZF-1. It's light. Handle's adjustable for easy carrying, good for righties and lefties. Breaks down into four parts, undetectable by x-ray, ideal for quick, discreet interventions. A word on firepower. Titanium recharger, three thousand round clip with bursts of three to three hundred."

Keith sneered at the large, unwieldy, fancy-looking piece of tech. "With a large red self-destruct button on the end. It's _gou se_ (crap)." He turned and headed for the door, ignoring the salesman's protests. "Come on everyone. I don't like it, but I got a few calls I can make and we'll just skip the _bendans_ (idiots) here. Meet with some real professionals."

Jogging to catch up with his long, purposeful strides, Dani asked, "Why don' ya like it?"

"Because these aren't the kind of people you ever, ever cross," Keith responded. "But they'll have what we need, and more. We'll need to travel a bit, though, see if Jess can scare us up a cargo towards Beaumonde."

* * *

Inbound to Beaumonde. Kalidasa system.

Dani sat and watched her daughter handle the ship with sure, confident hands. _She's grown so much._ When Dani was disabled for so long, Rain took over the bridge and kept them running smoothly. Her heart almost burst with pride, watching her daughter.

"Beaumonde Central Docking, this is Firefly transport _Fortune's Favour_ requesting clearance to land," Rain said into her mike.

After a beat, the comm crackled to life. "Just hold yer horses, little lady. We got full patterns all over."

Both women snorted in unison, and Rain looked over at her incredulously. "I know that _bendan_ (idiot) didn't just call me 'little lady'," she said irritably.

"Well, darlin'," Dani drawled with good humor, "I'm sure they think they're _very_ important folk."

Rain snorted again, and impatiently picked the mike back up. "Hey, _piyan_ (asshole), you got that landing fer me yet?"

Dani barked a laugh. _Oh yes, her lil'_ nu'er _(daughter) was brimmin' over with confidence nowadays._

She sobered as the angry reply came back over. "Go _gun hoe-tze bee dio-se_ (have a shit-throwing contest with a monkey), you little _biao zi_ (bitch). Land yer _yikuai lese_ (piece of junk) on pad twelve."

The two pilots exchanged incredulous looks. "Did he just..." Rain sputtered.

Dani gave an evil little smile. "Y'know sweetie, it's been awhile since I took the controls. Mind if I bring 'er down?"

"Um, okay, sure _Kaasan_ ," Rain answered, nonplussed, then amending, "I mean, Capt'n."

Giving her daughter a wink, Dani picked the intercom up for the shipwide. "Attention crew, please prepare for landing. Buckling up would not be amiss."

"Oh, _da-shiang bao-tza shr duh lah doo-tze_ (the explosive diarrhea of an elephant)," Rain breathed, realizing what she was about to do, and securing her harness around her. "I've made a terrible mistake."

Dani giggled and made her approach, perhaps a little closer to the Central Docking tower than the designated pad.

"Yer comin' in awfully fast," Rain commented tightly as if maybe she could ward off what she knew was going to happen.

"Nonsense, dear," Dani smirked.

The _Favour_ hurtled downwards, for all intents looking as if it were about to crash directly into the tower. Dani ignored the frantic squawking over the comm and concentrated on her altitude. Abruptly she hauled up on the controls, leveling out with maybe a few meters to spare over the top of the tower, and smoothly glided to a landing on pad twelve.

Rain let out an explosive breath. "I can't believe you just buzzed the tower."

Still smirking, Dani replied, "An' tell me you ain't always wanted to do that."

Rain quirked an eyebrow at her. "An' you have before?"

Laughing, Dani reached for the comm. "Just once, in flight school. I was on latrine-cleanin' duty for a week."

She brought the mike up to her lips and spoke into it cheerfully. "So sorry tower, but you know us _biao zis_ (bitches) just have soooo much trouble flyin' our _yikuai lese_ (piece of junk)." With that, she flicked the comm off.

Giving her daughter a wink, she unbuckled and rose from her chair. "You sure ya don' wanna come this time? See all the guns?"

"Tempting as that may be," Rain snarked back, "I see even greater opportunity fer disaster surrounded by weaponry. I'll pass, thanks."

Dani laughed and walked out.

"Get me a patch!" Rain called after her.

* * *

Central Docking. Beaumonde.

The small city that made up Central Docking was a sprawling, bustling sea of humanity. It was unlike the organized, polite chaos of Londinium or Ariel, unlike the dusty shantytown feel of Eavesdown Docks on Persephone.

They had landed at night, so the _Favour_ 's crew could see the multitude of colors from billboards and business signs wash across the ships that were landed around them. A multitude of hues swept across their vision, swirling and pulsing. People from all over the 'Verse, representing the vast variety of their race, shoved and pushed and swore and laughed and strutted and glided all around them.

Central Docking was a living, breathing organism in itself. And Dani had never felt so alive, standing in the midst of it all.

"Close your mouth, _jie-jie_ (older sister)," Keith chuckled. "You look like a tourist. I can't believe you've never set down on Beaumonde before."

"I seem to have been missin' out," Dani replied with a grin. Evidently, she was the only one entranced with the place, as the others had already been there. Well, except for Sara, who was looking around with narrowed eyes as if expecting an ambush.

"You okay there, _nu'er_ (daughter)?" Dani asked curiously.

"Fine, _Kaasan_ ," her diminutive scout replied. "I got yer back."

"Relax _wai sheng nu_ (niece, sister's daughter), we all do," Mike laughed.

Sara looked up then with a beaming smile. Everyone in the family had taken to their announcement of Sara's formal adoption with open arms, welcoming her into the fold even more, if that were possible. Still, Sara had a huge smile anytime someone called her formally by a family title. Dani was just as happy and warmly gave Sara a squeeze around the shoulders.

"All right, then," Jess said briskly. "Which way, honey?"

Keith gave a grunt, and headed off, wading through the teeming mass of society. _Just as well Rain didn't come along,_ Dani thought humorously. _She'd be crawling out of her skin with these crowds_.

They were all bundled up against the cold and were glad for their warm overcoats as the biting wind cut through them. Sara still shivered visibly, her small frame unable to retain much heat. Dani tried to keep behind her to block the wind.

Eventually, the crowds thinned, then dropped off entirely until they were walking down an almost deserted street. This was obviously the lesser-traveled side of Central Docking, dimly lit with no neon signs advertising business. The road was bordered on both sides by warehouses, some looking abandoned by virtue of their boarded-up windows and entryways. Keith stopped in front of one of the latter, looking up at the number barely legible against the base of the squat, ugly structure.

"Really? Here?" Dani asked skeptically. The large warehouse had windows barred with heavy bars of metal, and the only point of entry seemed to be sealed tight long ago, judging by the worn graffiti across the front.

"Appearances can be deceiving," Keith murmured. He led Dani, Mike, Jess and Sara down a side alleyway, and then stopped, turning to them.

"I haven't met these guys before," he rumbled in a quiet baritone. "But if I know their type, they are very dangerous people. Their reputation bears that out. Do exactly as they ask, I'm sure we'll need to disarm at some point. Do not keep anything concealed." He looked pointedly at Sara. " _Dong ma_ (understand)?"

The girl nodded rapidly, still shivering, though perhaps in anticipation this time.

Keith grunted again and turned towards the back of the alley. There was a single bulb that lit the side of the building dimly, flickering every so often, illuminating more graffiti. Dani smirked at one that seemed to be particularly anti-Alliance.

Stopping at a dumpster, Keith said, "Okay, this should be it."

"Again, really?" Dani asked once more.

"Have a little faith, _jie-jie_ (older sister)," Keith smirked. He seized one end of the dumpster and hauled it back, revealing a steel door in much better repair than the rest of the exterior structure.

"That is so _niubi_ (fucking awesome)," Sara breathed. "It's a real secret entrance! Cali's gonna be so mad she missed this!"

Keith barked a laugh as he reached for the door handle. " _Wai sheng nu_ (niece, sister's daughter), your sister wasn't invited along."

"What? Why not?" Sara asked curiously.

"Because," Keith smirked, "she can't handle herself like you can. I trust you to keep up with the rest of us guns." And he entered the building, motioning for the rest to follow.

Sara, for her part, lit up like a neon sign at the compliment and skipped on in. Mike went in last, pulling the dumpster back into place behind them and closing the door.

As the group moved towards the end of the small chamber, which was walled in gleaming metal, the floor lit up with each of their steps. "Oooh, pretty!" Sara giggled, walking around in circles.

Dani giggled as well. "I think they're scanners, silly. But yeah, they're pretty."

Keith nodded. "Yeah, this should be their secure zone. Let's keep our heads up for the benefit of our hosts as they scan us." Sara stopped her pacing and stood obediently still, hands behind her back. She couldn't, however, stop bouncing slightly on her toes.

As they faced the rather imposing set of heavy blast doors at the rear, they all started slightly as a large vidscreen descended from the ceiling. Dani actually gave a little squeak, she was wound up so tightly. _I feel nervous and excited, like on a first date_ , she grinned to herself.

A slender man with long ice-blue hair, heavy matching eyeliner, and cocoa-colored skin was on the screen, taking a deep drag off of a long-handled cigarette. "Well, well," he drawled, as he lounged on a large, plush sofa and blew a cloud of smoke into the air. "Who do we have here?"

Keith cleared his throat. They had agreed beforehand that it would be best if he did all the talking. "My name is Keith Grant. Buddy of mine should have given you a recommendation for me."

"Yes, that's right. Georgie said you were some _huaidan hun dan_ (badass bastard) that he'd vouch for, said he'd worked with you in the war. So who are your lovely little friends?"

Keith introduced them all in turn, including his niece as Sara Grant (she giggled a little at that), and Dani as Captain of the _Fortune's Favour_.

"Alright, sweet cheeks, you all check out on the scanners, except for the little one, but that's fine. Don't get many children in here." He giggled, which sounded slightly odd coming from him. It was echoed by another high-pitched voice off-screen.

"So then," he continued, blowing a cloud of smoke at the screen. "You're popping your cherry here, I'll give you the rules. This is our house, you fuck with us, darlings, and any _fang pi_ (bullshit) will be met with copious amounts of lethality."

Mike and Jess shared a nervous glance, Dani and Sara an amused one. Keith just nodded, unperturbed.

Leaning over a panel embedded in the arm of his red fuzzy sofa, he punched in a code, and a wall panel to the right slid open to reveal a small locker. "Now then, all weapons in here. No guns, blades, shivs, explosives, whips, chains, garrotes, sonic tech, capture capable equipment, recording devices," he paused in his recitation, and grinned as if sharing a private joke, "or personal grooming appliances." The high-pitched giggle from off-screen came again. "Not even a sharpened toothpick. _Dong ma_ (understand)?"

" _Shi a_ (yes, affirmative)!" Sara piped up excitedly.

Dani choked back a laugh and unholstered her Ares sidearm, placing it within the chamber. Sara went last, withdrawing blade after blade from various locations. "Um," she said, hesitantly. "Could y'all turn around fer a sec?"

The others complied, and after a rustling of cloth she murmured, "Okay, all done." As the rest faced forward again, she was blushing a slight shade of pink.

The blue-haired man was grinning widely on the screen still. "Little Sara, I can't wait to meet you in person. I'm Dev, by the way. My partner off-screen is Mikki. And welcome to our house."

"All clean," came a voice from the vidscreen. It didn't sound nearly as high-pitched as his giggle.

The blast doors hissed open, the wall panel sealed itself back up, and the vidscreen began to rise. "Come into my parlor, said the spider to the fly," Dev said, still grinning as his face ascended back up to the ceiling.

The crew stepped forward into a shiny steel elevator, and the doors closed behind them.

"Keith, _huoban_ (buddy), what've you gotten us into?" Mike asked worriedly, as the elevator started its rapid descent.

Keith just barked a laugh, looking highly amused with the whole situation.

"I trust my husband," Jess murmured, though Dani couldn't quite tell if it were an assertion, or she was trying to convince herself. It just made Keith laugh even harder.

Three floors down, the elevator slid to an abrupt halt and the doors hissed open. The room in front of them was much larger than any of them had expected. The walls were paneled with the same shiny metal plating as the upstairs chamber, though the rear wall covered the reflective surface with several dozen large vidscreens. Dani was overwhelmed by the information presented, everything from system-wide monitoring to security footage of the building, inside and out. She did note with amusement that one screen was dedicated to the Central Docking landing pads, and was centered on their own ship. _These guys're definitely on top of their game_ , she grinned to herself.

Most of the floor space was taken up by an extensive multitude of crates of all sizes. Some of them were grouped together to form tables and displays, others were opened to display their own contents. The array of tech and munitions and firearms exhibited was dazzling. And across the right wall was a long, cluttered workbench, covered in schematics and digital screens, plus a multitude of tools for gunsmithing that made Mike's mouth hang open.

"It's... it's all so beautiful..." he said wonderingly. The others chuckled at his wide-eyed stare, like a little kid in a candy store.

The massive red sofa sat in the center of the room, in a cleared circular area, facing the back wall. Seated in two neon green egg-shaped chairs facing them were Dev, who must have moved over there while they were on the way up, and one who they could only assume was Mikki.

Dev's partner had a bright shock of short, fiery orange hair, spiked up at odd angles. And, like Dev, he matched his heavy mascara to his hair. Dani had to grin at the pair. Hard-core arms dealers or no, they made an adorable couple. They were sitting identically, their snake-skin legs crossed tightly and wearing identically-styled short coats, though Dev's was a blue several shades darker than his hair and Mikki's was an eye-searing yellow which somehow complimented his hair perfectly.

"Now then, darlings, what can we do for you?" drawled Dev.

"Or do _to_ you," smirked Mikki, as his eyes roamed over Keith's muscular torso.

Jess laughed brightly and lay her hand on her husband's arm. "Sorry boys, he's taken."

"Damn, girl, you are one lucky bitch to get that hunk of meat in your bed every night," Dev giggled.

"Don't I know it," Jess smirked back.

Keith just rolled his eyes bemusedly, for all the world not seeming to care that he was being discussed openly.

"Well," Mikki grinned darkly, turning to Mike. "How about you big boy? I like 'em with enough to grab hold of."

Sara couldn't contain herself anymore and collapsed in peals of laughter at the look of consternation on Mike's face as he replied. "No, erm, sorry. Also taken. Married, actually. Just lookin' for guns, not... anythin' else." Dani almost had to join Sara on the floor she was laughing so hard.

"Pity," Mikki murmured.

Dev barked a laugh of his own. "Now, Mikki, you've got to stop scaring the straight clients."

"Hey, now," Dani protested, wiping the tears from her eyes. "Not all of us're straight."

"Alright girl, you rock that shit," Mikki grinned. "And you, darling," he indicated Jess, "you are killing that hair. Before you leave, you talk to my Dev here. He could use some advice."

"Oh fuck you, bitch," Dev snarked at his partner. "My hair is my own. Still," he said musingly, looking over Jess' intricate braids curled on top of her head. "I think I could work that."

"Um," Keith spoke up. "Alright if we look around?"

"Hell yes, sweet cheeks, go browse. As for you, little Sara with the many blades, please direct your attention to the display case behind me," Dev indicated over his shoulder towards a case full of knives of all shapes and sizes.

"Yes!" Sara cheered, and skipped excitedly over.

Keith and Mike shared a grin, and they meandered over towards the rifles displayed on a crate nearby, while Jess peered with interest into another display case. It had a vast multitude of concealable handguns, of a variety of calibers.

"Not you, honey," Mikki halted Dani. "Sit. Dish. Who you got scissoring you at nights? She pretty?"

Dani barked out another laugh at his overt crassness but took the indicated seat on the couch facing the flamboyant arms dealers. "Yeah, I gots a girl, don't get to see her very often, though. She's on another ship. And yeah," she grinned at the two. "She's gorgeous. Red hair, freckles, just my type."

"Oh she's gorgeous, all right," Sara piped up from behind as she walked over, examining an object in her hands. "I'm straight and I wanna do her. How does this work?"

Dani covered up a startled laugh at Sara's forwardness. _These two must be rubbing off on her. I wonder if she does it unconsciously, to blend in?_

"That, love, is a butterfly knife," Dev answered. "Here, give it over." And he proceeded to demonstrate the flipping of the handle in several slow motions, speeding up until it was a blur. He showed off a bit to make the sale, but by Sara's expression, she was already hooked. Dev executed a series of spins and snaps, tossing it a couple of times. With a final flourish, he closed it and handed the titanium butterfly knife back to Sara, whose eyes were glowing. "Takes practice to be as good as that," Dev smirked.

"You should see what he does with a whip," Mikki laughed.

Sara paid no attention, just slowly moved through the same progressions Dev had, hypnotized by the deadly beauty of the dancing blade. She walked leisurely back to the display case, hands still moving.

"Yeah, she's hooked," Dani giggled. "Definitely made a sale there."

"So," Dev turned his eyes back to Dani. "What's keeping you from shacking up with your woman, eh?"

Dani reared back slightly, surprised. "Oh. Well, it hasn't come up yet..."

"Bitch, you don't wait for a piece of ass to come to you, you go out and grab it for yourself!" Mikki snarked. "Tall, dark and beautiful girl like yourself? What are you waiting for?"

"That's what I keep wondering," Sara piped up from behind again.

"Oh hush, _nu'er_ (daughter)," Dani replied absently. She looked up at Sara again, however, startled. "Wait, what? Really?"

"Well yeah, _Kaasan_ , you love her right? So ask her to come aboard!"

"See," Dev chortled, "even your cute kid can see how easy it is."

"I gots more family than her to consider, though," Dani protested, somewhat lamely.

"Already talked to my sisters, an' they're fine with it," Sara sang out, still playing with her butterfly knife, but not even looking at it now. Instead, she was examining other blades in the case.

"Yep, we're good!" chimed in Jess from the display case she was still perusing.

"No worries here, Dani," Mike grunted, not looking up from a very large sniper rifle.

"What is this, my own counseling session? I thought we were here to buy guns! And Mike, what in the _diyu_ (hell) d'ya need a gun that size fer, you plannin' on shootin' down aircraft?"

" _Zhe ta ma de_ (fuck that)," Mike laughed. "What couldn't I shoot with this baby?"

"That is one fine-looking gun. Callahan _Long_ , right? 50-cal?" Keith directed towards the flamboyant arms dealers.

"Got it in one, baby cakes," Dev answered. "Sold one of those awhile back. That's the last one in my inventory."

Mike whistled low, running his hands lovingly across it.

"Now," Keith smirked, "ask how much the rounds are."

Mike looked up towards Dev, who smirked back. "Bitch, if you gotta ask..."

Dani listened to the banter with half an ear. The rest of her was still dealing with the shock. Her entire family had already discussed the possibility of Lori moving in with her? And they were all fine with it? _When the_ diyu _(hell) was anyone gonna tell me 'bout this?_ she thought with only a trace of irritation.

"Listen, girlfriend," Mikki began again. "Not gonna tell you what to do, but if you like this piece of ass, like I said, you go get it. Grab on now before some other undeserving little bitch grabs her first."

"And he speaks from experience," Dev mentioned with a grin.

"Oh fuck you, bitch, was I speaking to you? You gotta go bring up old history?" Mikki snarked.

"Stop your bitchin', Mikki, you'll mess your hair up."

"Seriously? Now you're comin' down on my hair?"

"Hey, guys," Sara broke in. "Not that I don't find this amusin' as _diyu_ (hell), but c'n ya tell me that this is?" She pointed to a large, curved blade that turned back on itself so that it would run along the knuckles when gripped. Her other hand was still occupied with the butterfly knife, which Dani noticed she was quickly becoming proficient with.

"Oh, that? Baby girl, that is one _huaidan_ (badass) piece of weaponry called an _ulak_ ," Mikki answered. "Too big for your hand, though."

Sara pouted slightly. "D'ya have any smaller?"

Mikki laughed uproariously, while Dev shot her an appraising look. "You don't by any chance know a big _hun dan_ (bastard) of a man, shaved head, wears goggles?"

Sara tilted her head thoughtfully to the left. "Nope," she answered.

Mikki and Dev shared a look. "Could almost be a tiny little clone," Dev smirked.

"I know, right?" Mikki returned.

Puzzled, Sara just shrugged her shoulders. "So, d'ya?"

"Sorry sweet pea, it's a custom job. Could make one for you, but it's pricey," Dev replied.

"Nah, that's okay. I do want two of these," she indicated the still-moving butterfly knife in her hand. "And there's some more here I want."

Mikki laughed again. "More? How many muthafuckin' blades you think you can carry at once?"

"That a challenge?" Sara grinned back. Both the dealers doubled over in laughter. "Seriously, though, I'm pickin' some out for my sisters."

"The family that shops for blades together, stays together," chortled Dev.

"Works for me," smirked Dani. "Now, if'n ya don' mind none, an' if'n we're done with the analyzin' of my love life, alright if I look 'round?"

Mikki made shooing gestures with his hands. "Girlfriend, you go look. Lemme know if you see anything you fancy."

Dani rose and walked over to Keith and Mike who were now looking over some high-tech assault rifles that were close in style to Keith's own military gun. She left the flamboyant pair to their own resumed bickering and shut out a conversation about keeping sweating men occupied around the clock or some such thing.

"What've you got there, boys?" she inquired curiously.

"Well, _jie-jie_ (older sister)," Keith explained, holding up one of the rifles and looking down towards the sights, "this is the civilian version of my gun. Callahan tech, top-notch and top-quality."

"Top price, too," Mike grunted.

"But worth it," Keith smirked. "Eminently configurable. Same gun can be close-quarters combat gun, medium-range assault automatic rifle, and long-range single-action sniper rifle."

" _Nigeiwogun_ (get out of my sight)," Dani exclaimed. "Seriously?"

"Yep. Wide range of magazine types and capacities. Ammo is a bit pricey, but it's the same as my military rifle, so we have it in stock anyways." Keith picked up a scope similar to Mike's, with a data-capture port evident. "These babies have both an infrared mode and low-light mode, can zoom in fifty clicks easy."

Mike gave a low whistle. "Okay, that is pretty nice."

"Right," Dani said decisively. "Pick out three of 'em, variety of load-outs, one of 'em in sniper configuration for Mike here."

"What?" Mike protested. "Dani-girl, I can't afford one of these, most of my money goes towards payin' off Emily's University bills!"

"Well it's not for me, you know I'm an absolute _gou se_ (shit) shot with a rifle. An' I didn' say you had to pay for it, Mike," Dani grinned at her brother-in-law. "Consider it a fringe benefit. If'n it makes you feel any better, think of it as ship's property that's entrusted into yer care."

Mike looked wide-eyed at the beautiful firearm that Keith was holding. "Aye, Capt'n. I can do that." He glanced back at her, grinning. "Yer alright, ya know that?"

Dani laughed and walked back towards the handguns to help Jess pick some out for her girls.

"So, girlfriend," Mikki drawled as he sauntered over to the pair of women. "That's a lot of hardware you're looking to pack. Not starting a war on our turf, are you?"

Dani laughed. "No worries, Mikki, it's just for our personal use. My _didi_ (little brother) over there decided we needed to equip ourselves a little better after a... run-in on Silverhold." She winced inwardly over the thought of her ordeal, but she was able to mention it without too much of a grimace.

"Wait now, back up there bitch," Dev called out, striding over. "Silverhold? You lot responsible for Yuri's demise?"

Dani stiffened, as she could feel the mood in the room change. She cursed herself for even bringing it up. "Um, yeah. Not a friend of yers, I hope?"

"Fuck no! Hated that _nao huo cuo huai dan_ (annoying little bastard). But now you gotta dish on the story y'all. Give." He stood with one manicured hand on his hip, his other one draped across Mikki's shoulder.

Dani took a deep breath and dished. She tried to keep it as clinical as possible, but the pain and hurt still leaked through. She didn't go into detail about her recovery, but she did expound on Keith and Sara's rescue that she had heard about second-hand.

When she was done, Dev was tapping his chin thoughtfully. "So that big _hun dan_ (bastard) over there, your brother, and this little minx, your daughter, took out Yuri and rescued your _pigu_ (ass)?"

Dani smiled slightly. "'Bout sums it up, yeah."

"Damn, girl," he shook his head. "This could put you in the big leagues. Kinda jobs and coin that could make a shopping trip like this just a monthly resupply run."

"They want that kinda heat though?" Mikki asked him, musingly.

Keith had walked up at this point, listening quietly. "Way I see it," he rumbled, "long as there's no retaliation, I'm fine with people finding out, keep them from messing with us again. Now, jobs?" He looked between his wife and sister. "That's not something we considered."

"I think... not yet," Dani answered quietly. "Right now I just wanna protect our own. Get a lil' trainin' with the equipment. Then, mebbe, at a later date... who knows?" She grinned suddenly. "Been too gorram quiet lately anyways. Could use some excitement."

Jess and Keith shared a laugh. "Careful what you wish for, _jie-jie_ (older sister)," he chuckled, walking back away.

In the end, they had quite the haul of weaponry picked out. Three Callahan long arms, with configurations for one sniper rifle, and two each close quarters combat and medium-range assault, dozens of magazines for them, a grenade launcher attachment, a box full of several types of micro-grenades, and a full carton of ammo that cost almost as much as much as one of the guns itself. They had a full dozen advanced long-range comm units, similar to Keith's, that could access multiple channels, fit inconspicuously in their ears, were encrypted for each other, and had a module that could be installed on the ship to speak with the _Favour_. Sara had picked out several blades that she insisted on paying for herself (including two more extra butterfly knives she intended on giving her sisters to play with). Jess and Dani had picked out several decent handguns, with assorted boxes of appropriate ammunition, that should work for the rest of the crew, and even a small but deadly-looking pistol that fit Sara's hand.

Sara had let out a sigh on having a pistol forced upon her. "Y'know this's just fer show," Dani answered the unspoken question. "Havin' a gun c'n prevent all sorts of trouble."

"Or start them," Mikki snarked.

"Oh hush, you," Dani grinned back. She really enjoying the pair and was very glad Keith had brought them all along.

"Okay, fine," Sara sighed again. "It sure is pretty enuff. What kind is it?"

"That, love, is a 9mm Nova," Dev said. "Customized off of a MR-24 frame, Automatic Combat Pistol. Work performed by yours truly. Did a similar job awhile back, but this little baby I put more attention into the weight and less into the penetration. It's still a muthafuckin' masterpiece if I do say so myself." He traced the frame that Sara held. "Got very low recoil, just squeeze like you're holding onto a lover's wang and you'll put it right on target."

Sara almost turned red she was laughing so hard. "Okay, okay," she wheezed, "now I hafta get it, just fer that."

"Really, Sara?" Dani asked, somewhat amused and revolted at the same time.

"Oh yeah, the possibilities are endless. Shooting my load, cocking the gun, my love gun," Sara was panting she was laughing so hard. "Oh, God, I hafta stop, I can't breathe..."

Both Mikki and Dev were grinning madly. "Girl, you ever get tired of runnin' with your family, you give us a call," Mikki laughed. "You got a standing offer to join our crew."

"Gorramit, now how am I s'posed to compete with that?" Dani joked back. "I'm gonna go broke keepin' her on my ship."

The total for their little venture came to an astronomical sum, put off only by the fact that the ship's coffers were utilized as well as their own personal finances. Times had been pretty good, financially, for the crew of the _Fortune's Favour_ , and Dani didn't mind chipping in plenty of her own credits to keep her family happy and safe.

They said their goodbyes with the glamorous duo, promising to return the next time they needed restocking. Their weapons and munitions would be sent over to their docked ship within the next two hours.

"Oh, man," Sara said, still chuckling as they rode the elevator up to retrieve their sidearms. "Cali and Rain are gonna be so _shengqi_ (pissed) they missed out on this!"

* * *

En route to Sihnon.

Their delivery of arms received, and cargo for the outbound trip secured, Dani and her crew lifted off from Beaumonde and headed back into the Black. Later that evening, while Keith watched over the bridge, all of the female crew members were sitting in the lounge, snacking on sweet puffed rice and gathered around the Cortex screen. Jess had a site on the Cortex Shopping Network that did custom holsters she'd had good luck with, and they were perusing it together.

The girls had greatly appreciated Sara's gifts, both the butterfly knives (which the three of them spent countless hours practicing) and the slim but deadly combat stilettos, with matching arm sheaths.

Rain cradled her little Beretta semiautomatic sidearm, very similar to Jess' pistol but a smaller caliber. "I really, really like it _Kaasan._ Thank you, and you too _jiu ma_ (aunt, mother's brother's wife)!"

"Yep, _dao xie_ (thank you)!" Cali piped up, caressing her little revolver. It was a smaller cousin to Mike's usual Moses Brother's Firearms pistol, and the bullets from it wouldn't penetrate even light cover, but it fit her hand snugly and she could easily handle the recoil.

" _Huanying_ (welcome), girls," Jess answered with a smile.

"I still don' know when I'll ever wear mine, but I s'pose Mike's just lookin' out fer me," Julie mused, looking askance at her little automatic, a copy of the one Rain held.

"Oh, I'm going to wear mine all the time!" Maribelle grinned excitedly. "Can you see it now? _Huaidan_ (badass) armed ship's doctor!" Her own gun was the big sister to Sara's 9mm Nova, same caliber but not as customized. The model MR-26 was slightly heftier, carrying more rounds as well.

The others joined in with their laughter while Jess continued to scroll through the items in the catalog. She still hadn't found a holster that Cali liked, and was about to give up and try another site when Cali suddenly shouted with glee, "There! Right there!"

Dani looked at the screen, eyes squinting. "That one?"

"Yep," her youngest daughter cried exultantly, "that one!"

Jess pulled it up onto the main viewing area. It was a black leather gunbelt for youths, and it had a panda-head buckle.

Dani chuckled. "It's yer money hon, if'n you even have any left after all the panda stuff you buy. Can you even move 'round in yer bunk anymore?"

"Sure can!" Cali smirked back. "Even got room for guests!"

"And when was the last time anyone came into your bunk?" Maribelle asked curiously.

"I did, once," Sara replied with a shudder. "I still have nightmares."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Credit for the wonderful Mikki and Dev to the very talented authors **dayzejane** and **Thug-4-Less** , used with permission. This episode is dedicated to, and written for, my daughter, **Silvana_Crowe** , who is as big a fan as I am of Mikki and Dev.
> 
> Title track credit for _Money for Nothing_ goes to Dire Straits.
> 
> And after this, I have my new favorite episode. This was so much fun to write! Hope you enjoyed it as well, and please review!
> 
> Stay shiny!


	28. Episode 22: Lay Your Hands On Me

En route to Ugarit, orbiting New Canaan.

New Canaan was an interesting planet. It had a ring around it, which was unusual for a terraformed planet, and two moons. The one, Lilac, was an intriguing hue of purple and pink from space. Dani had no idea if the sky looked that way from the ground, or if it was the ground that made it look that way. She'd never set foot there. And then there was the very tiny and rocky moon of Ugarit, their current destination. Blue Sun as a whole was an unusual system, and not one she'd visited often.

"So there's no landin' tower fer the moon?" Rain asked from her seat.

"Nope, we just set down wherever we like," Dani answered. "Well, so long as it ain't on someone's land. We can't get quite close enough to the abandoned property, as it's bordered by farmland someone else owns, but there's an open field maybe thirty clicks away."

She picked up the intercom with her right hand. "Attention crew, landing in five. Ground team, prepare to disembark."

"You talk so formally over the comm," Rain grinned at her. "There a reason fer that?"

"Huh," Dani mused. "Never noticed I did that."

She flew the _Favour_ over the craggy and forested terrain until they came to the clearing, and set down smoothly. A light on her console announced that Cali had opened the doors, and then she saw the Mule move out, Keith at the controls and Jess riding next to him.

"They gonna be okay by themselves?" Rain asked curiously. "I thought Uncle Keith was all gung-ho for us teamin' up and protectin' each other."

Dani gave a chuckle as she settled back in her chair. "Yer Uncle Keith is a small army all unto himself. And yer Aunt Jess took one of the new Callahans along, 'tween the two of them they have enuff firepower to take on any threat on this _xiang ba lao_ ([derogatory] hick/bumpkin) moon."

Of course, she should have known by this point not to tempt fate with such a statement. This was made obvious when the comm crackled to life a half hour later.

"Home one, Alpha is under fire! Cannot meet you, stand by!"

Keith must have been shouting into his comm unit, Dani mused, for it to come through as distinct as it did. Sighing, she picked up the intercom again. "Engine room, fire it up. Time for a rescue."

* * *

Ugarit, orbiting New Canaan.

Keith ducked as another barrage of automatic fire ripped over his head. Fortunately, the terrain kept them bouncing around and throwing off the aim of their pursuers. Unfortunately, it had the same effect on Jess.

" _Tai-kong suo-yo duh shing-chiou sai-jin wuh duh pee-goo_ (shove all the planets in the universe up my ass), are you trying to hit every bump?" She shouted over her shoulder from where she was crouched in the back, long black hair whipping around her face, and firing the Callahan assault rifle she had brought along.

"Yes, dear, exactly, because I knew how much it would _ni gan zou_ (piss you off)!" Keith barked back, narrowly avoiding a tree.

" _Qi si wole_ (piss me off)?" Jess shrieked back indignantly. She let off another burst of fire and then shrieked again in triumph. "Ha! Take that, you _liou coe shway duh biao-tze huh hoe-tze duh ur-tze_ (stupid son of a drooling whore and a monkey)!"

Keith noted that one of the hovercars on their tail had swerved violently, and crashed up against a boulder. The other three, however, were not impressed by the effort, and more fire stitched across the back of the hardy Mule.

" _Cao ni zuzong shiba dai_ (fuck your ancestors to the eighteenth generation)!" Jess screamed, and returned fire.

 _Mike's gonna kill me when he sees the state the Mule will be returned in,_ Keith mused.

The pickup itself went fine, the abandoned mine was right where it should be, and the package buried inside. The client had hidden out there at one time, on the run from somebody or other, and now wanted his belongings (be they legal or not, not Keith's concern) back.

Problem was, the farmland wasn't farmland anymore. It was now some corporate research facility, and the armed goons did not appreciate what they obviously saw as theft from where they considered their property now.

That, or maybe they just thought the _Favour_ crew were spies from a rival corporation.

In any case, they had opened fire before asking questions, so Keith and Jess declined to pursue the matter any further.

"Keith, keep this _go tsao de_ (dog fucking) crate steady you _si pi yan_ (damned asshole)!"

 _Love it when she talks dirty_ , Keith chuckled to himself.

So far he'd been able to evade the faster little cars by sticking to rough terrain, where the Mule excelled. But he could see a clearing up ahead where their pursuers would be able to catch up. He veered course to the right to keep within the forest.

His comm crackled to life. "Neg, Alpha, come left now!"

His military instincts kicked in, and he reacted instantly and without questioning. It was only as he raced across the open field that he wondered if his sister had just gotten him killed.

And then there was the welcome, high-pitched engine sound of a Firefly. Dani was obviously at the controls, as he couldn't imagine anyone else performing this kind of maneuver. The cargo bay doors were open and the ramp lowered. The _Favour_ sailed over his head and spun around, nose down, lowering to the ground with the ramp practically dragging. The ship kept moving in reverse, slow enough for him to gun it and catch up.

"Hang on!" he barked, and sailed into the cargo bay, braking hard. The nose of the Mule just fetched up against the door to the workshop without crashing into it.

He could feel the ship tilt backwards and spin, Dani smoothly swiveling the thrusters around to resume their original course. The ramp retracted back up and the bay doors closed again.

Keith could hear high-pitched and exuberant cheering coming from the bay door controls. He ran his hands over the top of his shaved scalp and looked back at his wife, who was slumped forward, brushing the hair out of her face.

"Nice date, _wo de ai_ (my love)," Keith smirked. "Where you want to try next?"

Jess giggled. "I want to go back and try that pirate base again, that was fun. Maybe we can clean them out this time."

Keith leaned his head back, laughing softly.

A small voice piped up behind them. "Hey, guys?" Cali called out. "Can ya come unstrap me? I'm tied to the console here so's I wouldn't fall out, and now I can't get undone."

* * *

New Canaan. Blue Sun system.

They had landed on New Canaan proper the day before and delivered the package to the client, who was very happy with the return of whatever ill-begotten gains he had left behind. Now they were waiting on the delivery of several crates of expensive whiskey, bound for the upper-class elite on Bellerophon. Dani still had some coin left after the arms deal and purchased another small crate of a dozen bottles of New Canaan's best for consumption by herself and crew, also for trade and bribery.

Right now, however, Dani was left to her own thoughts on the bridge.

It had been two months now since she started her recovery. Most of the physical wounds had healed, though she bore the scars of her ordeal. She still wore long sleeves to hide them, usually kept her hair down across her face and her ugly left hand in her lap. Fortunately, she had regained full use of all her limbs, enough to walk without a limp and to pilot the ship effortlessly again.

The physical wounds served to reflect the injuries she could still feel on her psyche. Maribelle had been a tremendous help in healing her inside and out, but she was still broken. And she shuddered to think of how Lori might react to the scars crisscrossing her body, some of which may never heal completely.

There was a footfall on the deck of the bridge behind her that interrupted her train of thought. Instead of Rain's voice, though, she heard a totally unexpected soft and sultry one, as if summoned by her musings.

"Permission to come aboard, Capt'n?"

Dani whirled around in her seat, mouth open in shock, as Lori stood there in a bright green short dress. She noted absently that Lori's hair, which she had been growing out, was back into its short bob like when they first met. Dani decided that this was her favorite look, it showed off her long, freckled neck that she so desperately wanted to nuzzle.

She seemed to be rooted to her chair, though part of her wanted to rush into her sorely-missed lover's arms. "Where did...?" Then she answered Lori's grin with one of her own. "Yer returnin' the favor from my surprise on Greenleaf, ain't ya?"

Lori nodded gleefully and stalked forward. "I've missed you so much, I decided to conspire with yer wonderful sister-in-law Maribelle to meet up with yer ship." She paused, her knees touching Dani's, hands nervously rubbing her own arms. "It's been so long, and I realized I was bein' neurotic again about pushin' you, and then I decided _zhe ta ma de_ (fuck that). An' most of all, I missed yer dimples."

Dani's eyebrows arched. "I gots dimples?" she asked incredulously.

Lori giggled softly, reached down to raise the arms of Dani's chair, then lowered herself onto her lanky lover's lap. "Is this okay?" she murmured. "I'm not gonna hurt you?"

Dani shuddered at the contact but shook her head rapidly. "No, no yer fine, I'm pretty much healed now, well mostly..." her voice trailed off and she couldn't meet those lovely light brown eyes. All she could think about was how hideous her scarred body now was.

"Hey," Lori whispered, as she moved Dani's hands around her waist. "Don' shut me out none, 'kay?" She tenderly moved Dani's hair back and cradled her face, forcing her to look up. Her thumbs stroked the sides of Dani's cheeks, wiping away the tears she hadn't noticed were there. "I love you. No matter how you look, or what you've been through. I'm here fer you, right now. C'n you let me back in again, like before?"

Dani let out a desperate whine, and mashed her mouth to Lori's, devouring her with a lustful need that was eagerly returned. The kiss seemed to go on for ages, but she was beginning to want more as Lori melted her reservations away. Her legs clenched together, heat building up between them. Likely she would have forgotten where she was entirely had not a soft clearing of a throat sounded from her left, and the two parted, both panting heavily.

Rain had walked in without her even noticing. She was sitting in her chair, looking forward but blushing a very deep red. "Um, I c'n leave again if'n you like, an' close the door behind me, but y'all might be more comfortable in yer bunk, _Kaasan_."

"Right. Yes, bunk. Bunk would be good. Um." Dani stammered out. Feeling awkward as _diyu_ (hell), she asked, "Rain, have you met Lori?"

"Not officially, no." She gave a little wave, glancing over briefly, face still very red. "Hi."

" _Nin hao_ (hello), sweetie," Lori answered with a giggle. "Sorry for intruding. We'll get outta yer hair." And she stood back up, arms still wrapped around Dani so she was pulled to her feet as well. Lori took her hand and led her back to her own bunk, and they climbed down quickly, shutting it behind them.

Dani sat down on her bed, still somewhat uncertain. "Lori, I'm just... I've got all these scars now..."

Moving forward, Lori sat down on her lap again, straddling her with her knees on the bed. "I know, beautiful. Inside an' out. Don't change how I feel none. An' I made a decision a little while back, with myself, that I'm done waitin'. I don't wanna lose you, so I'm gonna push enough to hold onto you." She once again cradled Dani's face in her hands lovingly. "I was so afraid you wouldn't let me touch you again."

"No, it's okay," Dani said, trembling. "I actually kinda like this, you being more forceful."

Lori sucked in a breath. "Oh no, I am ain't I?" She made as if to get up again. "I don't wanna remind you of..."

Grabbing her around the waist, Dani pulled her back down again. "No, this ain't... I trust you. You make me feel safe, 'kay? Safe an' loved. Don't leave me." And their lips met again, igniting a fire in her core.

Their lips still locked together, Lori pushed her back against her bed. Her redheaded lover then sat up and pulled her short dress up and over her head, revealing matching panties and bra of a deeper shade of green than that of her dress.

Dani grinned, looking up at her worshipfully. "I like those."

"Yeah?" Lori purred, reaching behind and unhooking her bra. She let it slide off one arm onto the floor.

"Oh, yeah," Dani murmured. "It's a good color on you. Even better off of you."

Lori grinned and reached down to pull Dani's long-sleeved shirt off, and let out a surprised "Hmmmm" as she noticed she wasn't wearing a bra. "You were expectin' me," she joked as she slipped her shirt the rest of the way off.

Dani giggled and rolled her body to the side so Lori was underneath her and they were both fully on the bed, her lover letting out a squeal that she cut off with her lips.

Their breasts pressed together, her small perky ones against Lori's more generous, fuller set. Lori's hands softly moved across her back, stroking along the mass of scars...

Dani's breath caught suddenly, and she jerked up. "Shhhh," Lori said soothingly, pulling her back down. "It's okay, _wo de ai_ (my love). It's okay."

Their renewed kiss was slow and hesitant at first, until Dani could regain her confidence and comfort. She marveled at how well Lori could kiss with care and gentleness, but all such thoughts were banished in a frenzy as Lori sucked her bottom lip between her own. Dani whimpered, fumbling with her pants to get them off. Keeping the contact with their lips, they both clumsily had them removed, as well as both of their panties, shoes, and socks, until they were naked and entwined together.

With a growl, Dani shoved her thigh between Lori's legs. She ground her body against Lori's scorchingly hot one, feeling her clit surge as they rubbed each other. She was already soaking wet, but now her pussy started to throb with need.

Lori broke off the kiss, and breathed, "You, up."

Sitting up obediently, Dani arched her back in ecstasy as Lori went right for her nipples, cupping each breast in her hands. Her back went rigid as Lori also sat up and twirled her tongue around, teasing and flicking her left nipple while her other one was tweaked mercilessly by Lori's nimble fingers. Dani rocked against her as she lavished her attention over them, starting gently at first, tracing the textures around the areola, the bumps and the grooves, and then sucking and pulling on the hard nipple.

Dani strained, sweating, and moaned Lori's name. Their bodies were barely touching anymore save for their legs and thighs, but all her nerve endings were electrified. Then she was pushed over into an orgasm, her moans reaching a feverish pitch until she screamed. Lori kept up the pressure on her nipples, easing back towards gentle and careful touches as Dani fought through her orgasm.

Finally, Lori let go, and Dani dropped limply onto her body.

"Sweet Buddha, Lori," she sighed.

Lori gave a little giggle and kissed her sweetly. "Came again, huh?"

"Toldya they were sensitive," she moaned back.

"Oh, I remembered," Lori murmured. "That is so fucking hot."

Dani gave a snort that ended in another moan as Lori reached in between their bodies, massaging Dani's pussy. Dani curved her back up again, groaning "Not fair," as she rolled them onto their sides, and Lori removed her hand. She arched her back and twisted until she got the contact she'd been craving, her pussy pressed tight against that of Lori's.

Lori cried out in pleasure, and Dani nodded her agreement frantically. The sensation on her clit was amazing and made her push even harder as they began to grind together. It didn't take long before the slick, wet contact sent them both towards a finish, and they grabbed each other's thighs and thrust even more fiercely, panting each other's names. They both came together, in a climax that seemed to heal everything bad inside, banishing away the darkness with the light of Lori's loving embrace. She screamed Lori's name at the same time Lori screamed her own, and they collapsed against each other, shuddering and squirming.

They held onto each other like a drowning man to a life raft. Eventually, they both came down from their highs, each rubbing and caressing the other softly.

Sighing, Dani marveled at the feeling of their intertwined limbs, and kissed her lover long and tenderly.

They lay there for some time, still clinging to each other and stroking their backs until Dani spoke up softly. "Lori?"

"Hmmm?" came the equally soft reply.

"C'n I ask you somethin'?" Dani said tentatively

"I need to ask you somethin' too. But go ahead, yer the captain, you first," Lori responded with a giggle.

"Lori... d'ya think..." Dani took a deep breath, praying for courage. "Would you wanna leave the _Starscape_? Join me here?"

Lori smiled brilliantly. "Part of yer crew?"

Grinning like a fool, Dani nodded.

Her lover laughed softly. "Well, Captain, this's certainly been the most interestin' job interview ever." They both shared a giggle. "But yes. A thousand times yes. That's actually what I was gonna ask you, I'm tired of bein' apart, only seein' each other over Waves or every couple'a months, sometimes longer."

Lori sat up, meeting Dani's bright green eyes with her own light brown ones. "I love you, beautiful. I'd already given word to Zannah and Eric months ago that I might be leaving. I've been afraid fer far too long 'bout pushin' you away. No more. I do wanna be here with you."

Reaching up, Dani traced circles across her gorgeous redhead's belly, connecting freckles together. "So, crew?"

Lori smiled again and nodded. "Do I get my own bunk?" she asked cheekily.

Dani grinned, pulled her down, and said, "Nope."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title track by Bon Jovi.


	29. Episode 23: Lorraine's Lament

New Canaan. Blue Sun system.

Dani sat in her seat alone on the bridge, grinning like a _lan ren_ (loon). She knew she looked like a moonstruck teenager, and she couldn't care less. Lori had accepted her offer and was, right now, over at the _Starscape_ packing up her belongings to move into her own quarters.

 _I think my overly sunny disposition might've scared off Rain,_ she mused. _Well, that or the embarrassment of interruptin' our make-out session._

She noticed out of the corner of her eye that the Cortex unit was lit up with an incoming Wave. Curiously, she switched it on, to reveal a grinning Kelly.

"Dani! _Wuh duh ma huh tah duh fong kwong duh wai shung_ (Holy Mother of God and All Her Wacky Nephews), I just heard Lori's moving in with you, that is so _niubi_ (fucking awesome)!"

Dani barked out an incredulous laugh. " _Ta ma de_ (fuck me blind), how in the 'Verse could you have already heard 'bout that? She just left the ship to go get her things, not even fifteen minutes ago!"

Kelly laughed cheerily, as a grinning Maribelle walked onto the bridge to sit in Rain's chair. "I just got off the Cortex with a little songbird!"

The three women shared a round of congenial laughter. Kelly had been best friends with both Beth and Maribelle, and transferred that friendship to Dani when she had married into the family, and their ties became even stronger once Beth died. It meant a lot, their acceptance of Lori, and Dani's relationship with her.

"I dunno girls, I'm excited and yet still nervous. What if'n she don't like the way I sleep or somethin'? Or if'n she gets tired of me?"

Maribelle walked over and put a friendly hand on Dani's shoulder. "Ever since I've known you, you've been positively neurotic about relationship stuff. And they hardly ever are justified, right? You're a beautiful, strong woman, and you're both lucky to have each other."

"I have got to meet her!" Kelly called out excitedly from the screen. "I'm so missing out on all this! You must send pics!"

"And what kinda pics are you looking fer, girl?" Dani inquired humorously.

Kelly barked out a laugh in response. "Behave. I just want to see what she looks like. Right now, though, I've got to go. I have to meet a client in a few minutes, but I wanted to call first. To say how excited I am!" She made a little 'squee' sound, and then grinned again. "Okay! Gotta go, bye all!"

They said their goodbyes, and then Maribelle, who was still standing, peeked out the viewport. "Oh! I think I see her walking across the field now!"

Dani gave a very un-captainy squeal of excitement, jumped out of her chair and headed down the steps, Maribelle's laughter following her. _Yes I sound like a_ lan ren _, and I don' give a good gorram, I'm too happy to care._

* * *

En route to Bellerophon.

Dani stood up and stretched from her chair on the bridge. It was dinnertime, and this would be the first time her crew had all gotten together with Lori present. Despite her reassurances from the others of her family, she still had butterflies in her stomach.

She turned and started towards the galley, stopping in surprise as Lori walked up towards her. "Hey sweetie," she said with a grin. "You gotten all acquainted-like with the guns onboard?"

"Yep," Lori smiled. "Was downstairs talkin' with yer brother Keith, his wife Jess, and yer Sara. Good bunch, it'll be nice havin' folk watchin' my back 'stead of bein' the only one watchin' other folk's backs." She giggled a little as they moved together down the walkway, then lowered her voice to a whisper. "Sara's quite the firebrand, though. She threatened me."

"What?" Dani stopped in her tracks.

"Relax, it's okay," Lori chuckled quietly. "She was spinnin' that butterfly knife of hers in a most intimidatin' manner, and just told me I'd better not ever break yer heart." She grinned. "Sara cares very much for you, I c'n see that. I took her very seriously, which I do by the by, she's very proficient with that knife of hers. An' I swore on my life I wouldn't do nothin' to break yer heart."

"Awww..." Dani said. "That's so sweet. Of both of you."

Lori grinned again and linked her arm through Dani's. "I really like yer family so far. Can't wait t'meet the whole group at once."

They were the last ones to enter the galley. Dani stopped in her tracks again when she realized the entire left side of the table had shifted down a seat, to make room for Lori to sit next to her. For some goofy reason, her eyes filled with tears. She just smiled at her daughters, who all beamed back at her.

Taking their seats, Dani introduced Lori around to those who hadn't officially met her yet, namely Cali, Cory, Julie, and the boys. Then they all dove into their food, which was cubed chicken in a tangy yet sweet sauce with some fruit and vegetables from their hydroponics lab, poured over rice.

Lori almost moaned in ecstasy next to her. " _Ai ya, huai le_ (shit on my head), this is so good! D'ya eat this well every night?"

The gathered crew laughed, and Dani answered her. "Pretty much, Cory's a fantastic cook, even better'n he is an engineer, which is sayin' somethin'." Cory beamed at the compliment.

"Not all sunshine and rainbows, though," Keith grunted humorously. "I've had to double my usual workout since I started on this crew."

"Seriously," Dani laughed. "I can't skip a single day's workout or I'd never keep up."

Lori spooned more food into her mouth and chewed thoughtfully. "I don' really have any kinda regimen, just kept busy. What d'you do, Dani?"

"Well, some mornin's I do kickboxin' down in the hold, Keith has a boxing bag set up there. Again," she smirked at Mike who laughed. "But most mornin's I just do _tai chi_ in my bunk. Not really room enuff fer the two of us though, mebbe we could do it in the bay as well?"

"Wait, wait," Maribelle interrupted, "since when do you do _tai chi_?"

"Um, since the war? Started it when I started flyin', couple guys in my wing were really into it, and I just picked it up," Dani replied, curiously.

Maribelle gave a laugh from down on her end of the table. " _Bi zui_ (shut up), that is too funny. I do _tai chi_ every morning as well. Not as early as you, I'm sure, I wait for Cory to go on up to the engine room."

Dani gave a laugh of her own. "Alright then, group _tai chi_ session it is. I gotta do it early so's I c'n take my shift from Keith though. Who's in?" she asked, grinning at Lori.

Lori, Maribelle, and Jess all nodded enthusiastically. Surprisingly, Sara raised a timid hand. "I'd like to try," she said in a small voice, "but I gots no idea what I'm doin'."

Lori grinned over to her. "Me neither, guess we c'n learn together!"

* * *

Inbound to Bellerophon.

"Bellerophon approach, this is Firefly transport _Fortune's Favour_ ," Rain spoke into her comm. "We're on approach, per your outer marker instructions. Requesting permission to land at the loading docks."

Dani gave a chuckle. The security for the planet of the rich and famous had been tightened considerably after a rash of robberies, and that included the landing procedures. So far though Rain had handled them like the professional she now was.

"Standby Firefly transport while we verify your permit."

Rain reached over and slowed their approach slightly to give them more time. "What happens if'n they ain't verified me by the time I reach the loading docks?" she wondered out loud.

"I suppose," Dani answered. "that we'd just hover in place like gorram fools."

Rain gave a bark of laughter, which turned into a shriek from both women as a deep baritone replied from behind, "Or you could always buzz their tower, too."

" _Gao yang jong duh goo yang_ (motherless goats of all motherless goats)," Dani exclaimed. "Keith, now I think yer just doing that on purpose, lurkin' until you scare the _xiaobian_ (piss) outta me."

Her brother gave his best innocent face as he lowered himself into the nav chair. "I don't know what you're talking about." It was spoiled somewhat by the grin that escaped.

" _Si pi yan_ (damned asshole)," Dani grumbled, which just seemed to amuse him even more.

Rain, grinning, refrained from making any comment. Dani thought it odd that her daughter had become far wiser than herself in some regards.

"So," Keith grunted. "Let's talk about Lori."

"Oookaaay?" Dani drawled nervously.

Keith just waved away her concern. "I mean as part of our ground crew, our guns. I think that with her on our crew we can start to formalize things, like a strategy."

"Well, I'm all ears, _didi_ (little brother)," Dani grinned, swiveling around to face him fully. Behind her, Bellerophon approach had finally given clearance to land, and Rain was moving into position.

"First off, as Security Officer, which is one of my titles, remember." Dani just nodded impatiently, motioning for him to continue. "I'm the one in charge of ground ops."

"Makes sense, that's kinda how we do things anyways, I'll always defer to you fer that. You wanna make it official-like, though, right?"

Keith nodded. "Important to have a chain of command, so you always know who's in charge if someone's incapacitated. Folk shouldn't be looking to you if they should be listening to me, _dong ma_ (understand)?"

Smiling, Dani nodded again. "Completely."

"Right then. Now with my security expertise, we really don't need Mike and his technical know-how along. And as much as I like the guy, he's not really fit enough to keep up with us if we need to move out on foot. I want to make him in charge of keeping the ship safe when we're out."

Dani gave a little sigh. "Again, I understand. I don' know how he'd react though."

Waving away her concern, Keith just grunted. "Already mentioned it to him, he's fine with it."

Dani sat back with a grin on her face and crossed her arms. "So if'n you already gots all this worked out, are ya just lookin' fer my approval?"

"Pretty much," he answered cheekily.

"Fine, just lay it all out fer me, you know I'm gonna agree anyways."

"I just want you to feel all captainy about it," he snarked. Dani just snorted in response, so he continued. "Alright, so on ground ops, I'm in charge, you're second. Then Jess, Sara, and Lori, only because she's the newbie on board."

"You think she'd be okay with listenin' to Sara?" Dani interrupted.

"Would you ignore her while she's got those shivs of hers in her hands?" Keith laughed. "Again, though, already discussed with all parties, Lori included, and she's good with it."

Dani smirked. "Alright, so I gots one question so far. What do we do fer a sniper? I know yer a pretty gorram good shot, but that won' help none if'n we need you to break in somewhere."

Keith quirked an eyebrow. "You didn't know Lori was a sniper?"

Surprised, Dani just shook her head. "I s'pose it never came up. In fact, we ain't talked much about our military pasts, or if'n she was ever in the war."

"She was," Keith answered. "But I suppose that's her tale to tell you. Anyway, she only has a lever-action rifle of her own besides her sidearm, so we can let her use the scoped Callahan when needed for missions. Though it's easy enough to switch to closer range on the fly, it can just be her standard loadout. I'll have my military rifle, Jess another Callahan, Sara her very many shivs and her pistol, if we can convince her to bring it along. And then you." Keith looked at her, eyebrow raised again. "You sure I can't convince you to take one of the Callahans?"

" _Didi_ (little brother)," Dani laughed, "you wouldn't say that none if'n you ever saw me fire a rifle. Which you won't. I'm fine with either my sidearm alone or the shotgun if'n we need the extra firepower. Honestly, though, most gunfights I've been in when I had the SPAS along, I'd just sling it 'cross my back in favor of my Ares."

"Still rather you brought it, even slung across your back. Big bore gun like that is worth a lot in intimidation alone. We can leave the other Callahan with Mike, though, that will keep him happy." Keith looked up at the ceiling of the bridge thoughtfully, as the _Favour_ gave a slight bump, settling down on the landing pad. "I think that's it really. Well, except for one more thing. I want you to actually give some thought to Dev and Mikki's idea of accepting bigger jobs."

Dani sighed, standing up from her chair. "I have, some, and I'm just not comfortable with it yet. I'll let you know, mebbe after a few missions and I c'n see how well we all mesh, 'kay?"

Keith barked out a surprised laugh. "Why Captain, how unusually logical of you!"

" _Qu nide_ (fuck off)," Dani laughed back, heading towards the door. "I'm not always an emotional wreck y'know. By the by, Rain," she smiled over her shoulder, "beautiful landing as always."

"Thanks, _Kaasan_!" Rain chirped back.

* * *

En route to Persephone.

Dani sat quietly on the bridge, the ship still fairly silent, left alone with her thoughts. She was pleased with how well Lori had meshed with her crew. Even if she had come aboard specifically to be with her, she was still a professional and carried her own weight. She and Sara seemed to have taken to each other as well, becoming _tai chi_ buddies as they learned together. Group sessions were fun, even if it distracted the _diyu_ (hell) out of her to see Lori's curvy, sexy figure in spandex shorts and a sports bra. The only saving grace is that Lori admitted to her privately it turned her on just as much to be staring at Dani's _pigu_ (ass) during their sessions.

She snickered to herself. It had started to become a game of sorts, how long they could keep the session going before nonchalantly heading back to their bunk for a hot and steamy private session of their own. Most times she was still able to fit in a quick shower before relieving Keith, though on the mornings she was late he just gave her a wink and a smirk.

She heard the soft padding of bare feet behind her and turned to see Lori walking up to the bridge, wrapping a towel around her hair. She looked adorable in her usual short dress, this one in a bright blue. "How many colors of that style dress d'ya own?" Dani asked curiously.

Lori giggled. "I dunno, maybe a dozen? I just like 'em."

"Oh, don' get me wrong none, I love 'em on you. And off you. But yeah, they look good on you, yer legs, sticking out and all, and now I'm babblin' so I'll just _bi zui_ (shut up)," Dani said, blushing.

Lori let out a peal of soft laughter as she slipped into Rain's seat. "I love the way I c'n still get you flustered."

"I love the way you c'n still fluster me," Dani smiled affectionately. "I love you," she added.

"I love you, too, beautiful," Lori smiled back softly, leaning back in her chair.

"So," Dani began, after checking to make sure they hadn't deviated any from their course, "you wanna talk about past stuff?"

Lori raised her eyebrows questioningly, and Dani explained further, "I mean 'bout the war. You know we gots a variety of backgrounds here, shoot not all of us fought on the same side. It never even occurred to me that there might be a conflict over that, since we've all, for the most part, left the war behind. There isn't, is there," she broke in anxiously, "a problem, I mean?"

"Nah, it's not a problem. Surprising, actually," Lori mused. "Most troops don't look kindly on snipers from t'other side. But the only one who was on the ground was yer brother, and he's, like, the ultimate professional. Seriously," she grinned at Dani, "he kinda intimidates the _xiaobian_ (piss) outta me sometimes!"

Dani gave a giggle. "Me too, but don' ever tell him I said that." She threw a suspicious glance towards the doorway to see if Keith was lurking as usual, but it seemed clear enough to gossip. "The one advice I c'n give is never, ever accept an offer to spar with him. Not even if'n he says he'd tie one arm behind his back."

Lori raised her eyebrows. "Oh really? This from experience?"

"I don't need to say anythin' more on the subject," Dani said loftily, thought she broke into giggles along with her girlfriend. "But yeah, he's very much a professional. And he gots the same reservations now that I do, I think, 'bout the brass. But that's my story, fer later," she said, looking into the light brown eyes she adored so much. "So, dish!"

"Not much to tell, really," Lori smiled. "About the war, I mean. But really I need to start from the beginnin'. Let you know 'bout my family. That okay?"

"Oh, sweetie," Dani sat on the edge of her seat, "I am all ears."

* * *

Aberdeen. Kalidasa system.   
Ten years ago.

Lorraine O'Toole loved her family, she truly did. But sometimes, they could be a bit overwhelming and oppressive. Like now.

"I'm 19, and the war's been goin' on for a whole year now! Why can't I join up?" Lori screamed.

"Because I don't care how old you are, you're still my daughter, and I said no!" her father, Robert O'Toole, shouted back.

Such shouting matches were becoming a more common occurrence at the bar simply called O'Toole's. It had been in the family for several generations now, and all family members worked it. Lori, since she was sixteen, had been working there as a waitress and would continue to do so until she was 21. It was just expected of her, same as for all family members. Her brothers and sisters had been bartenders, dishwashers, cooks, and waiters or waitresses. Some left the business, some stayed on. It was an expected family tradition carried through for all of her eight siblings.

Lori, as the youngest, thought it was doubly unfair that not only was she still expected to work there full-time, but that they expected her to stay past the age of 21 and take over the business from her father so he could retire.

"Why is it ya let all t'others do as they please, an' I'm stuck here?" she argued her usual refrain.

"Gorramit, Lori, they don't all do what they want, they are part of this family same as you!" her father started his usual argument. "Your brother Jeb still works at the bar! Your sister Betty still works as a waitress! Why do you want special treatment?"

"Because I want something more outta life than waitin' on tables or workin' in a bar!" Lori shouted despondently. She had tried so many different arguments, so many different tactics to get him to change his mind, all to no avail. Her father was a kind man, a loving dad and a good friend to all, but he was mule-headed as any when it came to his family and that bar.

And then, there was always his final ultimatum, which he seemed to have to resort to more and more in the past year. "Your mother would have wanted you to take over! All we've done has been for you and your brothers and sisters, for this bar! Would you deny your mother her last wishes?"

"Arrggghh!" Lori screamed wordlessly, throwing up her hand and storming out. Her short waitress skirt bounced behind her as she angrily flounced into the kitchen.

"Ya know," drawled a voice as she entered, "yer not gonna make any headway there. Like, ever."

Lori turned to her brother Jeb, a tall rail-thin man who took after their father. All the brothers tended to look alike in their family, just as all women did, often in more subtle ways. Her sister Betty had more blondish hair and fewer freckles, for example, but the same curvy figure.

"Jeb, I can't take it no more. I gotta get outta here 'fore I lose my gorram mind." She huffed out a breath and leaned against the counter next to the one brother who didn't mind her complaining.

He reached over and patted her head affectionately. "No choice, Red. Yer the one with the smarts, the only one who understands the books. I c'n mix a mean drink, and talk to the customers, but I don' know a gorram thing about runnin' a business. And Betty, well," he looked around to make sure nobody else was in earshot, "y'know she's a few wheels shy of a wagon. She'll be lucky to pick up some rich fool like Ericka did and be set for life."

Lori rolled her eyes irritably. The planet of Aberdeen was mostly mining country. You were a miner, or you supported the miners, or you owned the mines. The best many could hope to aspire to was to marry into the upper-class and stop having to work.

She just wanted off the whole planet.

She had sweet-talked her oldest brother Zach to buy her a rifle for her fifteenth birthday. Since that time she'd been practicing out in the old quarries where the mines had already played out. She thought she was actually pretty gorram good. Enough that they might take her into the Independents.

If she could just get off this rock and from under her father's thumb.

Ever since her momma passed away two years ago she'd been picking up the slack, taking over her duties as well as the waitressing. None of the other siblings came back to help, they were either married off happily or had gotten off-planet themselves, and never looked back. Only Jeb and Betty remained. And herself, much to her chagrin.

"I can't keep doin' this, Jeb," she whispered. "I hafta get out."

"What about Bud?" he asked curiously. "You ever talked to him about it?"

She scoffed lightly. "Bud's simple. He thinks he's in love with me, an' sure we have a good time and all, but he don't want nothin' else outta life. I'm not gonna marry him just 'cause he's an owner's son or 'cause I put out fer 'im."

Jeb covered his ears and began to sing loudly. "La-la-la, I ain't listening to that ruttin' detail, I did not need t'know that!"

Giggling, she reached up and uncovered his ears. "Oh like I ain't heard you and Jules going at it like rabbits in the storage shed behind the bar. You two really need to get hitched already 'fore daddy catches y'all."

Jeb laughed and walked off to get the bar ready for the next shift for the mine. "We have too much fun to get hitched yet. You want my advice you should convince Bud to put a ring on yer own finger, that'd mebbe get you outta runnin' the bar. Mebbe." And with that, he exited the kitchen.

Lori sighed, and put her head in her hands, a quiet sob leaking out. Wiping her eyes, she straightened her shoulders, as a new resolve overtook her.

No. No gorram way was that her future. It wasn't a choice between running the bar or marrying Bud.

It was a choice between staying on this ruttin' rock and leaving.

And she'd had enough. She was leaving.

* * *

En route to Persephone.   
Today.

"Wait, wait, wait," Dani said, holding her hand out. "Back up a sec."

Lori raised her eyebrows inquisitively. "Yes?"

Dani cleared her throat and sat back, arms crossed. "Okay, two points I need cleared up. One, you were nineteen ten years ago, so you're not even thirty now?"

Lori nodded her head bemusedly. "Why, is that a problem? How old are you?"

"Um," Dani said, flushed. "Older than that. It's not important."

"No," Lori laughed, "you started this, now I hafta know."

Turning around to face her console, Dani sighed and lowered her head into her arms, mumbling something.

"What was that, love? I didn't quite catch-"

"I'm forty-two, okay? I'm over a dozen gorram years older than you! I'm a creepiying old woman who's preyin' on a younger girl, and, and..."

Dani broke off from her rant, raising her head incredulously as Lori broke out in a peal of laughter, tears streaming down her face. She clutched her sides and almost fell out of the chair.

"Hey!" Dani protested. "This ain't funny!"

At that, Lori did fall completely out of the chair. Dani sighed, smiling wryly. It was hard to stay irritated at her lover, she was so open and free with her emotions sometimes. So she just sat back and patiently waited for Lori to regain some semblance of control.

"Ooooh, oh, okay, sorry," Lori panted, dragging herself back up off of the floor, and crawling over to Dani. "Oh, beautiful, I ain't laughed that hard in a long time. Haaah," she let out a breath, wiping her eyes before crawling into Dani lap. " _Wo de ai_ (my love), I don't give a good gorram how far apart we are in years. I ain't never met anyone who could make feel as wonderfully special as you do, anyone who could make me wanna be a better person for. You done touched a part of me ain't nobody else has."

Dani melted a little bit inside. "That is so sweet," she whispered, leaning in for a kiss.

"An'," Lori murmured against her lips, "you are so ruttin' hot in bed."

Dani snorted softly and kissed her lover tenderly.

Breaking off after awhile, Lori sat up and looked into Dani's bright green eyes. "An' what was t'other thing?"

"Other thing?" Dani asked dazedly, lips tingling. "Oh, right! So what's this 'bout havin' a boyfriend?"

Lori snickered, but was ensnared by her lover's arms and couldn't escape. "Well, yeah. He weren't my first, and you weren't my first girl, neither." She looked at Dani curiously. "You never been with a guy?"

Dani shook her head, screwing up her nose. "No, boys are icky."

" _Ta ma de_ (fuck me blind), what are we in grade school again?"

Dani smirked and tapped Lori lightly on the tip of her nose. "No, I've never dated a guy or been with one. Not really."

Lori sobered. " _Duibuqi_ (I'm sorry), beautiful. I keep bringin' it up, and I don' mean to..."

Smiling, Dani planted another kiss on her redheaded lover. "It's okay. I'm healin', alright? And yer helpin'." She pulled back suddenly. "Were you ever married?"

"What? No!" Lori smiled. "Why d'you ask?"

"Oh, nothing, just curious," Dani mumbled, blushing.

"Mmmhmm..." Lori smirked. "So, you wanna hear the rest of the story, or not?"

"Well, yeah, go ahead."

"Then stop distractin' me with kisses."

"Mmmm," Dani murmured. "My cunnin' plan's been revealed. Butter you up with kisses t'extract favors from ya."

Lori gave her a playful swat on the arm as she extracted herself from Dani's lap, and returned to the pilot's seat. "We'll discuss that later, beautiful. I'm gonna sit over here so's I c'n finish this story. And stop poutin'."

* * *

Whittier. Kalidasa system.   
9 years ago.

Lori had made her way via interplanetary ore transports to the Independent recruitment facility on Whittier. She had snuck out on her family, and run out on her obligations. And she never felt so free in all her life.

She'd left a note for her father. It was probably insufficient to make up for her leaving, but she would not feel guilty. She had escaped her fate and would make a life of her own, fighting for a just cause.

If she could just convince someone to give her a chance.

"Darlin, yer not quite the type we look fer in t'infantry," the recruiter said, chewing on a pencil. "Ya gots no experience whatsoever? With anythin' other than bein' a waitress?"

Lori blushed. She could feel all the others in the center smirking at her, stupid little miner-planet girl, a _xiang ba lao_ ([derogatory] hick/bumpkin) who thought she could play with the big kids.

"I can shoot," she insisted. Her rifle was slung over her shoulder, though she was still in the skirt and low-cut blouse of a waitress, as she didn't have any other clothes. _No wonder they won't take me seriously none_ , she thought miserably. _I look like a joke_. Even her unscoped rifle that she was so proud of seemed to be a child's toy compared to some of the weapons she had seen on the other candidate's backs.

"Sorry, darlin'-" the recruiter started, then cut himself off. "Oh, Sarge, what can I do fer ya?"

Lori looked over her shoulder to see a slim, dangerous-looking man looking her over intently. _That's not the kind of attention I want_ , she thought. _If he tries anythin'_...

"You say you c'n shoot?" the sergeant asked, looking directly into her eyes. She just nodded wordlessly.

"Right," he said, whirling around. "Follow me."

He marched straight out the back of the center, Lori on his heels, jogging a little to keep up. The sergeant stopped at a firing range, which was only half-occupied, and motioned for her to take an empty spot. "Think you c'n hit that target without a scope?"

Lori unlimbered her rifle, looking down-range at the circular paper target maybe 200 meters away. "Where d'ya want me to hit it?" she asked curiously.

The sergeant barked out a laugh. "Typically you aim for the center. I just wanna see if you c'n hit it."

Lori shrugged and got down on one knee, her skirt flaring out. She sighted down her barrel, took a breath, and squeezed off a shot. It hit dead center of the bullseye.

The sergeant grunted, peering through a set of binoculars he had picked up from a bench nearby, and said "Again."

Smirking, she worked the bolt and put another shot right beside her first.

All told he had her place five rounds downrange, all within the bullseye and all clustered together.

The sergeant stood there for awhile, staring at the target, then motioned for her to stand up and follow him. They went back into the recruitment center, but this time into a back area with several desks clustered together. A couple of them had other sergeants at them, working on Cortex units. "Take a seat," he grunted as he sat behind an empty desk. Lori complied warily.

"So, miss... Lorraine, was it?"

"Yes sir, Lorraine O'Toole. You c'n call me Lori."

"Well Lori, you just passed the qualification fer sniper school with no trainin' whatsoever. Most candidates hafta go through boot camp, or receive some sorta extensive trainin', and even then 'bout half who test manage to get at least one shot outside the bullseye at that range, unscoped."

Lori just looked back, surprised. She blinked several times. "So... c'n I join up?"

The sergeant barked out a laugh and rummaged through his desk. Pulling out a few papers, he scribbled on a couple of areas, and then grabbed a heavy metal stamp and punched it down on each sheet. Then he picked them up, shuffled them together, and held them out for Lori.

"You've just been enrolled in sniper school, Lori. Welcome to the Browncoats."

* * *

En route to Persephone.   
Today.

"Never did catch that recruiter sergeant's name," Lori mused thoughtfully. "I always wanted to thank him fer giving me a chance."

Dani smiled. "Sounded like a good guy. So how long did sniper school last?"

Lori let out a sigh. "Only six months. The war had been goin' on for two and a half years already, and they wanted to put us all to use. Evidently, I had a natural talent, and they kinda fast-tracked me through the basics so's I could get to the advanced stuff."

She sat back and interlaced her finger in her lap. "I got a shiny rifle to replace my old one, gave me a decent range. I outscored all my class, scoped or unscoped. Gave me a sidearm too but they had to teach me howta use it - I never done picked up a pistol 'fore. Wasn't too bad to learn.

"Then they threw us out in the field. We were behind the lines in a number of small skirmishes, nothin' major really. I never really got attached to one unit, they just kinda moved me around as they needed me, like a lotta snipers. Always thought it was kinda inefficient like they didn' know howta use us best."

Dani gave a snort. "Well, yeah that's the brass for ya."

Lori grinned back at her. "Not too high an opinion of the upper Independent command, yeah?"

Rolling her eyes, Dani just shook her head. "We'll get to my story. Still on yers."

"All right, all right," Lori conceded. "So I did finally get to fight in one big battle, the one where they threw us all into the mix, the one place where they all said it would matter the most..." her voice trailed off into a whisper.

Sighing, Dani nodded. "Serenity Valley."

* * *

Battle of Serenity Valley. Hera.   
6 years ago.

Lori had crept into a decent vantage point, though it took her an hour to get there. Her fatigues were stained and caked with mud, but it helped keep her concealed. Finally, she poked her head between two small boulders to see, about two kilometers downwind, several anti-air stations set up, manned by Alliance troops in purple bodyarmor.

"Only a couple'a clicks, purplebellies are makin' it too easy," murmured a voice to her right. Her spotter, Jake, eased into position, his own scoped rifle moving around the field restlessly. "I make out twelve of the _hun dans_ (bastards), three to each gun. You gonna take 'em all on?"

"'Course I am, what kinda question is that?" Lori snarked back.

She and Jake had been roaming all over the back area of the Alliance lines, avoiding detection and taking out targets of opportunity. She knew there were other groups of snipers also operating in the area but they hadn't come across any others.

Lori sighted down her barrel, held her breath... and then let it out explosively as the head of her target exploded. " _Ai ya, huai le_ (shit on my head)," she cursed, looking up. "Someone just took my shot!"

They saw wild fire from the anti-air crew search out the other sniper's location. Lori tried taking a couple shots of opportunity, but it was too chaotic down there. The Alliance troopers had abandoned their posts and were moving around the bend with enthusiasm.

Then, after a few minutes, they saw the soldiers drag one Browncoat back towards the gun emplacements, where an officer waited. Lori watched through her scope, looking for a good angle on the officer, who was standing behind one of the antiair pieces. She was shocked when the Alliance officer pulled out a handgun, stepped forward, and executed the Browncoat sniper on the spot. Growling, she put a bullet straight through her target's brain pan. Working her bolt rapidly, she sent several more shots at the soldiers, until they could tell where the new threat was coming from. By the time they organized a rush, there were only three left, and Lori took care of them all before they could reach the summit where she and Jake lay.

"We need to move," Jake whispered hoarsely. "Pretty sure I saw one of 'em workin' a comm unit."

They slipped down and around the ravine behind them until they were a few kilometers away from their original position. While Lori rested, Jake called up Command to see where they wanted them deployed next.

He looked up sharply after speaking a few words into his unit. "Lori... they're pullin' out."

" _Ni zai jiang shen me pi hua_ (what the fuck are you saying)?" she asked in a numb voice.

He held up a finger, listening briefly, and then let it drop to his side. Sitting back and closing his eyes, he answered her in a voice that sounded completely drained. "We can't make it to the extraction point. We've been told to lay down arms an' surrender. They just ordered a cease-fire."

Lori put her head down on her arms, still cradling her rifle. Then she looked at it, sharply, and came to a decision. "Jake, we need to ditch our rifles. You saw what they did to that sniper. We'll just be regular grunts, head over to the purplebelly line and turn ourselves in."

Without opening his eyes, Jake nodded wearily. Then he opened them, stood up and let his rifle drop. Lori did likewise, and they moved off wordlessly to where they could see a handful of Alliance dropships landing.

* * *

En route to Persephone.   
Today.

"We were taken prisoner and transferred off-planet pretty much right away. Spent the rest of the war in an internment camp on Kerry, which weren't so bad," Lori said, eyes staring off into the distance.

"You were very lucky," Dani commented softly.

Lori nodded. "I was. We heard 'bout the others that were left behind. Zannah was there in the camp with me, she'd been captured a week before off of another planet. Jake had wandered away in a depressed funk, so Zannah and I stuck together fer a bit when we were released. Drifted apart a year or so while I looked fer work around Regina. Mostly security gigs."

She smiled at Dani. "And again I got lucky, once Zannah looked me up again. She wanted me to join up with her crew and keep her _feng li_ (crazy) co-captain from gettin' killed. All in all, not a bad job." Standing up, she walked back over to Dani and returned to her lap. "And then this tall, dark, and gorgeous spacer came into my life and swept me off my feet."

Dani giggled. "Oh really? I seem to recall you doin' most of the sweepin', I was far too nervous to be anythin' remotely romantic."

Lori sighed and snuggled up against her lover, head nestled on her shoulder. "All you had to do was look at me with those bright green eyes of yers, honey, and I was hooked." She moved her head up slightly and gave Dani a gentle kiss on the neck. "Now, how 'bout yer story? Or is this too distractin'?"

"I c'n work with it for now," Dani smirked. "Lessee, it all started, really, with a little dive of a bar near the Academy I was attendin'. I was determined to be the best gorram pilot in the 'Verse..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This originally started off as the intro to a totally different story, but I got so far in and decided to make it a tale about Lori to get her properly introduced. So there you go, and the original story picks up on Persephone next episode. Thanks for readin'!
> 
> Stay shiny!


	30. One-Shot: Kickstart My Heart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dani, Lori, Keith, and Jess decide to go out on a double-date. But with the crew of the _Fortune's Favour_ , it's never that easy...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was originally published as a one-shot.

_Fortune's Favour_. Eavesdown Docks. Persephone.

Captain Danielle Grant sat on the bridge of her beloved Firefly transport with her feet up on the console. Night had fallen on Persephone and they didn't need to be in the air again until the next morning. All was quiet.

Quite frankly, she was bored out of her gorram mind.

"Hey, Dani!" a cheery voice called from behind. She put her feet down and swiveled her chair to see her girlfriend enter the bridge.

Lori was a perky redhead who, besides having swept the lanky captain off of her feet, was an excellent sniper and the newest addition to their guns. Following her lover onto the bridge were two other members of the ground crew, her brother and First Mate Keith and his wife Jess.

"So," Lori began, plopping down in the pilot's seat. "We gots a proposition fer ya."

Dani looked between the three of them. "This can’t be good none," she murmured.

"No, it is! I swear! Tell 'er, guys!"

Keith rumbled a quiet chuckle. "Hey, I just said I'd drive."

Giving her husband a playful swat on the arm, Jess turned to Dani, her eyes twinkling. "We want to go on a date. The four of us."

"Oh!" Dani said, surprised. Then a slow grin spread across her face. "Y’all think Persephone c’n handle the lot of us at once?"

Streets of Tangrenjie. Persephone.

 The four crew from the _Favour_ parked the Mule down the street and walked the streets arm-in-arm. They presented a rather imposing sight.

Dani was dressed in her usual casual clothes, tan cargoes and a black long-sleeved tee shirt, with her brown flight jacket and low spacer boots. The lanky ex-Browncoat captain had her medium-length hair back in a ponytail, revealing several scars, the deepest being one on her forehead and another at the corner of her right eye. Her worn Ares pistol was in her low-slung holster.

Next to her, Lori was in one of her usual short dresses, falling just to the knee and contrasting with the clunky combat boots she sometimes liked to wear. This one was a deep green, a shade darker than emerald. Her short bob of red hair bounced when she walked. She also had a trim brown jacket on, coming just to her waist and leaving her old service revolver accessible in its holster. The former Browncoat sniper wasn't a great shot with a sidearm but could hold her own.

Dani's sister-in-law Jess was dressed elegantly as always. She had delicate Asian features but was anything but fragile. Dani had often noted that the slim woman was freaky-athletic and could run circles around any of them. Her long black hair was tied up into an intricate bun with silver chopsticks through it to keep things in place. She wore a deep blue pantsuit with a cream-colored blouse underneath, and her little Beretta pistol was snug inside her shoulder holster, barely peeking out from under her jacket. A pair of sensible yet fashionable pumps completed the former Alliance supply officer's outfit.

In contrast to his wife, the shaven-headed Keith wore simple clothes on their excursion. His fatigue pants were likely the same as he used to wear when he was an Alliance Special Forces trooper, and the same could be said for his boots. He sported a tight black tee shirt, showing off the many tattoos on his arms, and eschewed a jacket. His heavy Ares machine pistol, the big brother to Dani's, rode on his hip in a combat holster.

One might be forgiven for the presumption that the four were here to occupy the quaint shopping district's streets by force, but in truth, they were just out looking for some fun.

"Hey," Jess said suddenly as they walked along. "How about that tea house?"

Keith grunted noncommittally. "Not a fan of tea."

"Seriously?" Dani asked. "Alls you c’n drink is coffee? What's wrong with ya?"

"Don't make fun of you for not drinking coffee," he stated pleasantly.

"That's good, ‘cause coffee is nasty," Dani snarked back.

"Hey now, I drink coffee," Lori protested, as they moved past the tea shop.

"Yeah, sweetie, an’ I can't kiss ya none after yer mornin’ cup," Dani said softly.

"Oh," Lori said thoughtfully. "Never done noticed that. Huh."

"Alright, fine, no tea shop!" Jess cut in, exasperated. "What about up there? An old vidhouse. Maybe we can see a vid together."

"Hmm," Keith grunted again. "What do they have?"

The four stopped at the old vidhouse. They were a rarity nowadays except on the Rim. Place like Persephone, being so close to the Core, most such houses had upgraded their screens to large Cortex units.

"Okaaayyy..." Dani drawled, looking over the selections. "Mostly old stuff. Gots a comedy, a romance, a romantic comedy... action... what the _diyu_ (hell) is this one?"

"Horror?" Lori guessed. "Poster over here looks like some kinda alien monster-like thing."

Keith barked out a laugh. "Why do they even bother? Nothing out there like that. Most we got to worry about are the Reavers."

"Ya say that with such nonchalance," Lori shuddered.

Dani smirked. "They ain’t so bad when ya face ‘em, just gotta make head shots an’ don' get overwhelmed."

"Didn't look that way when you were on your back with thee hundans (bastards) closing in," Keith smirked back. Dani gave him a punch on the arm.

" _Bi zui_ (shut up). Y’all actually went up ‘gainst Reavers?" Lori said, her voice hushed.

"Look, guys, can we pick a vid here?" Jess said impatiently. "We can swap stories while we're in our seating waiting for it to start."

"Okay then, which one?" Dani mused.

Keith made a growling noise from deep in his chest as he interrupted the conversation. "Trouble."

Behind them a group of teenaged toughs had started moving in a loose semicircle around the four crewmembers. Dani rolled her eyes in exasperation and turned to face them.

"Really? We're just tryin' to have a date here. _Qu nide_ (fuck off)." Then she turned back to the movie listings.

The street toughs, perhaps a little perplexed, paused for a moment before their leader stepped forward. "Hand over your wallets."

" _Gao yang jong duh goo yang_ (motherless goats of all motherless goats)," Dani grumbled, turning back around again. Keith was just leaning against the wall, his arms crossed and smirking, while Jess leaned against him shaking her head. Lori kept her hand on her sidearm and stayed by Dani's side, which she actually thought was kinda sweet.

"Look, how _feng li_ (crazy) arya? D’ya not see how heavily armed we all are? Seriously, just _nigeiwogun_ (get out of my sight), an’ nobody gets hurt none. _Dong ma_ (understand)?"

The leader looked around at his gang of twenty toughs and then back at the four incredulously. "Yeah, and give us your guns, too."

" _Qiang bao hou-zi de, qing wa kao de liu mang_ (monkey raping, frog humping son of a bitch)!" Dani exclaimed. She turned to the others. "Right then. Looks like we gots our date night activity, eh?"

Keith pushed himself up from the wall and cracked his knuckles. "May I?"

Dani gestured grandly. "Please, do."

The gang leader wasn't quite sure what was happening. He wasn't used to being denied, he was the leader of a Tong-sanctioned gang and when he said give, people gave. All twenty of his friends were tough, they were armed with a variety of street weapons, and they were used to the dirty tactics of street fighting.

What he failed to realize was that against a man like Keith Grant, none of it mattered a gorram bit.

Keith walked nonchalantly up to the leader, and with snakelike speed whipped his arm out, grabbing him by the lapel as he swung his body around and tossed him over the heads of his gang. He straightened, brushed his hands together, and asked, very calmly, “Next?”

And, next, all hell broke loose.

Two of the youths rushed at Dani, one swinging a bat wildly and the other pulling out a knife. Dani smoothly sidestepped the bat swing and let it carry past until it hit his knife-wielding friend in the face. He was momentarily shocked by his action and so did not see the spinning kick Dani delivered to his own face, snapping his head back and dropping him to the ground.

Lori wasn’t much a brawler, really, though she had grown up as a barmaid working in her family-owned pub and so knew how to subdue unruly toughs effectively enough. She drew her revolver, flipping it around in her hand until she was grasping it by the barrel, and clubbed the one gang member rushing her. He took the hit right to the forehead and stumbled a few steps past before collapsing on his face.

Jess just danced on the outskirts of Keith’s whirlwind of terror. When he would send a tough flying in her direction, she’d boot him back into play, either with a firm kick to the _pigu_ (ass) or a spinning kick to the face. Either way, it was amusing to see some of the gang members bounce between the two like ping-pong balls before they hit the ground, unmoving.

By the time the leader regained his feet, he was the only one of his gang still standing. Not a shot had been fired, and all four of his presumed victims were standing there, arms crossed and with identical smirks on their faces.

“Still wanna play, _piyan_ (asshole)?” Dani asked conversationally.

Perhaps understandably, the young (maybe not-so) tough decided to turn tail and run.

The four looked around at the groaning bodies. “No broken bones, yer losin’ yer touch _didi_ (little brother),” Dani commented.

“And no dismemberment,” Jess giggled.

“Or blood, fer that matter,” Lori mused. “Hardly even seems like we were inna decent fight.”

Keith just grunted. “Night’s still young. And we should move before Feds show up.”

“True enuff,” Dani sighed as they started moving on. “So where to then?”

“Hey, there’s a bar down the street here!” Lori exclaimed happily. “Mebbe we c’n get into a real brawl there!”

Dani linked her arm with her freckled girlfriend and grinned. “Sounds like a date.”


	31. Episode 24: Gladiator

Persephone. Lux system.

 _There were times_ , Keith mused to himself, _when life could be pretty gorram good_. The _Fortune's Favour_ had finished the current run, and the crew had a day or so off while waiting on the next shipment to be loaded. His wonderful wife, Jess, was spending time with the other girls watching some sappy Earth-That-Was romantic comedy, bonding with Dani's girlfriend Lori.

And he had the night free to blow off a little steam.

He hadn't been to a bar in some time, drinking with buddies. He also hadn't gotten really good and drunk in some time. And maybe this would help, perhaps just a little, ease some of the rage that still roiled around in his core whenever he thought about how his sister was taken and abused. He could rationalize all he wanted to about how he couldn't have protected her, how he had done every gorram thing in his power to get her back, and he did get her back. But a little part of him, the part that clung to the family he had now, was disappointed as _diyu_ (hell) in himself.

None of that mattered right now. He was in a seedy bar in Eavesdown Docks, and he was getting nice and drunk off of cheap, _shiong mao niao_ (panda piss) beer. Twelve of them, to be precise.

"Got no idea how ya c'n drink that _gou se_ (shit/crap)," his drinking buddy and brother-in-law, Mike, mumbled around his glass of whiskey.

Keith grunted. "Like that swill isn't a step above engine cleaner?"

His relationship with Mike was brought about by odd circumstances. He was his sister's dead wife's brother. Keith had never even met him while Beth was still alive. And yet, here they were, sharing drinks and joking about like old comrades.

Now all that was missing was a decent brawl to make the night ideal.

As if summoned, a towering _hun dan_ (bastard) of a man strode through the door, to the adoring cheers of the crowd. He had intricate tattoos spiraling across his entire body. Keith was rather impressed with that bit. Not so much the arrogant way he strutted in like he owned the whole gorram planet.

 _Perfect_ , Keith thought.

"Mike, _huoban_ (buddy), hold my drink for me. Gotta take a _xiaobian_ (piss)."

The bulky mechanic gave a snort, and replied, "Sure, an' it have nothin' to do with the large ugly _piyan_ (asshole) tha' walked in, eh?"

Keith barked a laugh, patted him on the shoulder, and walked with an exaggerated stumble towards the general direction of the restrooms. Which, of course, took him near his target.

He timed his path so that he ended up directly in front of the big _hun dan_ (bastard). He had to look up a bit to see his beady little eyes that glowered above a nose that has been poorly set after a breakage.

"Move aside, little man," the towering lump of muscle grunted.

Keith smirked, hand held loosely at his sides, and made his first mistake of the evening.

"Make me."

The man in front of him smirked back and looked around at his friends with his eyebrows raised as if asking for the feedback of his worshipping fans. Which, of course, was enthusiastically given. He gave a nod and turned back to Keith with a grin.

It was at that point that Keith realized this wasn't some high-speed hover-cycle jockey, or a local celebrity vid star, or even a gang leader.

This _hun dan_ (bastard) was a fighter.

Keith knew he couldn't completely blame the alcohol in his brain for his inability to anticipate his opponents speed. Truth was, he underestimated him, which he had a tendency to do sometimes, and that was his second mistake. _When you're usually the big dog, it's hard to remember there are often bigger dogs lurking around the corner_. This odd thought crossed his mind as he went sailing across the bar to land on a table, breaking the legs of it clean off on impact.

He was momentarily stunned on impact, and that's when his training kicked in and he made mistake number three by not simply extracting himself from the situation. Truth was, he was _shengqi_ (pissed) as _diyu_ (hell). So he got up and launched himself at the towering _hun dan_ (bastard), not holding back.

When the red haze cleared from his vision, and the animalistic rage within had been satisfied, Keith found himself standing over the unconscious shattered remains of a man. Still breathing, but all four of his limbs were sticking out at weird angles. The room had gone entirely silent, every patron staring at him with an unreadable expression on their face. Mike was standing next to him, pulling on his arm urgently. "Keith, _huoban_ (buddy), we gotta split, pronto!"

Keith let himself be led outside, and back to the ship. His mind was still clouded by the cheap, but apparently very potent, beer he had consumed.

* * *

 _Fortune's Favour._ Eavesdown Docks. Persephone.

Keith woke with a hangover, something he hadn't done in quite some time. The side of the bed was empty, Jess must have gotten up already. Then the cause of his awakening intruded into his consciousness as another round of kicking sounded against the hatch to their bunk.

"Keith!" Dani shouted from above. "Get yer _pigu_ (ass) out in the cargo bay, now!"

"Alright!" he barked back irritably. Gorram girl couldn't let him have an extra...

His thoughts trailed off as he recalled, fuzzily, the previous night's experience. How he left that big _hun dan_ (bastard) lying broken on the floor. " _Cao_ (fuck)," he swore, as he got up and pulled some clothes on.

He climbed out of his bunk and headed down to the bay, where it seemed most of the crew had assembled. His mind immediately sharpened as he noted the tenseness in them. Lori was up on the catwalk in the back of the cargo bay, nonchalantly holding the sniper-configured Callahan in a ready position. She nodded grimly to him as he descended the steps to where most of the others waited.

Dani was in front, arms crossed and feet spread like she was about to weather a storm, her Ares holstered at her hip. Next to her were Jess and Mike, both cradling the other Callahans but not pointing them at anybody yet. _Gorramit, nobody told me there was a required dress code for this little party, shoulda come armed._

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Keith noticed that standing in front of his sister was Sara, who had been hidden from view before he moved past the crowd gathered. Her hands were clenching and unclenching, whether in stress or anticipation he couldn't tell.

And then there were the objects of their aggression. Standing at the edge of the ramp was a muscular, refined-looking man of Asian descent, dressed in a sharp black Core-tailored suit. He wore a deep green tie over a crisp white shirt, and his head was shaved bald. Perhaps the most defining feature was the emerald tattoo of a dragon winding its way up the side of his face to cradle his left eye.

Arrayed behind the man were a half dozen others, similarly-dressed and with facial tattoos of their own, and cradling deadly little machine pistols.

Keith let out a sigh. _Tong._ And sure enough, this was the fallout from last night.

"Ah, and the main attraction joins us. Mr. Grant, it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance. You may call me Mr. Ho," the dragon-tattooed man said in a silky voice.

Keith grunted and gave him a nod. "Apologies, but got a bit of a hangover. What can I do for you?"

"Oh, to be sure, last night's fun would have left anyone with a headache," he smiled back darkly. "It is the last evening's activities that I wish to discuss with you, in fact."

Mike shifted a bit restlessly, perhaps anticipating the trouble that last evening caused.

Keith moved forward so that he was in between his crew and the Tong members. "I understand. This has nothing to do with my crew, so we can go elsewhere to discuss it."

"Oh, but it does, Mr. Grant!" Ho replied with a small laugh. "You see, they should bear witness to our discussion, as it will affect them as well!"

Rubbing his left hand over his shaved scalp, Keith grumbled, "Right then, let's get on with it."

"Very well," the sharp-dressed man replied, nodding. "The gentleman you disabled last night, permanently, was my best pit fighter. It's a big business here on Persephone, and I had a lot of money riding on him. I will lose tremendous face if I cannot place a contender in the next fight this evening. You," he pointed a finely manicured nail at Keith's chest, "will participate in his stead."

 _Well, that didn't sound so bad._ "Just the one fight?"

"Oh, no my new _pengyou_ (friend). You must understand how much money you have cost me. You will participate in my fights until I release you, when I believe you have settled your debt to me."

 _Okay, maybe that was a little bad._ "When you decide?" Keith asked in a quiet baritone. "And what if I refuse your terms?"

"Well, then," Ho said casually. "I will extract payment from your crew. In blood."

Keith heard a little growl sound from behind him, and then Sara was stalking forward, shivs in hand and moving slowly towards Ho, who was watching with incredulous eyes. "Sara!" he barked in an authoritative voice.

Sara stopped, trembling, but did not put her shivs away or back down. Dani moved up behind her and slowly wrapped her arms around her daughter's shoulders, whispering soothingly in her ear until Sara relaxed and replaced her shivs back up her sleeves. Dani took her hand and led the two of them back behind Keith.

"You have a very protective crew, Mr. Grant. I would hope you are as fond of them, and we can avoid any unpleasantries," Ho said with a twinkle in his eye.

Keith gave a sigh. "Right, I'll go with you." Turning back around, he said apologetically, " _Duibuqi jie-jie_ (I'm sorry older sister). I fucked up last night, and now I gotta make it right. Why don't you kick on, no reason to stay around here." He pointedly avoided looking at his wife Jess.

Dani just snorted. "I'm not gonna sit here an' call you all manner of _piyan_ (asshole), 'cause I imagine yer wife is storing up plenty of steam herself. But we're not goin' anywhere. You watch yer _pigu_ (ass), alright _didi_ (little brother)?"

Keith nodded and then turned to his wife. Ai ya, huai le _(shit on my head), I don't believe I've ever seen her this_ shengqi _(pissed)_.

He opened his mouth to speak, but Jess just held up her hand. "Don't," she said, eyes blazing. "Just don't. We're gonna have words later, but you'd better come back to me to have them, or I will hunt your _bendan_ (idiot) self down and hurt you. Badly."

Keith snickered. "I love you too, baby." He leaned in and gave her a fierce kiss which she returned with passion. Nodding to the rest of the crew, he departed the _Favour_ with Mr. Ho and his Tong brethren.

* * *

House of Pain. Tangrenjie. Persephone.

Keith was escorted into a nice-sized room. It had two benches, one against the left wall and the other parallel to it in the middle of the room. There was a small bed against the right wall, and bathroom facilities in the rear.

"Your Quarters, Mr. Grant. Will you be needing anything before the fight?" Ho asked courteously.

"Yeah, couple of things," Keith rumbled. "Aspirin. Wrapping tape for my hands. Workout shorts of some type in my size. And protein."

Mr. Ho nodded to one of his bodyguards who left immediately. Turning back to Keith, he said, "I do want to make something clear to you, Mr. Grant. As you may have guessed, we are members of the Tong." He reached into his right pocket and withdrew a round coin, the size of a platinum piece but with raised edges and a square hole cut in the center. Keith could see that there was old Mandarin writing around the worn sides.

"Do you know what this is?" Ho asked. Keith just shook his head mutely.

"This is the symbol of my station within the Tong. It says that I am fairly high up in the ranks, as it were. I won't bore you with the details, but please believe me when I say I am not a man to be _yu xingjiao_ (fucked with). _Dong ma_ (understand)?"

Keith nodded again without comment. Ho exited with a smile, to be replaced by another hulking man who walked in with a limp. He seemed to be cut in the same mold as the _hun dan_ (bastard) from last night, though not of Asian descent.

The newcomer limped over and shook Keith's hand. "Name's Burt. Used to be a pit fighter, now I'm a trainer."

Nodding, he returned the greeting curtly. "Keith."

Sighing, Burt sat on the bench against the wall. "Hope you already got training, 'cause there's not much I can do to keep you alive before the match."

Keith smirked. "Yeah, I can handle myself."

"Hmm," Burt grunted. "Heard you took down Big Jet last night at a bar, that true?"

"Big _hun dan_ (bastard), lotta tattoos, now with all his limbs broken?" Burt nodded back warily. "Yep, that was me."

" _Ching-wah tsao duh liou mahng_ (frog-humping son of a bitch), guess you can handle yerself just fine then, _pengyou_ (friend). Made some enemies, though," Burt mused. "But I think you'll have the advantage the first time, as nobody's seen you fight, 'cept maybe for the guys in the bar."

There was a knock at the door, and several servants passed through in a whirlwind, leaving behind the items Keith requested, including a decanter of water and a glass. He also had a large steak prepared for him.

Keith laughed in amusement. "Well, I did ask for protein..." First thing he did was take the aspirin, dry-swallowing them down. Then he pulled the dinner cart over to him, and sat on the middle bench, facing Burt. "So," he said, cutting into his meal. "What can you tell me about the fights?"

"Some of 'em are fixed," Burt began. "But not too many or they'd never get enough suckers to place bets. It's a very popular night out on the town here. No-holds-barred. Only thing not allowed are weapons of any sort. Anybody tosses somethin' in, the fight is called while the offender is thrown into the ring and torn apart by both fighters."

Burt sighed heavily. "Course, here on the border, there ain't much other entertainment and a lot of the fights are to the death. Or until your arms get ripped off, whichever comes first."

Keith chuckled. "Dismemberments are my favorite thing."

An hour later saw him in what they all called 'The Pit', rather unimaginatively so far as Keith was concerned. He stood on one side of the circular arena listening with only half an ear to the announcer up in the stands describing the feats of the two contenders. Completely made up in his case, which was fine. He'd have one shot at this, take this guy down quick while he was still an unknown, and then rest up for the next one. Make it dirty and fast.

His gaze traveled around the ring to scope out the territory. Packed-dirt floor, raised concrete walls about two meters high, easy enough to vault. Not that he'd be doing that tonight. Two access doors on either end, both could only be opened from outside the ring.

Up in the stands, he could see Dani and Lori sitting close together, smiling at him encouragingly. Jess was there as well, much to his surprise, though her pretty face was set in a scowl. On the end was Mike, giving him a thumbs-up. And in the middle of the group was Sara, jumping up and down, squealing his name excitedly. All he could catch was "Destroy that _fay fay duh pee-yen_ (baboon's asshole)!" Made him chuckle darkly.

Finally, he examined his opponent, saving him for last because he knew the other would think him a complete rookie for waiting this long to notice him. The hulking brute was a carbon copy of both Jet and Burt, though his skin was a dark cocoa color, and his face seemed to be set in a permanent sneer. Focusing in, he noticed a little scar tissue on the right knee. _Excellent_.

Thinking that instead of a quick takedown, perhaps a little flamboyant action could be entertained, Keith planned his attack carefully. Then, as the announcer signaled the start of the fight, he moved in quickly on light but sure feet.

First, distract target. Quick feint with the right hand got him to turn and block, allowing the left to snake out and club him hard on his ear, partially deafening him. _Target stunned_.

Second point of attack, knife-edged right hand to the throat. Paralyze the vocal cords, stop his screaming.

Third, hard left jab into ribcage. Two ribs broken. Follow-up right hand strike to the jaw, breaking it.

Last, kick out his left leg. While on one knee, fist to the kneecap at site of previous surgery. Complete shattering of the patella. _Target immobilized._

Total fight time, ten seconds. _Not too gorram bad_ , Keith smirked to himself as he stood up, turning his back on the collapsed fighter and walking back to his corner.

The entire stadium was silent for another ten seconds before erupting in thunderous cheers. Even still, over the noise he could hear Sara screaming " _Wo kao_ (well fuck me / holy shit)!"

Back in his temporary quarters, Keith stretched his arms above his head in his room, loosening his muscles after the fight. It had gone extraordinarily well, mostly because he was underestimated as a newcomer.

A soft knock sounded on the door, and Dani peeked in. "You decent _didi_ (little brother)?"

Keith laughed. "Sure, c'mon in _jie-jie_ (older sister). I appreciate the encouragement from the stands. Surprised to see Jess out there, though."

"Well, just don't expect her to walk in here anytime soon," Dani smirked. She came inside, followed by Lori who was holding her hand. Even with all the _gou se_ (shit/crap) going on, it made his heart swell with elation to see his sister happy again. With a start, he realized that he had already unconsciously added Lori to the list of people he would kill to protect, to die for if need be. _Dani's happiness is that important to me._

As she sat down on the bench across from him, Lori grinned. "Those were some _niubi_ (fucking awesome) moves back there, Keith."

Dani laughed, sitting down next to her, hands still clasped together. "Told ya he was _huaidan_ (badass)," she snickered.

Sighing, Keith abandoned his efforts to unlimber, and sat down as well, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees. "Dani, _duibuqi_ (I'm sorry). For all of this. And for making you stick around. You're losing money just by staying parked here."

Both Dani and Lori giggled in unison, which made Keith awfully suspicious. "No worries there, _didi_ (little brother)," Dani said jovially. "Our enterprising brother-in-law Mike has been busy scaring up bets for yer fights. He raked in enuff fer us on yer first fight to cover at least three cargo runs, Core to Rim an' back."

" _Wo kao_ (well fuck me / holy shit)!" Keith exclaimed, echoing Sara's sentiment from earlier. "Well then," he continued, grinning. "Guess I better keep winning, eh?"

The next night was another large _hun dan_ (bastard) spoiling for a brawl, instead of a methodical fighter such as himself. _Eventually_ , he thought, _they'll learn and send the types up against me that I'll have to work for_. As it was he planned on taking a little more time with this one to make the lesson stick.

His opponent was perhaps a bit smaller than the last, maybe a bit stupider, as he hurled insults at Keith the whole time they stood there waiting for the announcer to finish. _Maybe he thinks he can rattle me?_ _Pathetic_. He grinned to himself as he knelt down to check his foot wraps, scraping a little dirt into his hand. He stood up as the announcer began the fight.

Working in the same methodical manner as before, he took his opponent apart.

First, distraction. Handful of dirt into his eyes. Block the blind jab. Counter with cross to left cheek.

Discombobulate. Both hands to ears this time. _Target dazed_. Employ elbow block as he attempted a wild haymaker with his right.

Body shot, two ribs cracked. Block return punch from left. Weaken jaw with left elbow. Fracture jaw with follow-up left punch.

Rapid one-two punch breaks the cracked ribs and traumatizes the solar plexus. Dislocate jaw entirely with right fist.

Finish with flying kick to diaphragm, now ruptured and hemorrhaging.

"Should put him out of fighting for the next six weeks at least," Keith murmured to himself, turning his back on the defeated combatant now slumped against the wall. Granted, psychological recovery could take six months. _In any case_ , he thought to himself as he walked off to the thunderous cheering of the crowd, _I won't see him in the ring again_.

Keith spent the next few evenings fighting, though each one got progressively stronger and smarter. He had become the new local favorite, and Ho was beyond pleased with the winnings he was raking in.

A total of six nights of fights after his first, Keith lounged against the wall in his quarters, eyes closed and breathing deeply. The last fight had been especially draining, fast little _wang ba_ (son of a bitch) like that was always tricky to get ahold of. And once you thought they were pinned, they slipped away and knocked your feet out from under you. Trick was to wait for an opening and hit hard enough to cause an injury to a leg, slowing them down. _Which, of course, was what I did_ , he smirked to himself.

A noise from the hallway made his eyes pop open. He tensed to rise, but relaxed when he saw the grinning face of Dani poke in. "Hey there, _xiong jiao_ (handsome hero)," she joked. "How's the champ?"

Sara followed her in this time, and they sat across from him on the other bench.

Keith gave a weary laugh. "I don't know how long I can do this. Not a kid anymore and these young pups I'm going up against are all stronger, faster... Eventually, my experience won't be enough." He looked his sister in the eye. "Jess still won't come see me?"

Dani just smiled gently at him. "Not just yet. She's still powerful mad, and also a lil' scared. I think she knows already what you just described."

Leaning forward on the edge of the bench, Sara grinned excitedly. "It's okay, though, Uncle Keith, 'cause we got a plan!"

Dani laughed and patted her daughter on the back. "It's all this little mastermind's idea, really. And she's gonna hafta be the one to pull it off."

"Alright," Keith groaned, sitting up. "Let's hear it, _wai sheng nu_ (niece, sister's daughter)."

Beaming, Sara began to unveil her plan. "Alright, so you 'member I used to run with the Tong here, right?" Keith nodded, and she continued. "So, this Mr. Ho is part of the Green Dragon Triad, a very nasty group. Made all the other Tongs _jing kuangwang_ (scared shitless)."

She stood up, pacing slightly and waving her hands around animatedly. "Here's the thing, though, the Green Dragons are really, really big on standin' and rank. They'll do anythin' to avoid losin' face, within their own people 'specially. So, here's what I need to know from you, Uncle Keith." She stopped in front of him, arms crossed, smirking. "All the Green Dragon Triad big-shots carry some sort of token, somethin' that shows who they are and how high up the ladder they are. I dunno what it is, though. D'you?"

Keith smiled evilly. "Oh yes I do, little Sara, and I see exactly where you're going with this. Pinch his token, and trade it back for my freedom, yeah?"

Sara jumped up and down a little, clapping her hands, then whirled towards Dani. "See? I knew he'd go for it!" Turning back to Keith, she asked, "So what is it?"

Keith described the small coin with a square hole to his niece, commenting that Ho usually carried it in his right front trouser pocket.

Before the trio could go any further into the planning, the door opened again, this time revealing Ho and two of his bodyguards. "Ah, my champion! And some of his lovely attendants as well. Have you been enjoying our fights?"

"Well," Dani said, smirking, "I enjoy seeing my brother kick _pigu_ (ass)."

Ho laughed jovially, clapping his hands. "Yes, yes he has been quite amusing and has made me a decent amount of money. I have decided, however," he turned to Keith, "to let you go after the next fight. Your debt to me is repaid, providing, of course, you lose."

Keith waited a beat for that to sink in in case he heard incorrectly. "You want me to throw the next fight?"

"Oh yes, not just lose but put up a very good fight, and then lose spectacularly. It will be a very specific loss, as I need you to last at least five minutes. I will give you a signal, by removing the white handkerchief from my coat pocket and wiping my brow. And then, you will lose." He gave a wide, dangerous smile. " _Dong ma_ (understand)?"

Keith nodded. _Oh yeah, I got it alright. Fucker was setting me up to get killed._ " _Shi a_ (yes, affirmative)."

Still smiling, Ho and his bodyguards moved to exit the room. "One request, though," Keith's voice stopped him. Ho looked back over his shoulder curiously.

"Can I have until the next fight to spend with my wife, on my ship? I swear to you we will not run."

Ho laughed again. "Oh, I know you won't, Mr. Grant. I will have your ship landlocked and then yes I will give you your time with your lovely wife." His eyes glinted evilly. "And remember what will happen to her if you double-cross me in any way." With that, he left, closing the door behind him.

"Uncle Keith..." Sara spoke up, falteringly.

"I know, kiddo," Keith growled. "He's planning on killing me. We'll just have to enact your plan first." He looked up at his sister and niece. "It's a ground op, so I'll be along to supervise. We'll hit him in the afternoon when he walks to get his dinner before the fight. Then I'll show up, and let him know the new deal."

He finished wiping the sweat off and grabbed his clothes. "For now, though, I have a much more dangerous mission."

Dani giggled, walking towards the door with Sara. "And I don' envy you one bit, _didi_ (little brother)."

Keith sighed, shaking his head. _Time to face Jess and get this over with_. He almost preferred to fight in the pit.

* * *

 _Fortune's Favour._ Eavesdown Docks. Persephone.

Keith dropped down into his bunk, closing the hatch behind him and ready for confrontation. What he found was his wife, sitting in the stuffed chair that she liked to read in, legs crossed tightly and foot tapping angrily. Her arms were wrapped firmly around her middle, and her face was set into hard lines, mouth a thin slash of fury. She was dressed in her usual shipboard casual wear, which consisted of black athletic shorts and a baggy shirt of bright cerulean blue.

Figuring the best defense was a good offense, he spoke up first. "You got every right to be _shengqi_ (pissed). I was a complete _bendan_ (idiot). I made several mistakes that night, and they landed me in a whole mess of trouble, and that got the rest of the family dragged in. _Duibuqi, wo de ai_ (I'm sorry, my love)."

Jess continued to glare for a second or two, then leaped from her chair and into his face with a speed that actually startled him. Her hands were clenched into fists and held stiffly at her sides, and her loose halo of black hair streamed behind her.

"You _qiang bao hou-zi de, qing wa kao de liu mang_ (monkey raping, frog humping son of a bitch)! How dare you? How _go tsao de_ (dog fucking) dare you? I've been working this up for a good half hour, and you waltz in here and undercut me like that?" She was screaming so hard her face was turning purple. " _Cao ni zuzong shiba dai_ (fuck your ancestors to the eighteenth generation)!"

A younger and more incautious Keith would have smiled or laughed in relief upon finding out what she was really mad about now. However, the older and far wiser Keith standing there, having weathered many tirades such as this from his beloved wife, simply cradled her furious face in his hands, murmuring "Love it when you talk dirty," and gave her a hard kiss.

Jess broke the contact briefly, mumbling against his lips, " _Si pi yan_ (damned asshole)," before she jumped up and wrapped her arms and legs tightly around him.

Then he did chuckle, deep in his chest, and lowered them onto their bed.

Keith woke up near noon local time, feeling well-rested for the first time in a week. He nudged his naked wife with his elbow. "Time to rise, sleepyhead."

Under the mass of silky black hair, a noise came out that might have been a request for more sleep time. That, or a request for breakfast in bed, though he was betting on the former. "Nope, let's go hon, got some crime to do, remember?" he rumbled as he nudged her again.

A hand emerged from the covers, pulling apart the hair like a curtain, and one eye peeked out. "We get to use the shiny new comms?" a sleepy voice asked.

"Yep," he grunted with humor. The promise of new toys to play with finally got her moving.

* * *

Streets of Tangrenjie. Persephone.

The streets in downtown Tangrenjie were a cluttered mess of low-rise buildings and narrow alleyways, bordered by high skyscrapers more commonly seen in the other cities of Persephone. In some ways, it seemed run-down, but everything was clean and well-maintained. Noodle shops and curio outlets rubbed shoulders with electronic boutiques and nail salons. It was a dizzying array of storefronts.

Any other time Keith would have been entranced. Now, though, in the late-afternoon sun, he was overseeing a mission. He couldn't let his face be seen, so he was on overwatch across the street from Lori, both concealed on the roofs of the buildings.

"Two, you have a visual yet?" Keith whispered into his mike. This was their first actual operation with the five of them, including Lori, and he was a bit nervous.

"Nothin' yet, One," came back Dani's voice. She was sitting in a cafe on the north end of the narrow street, watching out the window and reading a news flimsi.

"You know, One, you should relax a little. I thought I took care of that earlier for you," Jess snarked from her station at the other end of the street. She was sipping tea on the patio of a noodle shop.

Keith rolled his eyes at his wife's voice. "Thank you, Three, for the reminder. Now keep the line clear."

"You want any tips, Three, you let me know," came Lori's murmur over the comms. "I know all sorts of ways to get a Grant pleasured."

"Don't think it'd help, Five, but thanks. I don't mind hearing about your escapades, though. The whole ship knows by now that she's a screamer," Jess giggled.

"Got that right," Lori giggled right back.

"Still right here, folks," Dani murmured back crossly. "And Five, yer just as much a screamer as I am. Especially when-"

Keith cut them off abruptly. "Does operational integrity mean nothing to you people?"

"Oh, for the love of Buddha, please get 'em to shut up, One. Not that I'd mind normally, but I'm really tryin' to work here," Sara whispered.

"Thank you, Four," Keith grumbled quietly. "How is it the youngest member of the group is the most professional of you lot?"

There was blessed silence for maybe a minute or two. Then Dani spoke up again.

"Hey, Five."

"Yeah, Two?"

"Whatcha wearin' under yer fatigues?"

Keith groaned at the giggles that came over the comms. He knew that the women were just joking around to keep things loose, but he had a hard time doing so on an operation of this sort.

Before he could complain out loud, or Lori answer her, Dani came back in an excited whisper. "One, I have visual, comin' around the corner. Target is in lead, four friends behind. No visible armament."

"Confirm that, Two. I have eyes on target," Lori murmured.

Keith swung his scoped rifle around and started tracking Ho's movement. "Alright, Four, get ready. He's entering the target area." He saw Ho talking animatedly with several people on the street, smiling and greeting them. A group of laughing children ran by, chasing each other. Ho kept walking, stopping every few meters to greet another shopkeeper or pedestrian. One old woman, in particular, was holding his attention when she tried to push a bouquet of flowers upon him.

He still didn't see Sara, she should have been close to him by now. "Four, are you in position? He's moving out of the target zone."

"Already done, One."

Keith almost dropped his rifle in surprise. He tracked the scope over to the other end of the street, where Dani now stood outside the cafe and Sara stood next to her. His niece was rolling the coin-shaped token across her knuckles, grinning up at him.

" _Ta ma de_ (fuck me blind)," Keith murmured. "You were in the group of children?"

Sara gave a smug little wink and moved off, hand-in-hand with her mother.

Keith chuckled and spoke one more time. "Alright people, nicely done all around. Move off, rendezvous back at home." He kept chuckling to himself as he broke down his rifle for transport and put it into his carry bag. _Girl was all sorts of sneaky fun. Hope Dani gives the idea of bigger jobs some serious thought because this group was ready for the big leagues._

* * *

House of Pain. Tangrenjie. Persephone.

Keith was back in his room and preparing for his final bout, when Ho entered angrily by himself, thrusting a common platinum piece into the former spec force trooper's face.

"Where is it?" the flustered Tong screamed.

"Now, now, Ho," Keith calmly answered, finishing the wrappings on his hands. "It's safe enough right now. And you'll get it back, just as soon as we do a little renegotiation."

"You _si pi yan_ (damned asshole), do you want me to take one of your crew and-"

He was cut off when Keith suddenly loomed in his face, the dark look of promised violence causing him to shut his mouth immediately. " _Mi you ling_ (listen closely), Mr. Ho. I'm only going to say this once," Keith growled.

"I do not take kindly to threats against my family. Last guy who did, ended up very painfully dead. You happen to know a _hun dan_ (bastard) who went by the name of Yuri the Shark?" Ho's eyes widened slightly, and Keith continued. "Thought you might. Our work. I've gone along with your little game so far, to satisfy honor, yours and mine. I fucked up, and I paid the price. But you and I both know you mean for me to die out there tonight." Keith gave a confident smirk. "Not gonna happen."

Keith stepped back and sat down again to wrap up his feet. "Now, I know you already got money down on this fight. Still got time to change those bets on the sly, right before the fight. I'm sure everyone already noticed your change of tune in who you were betting on to win, and placed their bets accordingly." He looked up at Ho, who was working his jaw furiously. "You'll still make good coin. I'm out after tonight, and you never come back at me or mine, otherwise you find out just what kind of vengeance Yuri faced. _Dong ma_ (understand)?"

Ho nodded, his eyes still furious. "Well, go get your bets changed, cutoff is in fifteen minutes," Keith reminded him.

As Ho stalked off, Keith spoke up again. "One more thing, Ho. Just in case you rethink our new agreement, we do have vid evidence of our possession of your token. And it will certainly get back to your Green Dragon Triad buddies if you _ta ma de gen women_ (fuck with us)."

Slamming the door as he departed, Ho declined to answer. Keith would just have to assume the message was retained. _If not, I got plenty more lessons to teach_...

Walking into the ring for what would be his final fight, one way or another, he immediately sized up his opponent. _This time_ , he mused, _no theatrics_. The other combatant was of Asian descent but was heavily muscled and clad in bright red shorts. He had a mop of dark hair on his head and no visible tattoos whatsoever, which threw Keith for a second. _Must not be a local fighter. Great_.

His pectoral muscles rippled in the light as he paced on powerful legs. Even though he was a few centimeters shorter than Keith, this man was every bit the killer. It showed in how he moved, how he looked.

As the announcer signaled the start of the fight, his opponent sneered, and Keith caught his words of "I will break you." _How cliche_ , he thought wryly as they stalked cautiously towards each other.

Keith struck first, a swift kick into the face that made the other man stumble back a step. He tried to follow-up with another kick but was easily blocked. For his troubles, Keith received a glancing blow to his muscled abdomen. _Gorramit, this guy is fast and powerful_.

His next blow was blocked as well, and the other fighter slipped in two quick punches, one to Keith's midsection again ( _that's gonna leave a bruise_ ) and the other straight to the jaw, which sent him spinning to the floor. He quickly regained his feet and resumed a defensive position, looking for weaknesses in his opponent.

Keith tried for a lightning jab with his right that should have cracked a rib, but it was blocked by an iron grip around his fist. He couldn't bring his left around in time to block the knee he took to the other side of his abdomen. Ai ya, huai le _(shit on my head) if I didn't twist at the last second that would have popped a rib easily._

He brought up his left hand instead to strike at the arm holding onto his right, but his opponent spun out of the way and sent Keith stumbling off-balance. A lesser fighter would have been left wide open for another attack, but Keith managed to use the spin to gain some distance. He was starting to get a little worried now.

Keith did a quick feint with his hands, as he figured most of the fighters who had watched him would expect such an attack, but instead sent another high kick to the other man's head, stunning him somewhat and stumbling him back a step or two. Before Keith could press his advantage, though, he had already recovered his equilibrium.

Noticing that he still seemed a little bit dazed, Keith renewed his attack with a flurry of punches. While his opponent was busy blocking and readying a counter-strike kick, he sent one of his own into the other fighter's ribcage. _There. Two ribs cracked. I have him now_.

Keith blocked the counter-strike that was slow in coming, and sent several punches into the other's solar plexus, then a rapid jab to the already cracked ribs to break them entirely. Instead of blocking the wild roundhouse punch that was thrown, Keith simply ducked it and sent an elbow into the other fighter's left kneecap, almost buckling it. Temporarily immobilized but still on his feet, the other man could not move out of the way of the uppercut that Keith executed when rising back up.

The other fighter was lifted a few centimeters up on his toes, and as his eyes rolled up in his head, he collapsed like a sack of flour.

Breathing heavily, Keith looked around to see where his family stood among the rest of the howling audience. Spotting them, he ran up and vaulted himself over the railing to give and receive many enthusiastic hugs.

Later, as the crowd began to thin out, Keith was still up in the stands, his left arm linked with a gleeful Jess and the other cradling his painful abdomen. Dani and Lori were standing together with them grinning madly. Finally, Mike walked up from the betting counter. "We raked it in, guys," he chortled. "Made as much as we did the first fight. You ever wanna take this up as a career _huoban_ (buddy), you let me know an' I'll be yer manager!"

Keith laughed deeply while shaking his head and wincing in pain, but broke it off as Ho stalked towards him. "Mr. Grant," he hissed, "I demand the return of my item!" The dragon tattoo on his head seemed to twist with a life of its own in the dim light up in the stands.

Keith smirked, looking over Ho's shoulder and seeing the back of a small girl's curly brown head as it moved away. "Check your pocket Ho, you should be set." And he walked off with his family, laughing at the Tong's incredulous face.

He did, however, resolve not to set foot on the surface of Persephone again anytime soon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fight scene credits to the _Sherlock Holmes_ (2009, 2011) movies and the classic _Bloodsport_. Sorta. Well, close enough, gorramit.
> 
> Stay shiny!


	32. Episode 25: Love Letters

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **TRIGGER WARNING for mention of Rape**

Inbound to Pelorum. Lux system.

The tropical paradise of Pelorum was a favorite destination for many of the wealthy across the 'Verse. With its temperate weather, white sand beaches, and azure waters, it was one giant vacation resort of a planet. It certainly looked pretty from high orbit.

"So, what 'xactly is it we're transportin' here?" Rain asked curiously.

"Well, sweetie, vacation spot like this gots no other industry other than tourism," Dani replied absentmindedly as she followed the beacons down. "They import everythin' they need. So we gots a little bit of the 'everything' that this one resort needs. Food, supplies, clothin', towels, even some trinkets made for the tourists."

Rain laughed quietly. "So they don' even make their own souvenirs here?"

"Nope," Dani answered with a laugh of her own. "Most of it's made in Beaumonde, actually."

She turned her head at the sound of footsteps behind her. "So that's Pelorum," Lori breathed wonderingly.

"Tell me you ain't seriously considerin' a vacation on Pelorum," Dani smirked at her girlfriend.

"You kiddin' me?" Lori turned her light brown eyes on her. "Can't you picture the two of us sunbathing on a beach together?"

"Hmmm," Dani mused, leaning back. "I think I c'n actually get behind this idea. You on the beach in a bikini... me on the beach watchin' you in the bikini..."

The two women shared a giggle, while Rain rolled her eyes good-naturedly. "You two are so adorable," she snarked, "but can y'all be adorable somewhere else?"

Dani snorted. "Far be it from me to offend your delicate sensibilities..." She trailed off as she noticed the Cortex unit blinking. "Hmm, who's this... Oh! Kelly!" She turned to Lori. "Hey stick around, gorgeous. I want you to meet her real quick."

"Sure thing, beautiful," Lori smiled softly and rested her hand on the back of Dani's seat. Rain just rolled her eyes again at the nicknames. Glancing over and smirking at her reaction, Dani asked, "Take the con?" Rain nodded in acceptance, holding onto the controls.

Dani answered the Wave to see Kelly's wan face. "Kelly! Girl, what's wrong? You look like yer in trouble."

Kelly gave a short laugh. "That's pretty sad, actually, you know me well enough to tell that across a Wave, even after all this time. Yeah, I'm in a bit of a fix and I can use your help. By any chance, are you near Persephone?"

"As a matter of fact," Dani grinned back, "we're next door, headin' to Pelorum, same system. Still need to set down an' deliver, but instead of findin' a new cargo we c'n just pop on by."

"I don't want to cause a problem with your deliveries..." Kelly began, frowning.

Dani waved away her concern. "Don't worry 'bout it, we don' have a thing lined up right now, an' chances are we wouldn' find anythin' to transport off this planet. If nothin' else, there's a disreputable gentleman in Eavesdown Docks that I c'n always pick a quick job off of. Where d'ya need us?"

Kelly rattled off the coordinates for a semi-private landing pad, located within the wealthy district. When she finished, Dani grabbed Lori's hand and pulled her into her lap. "Before you log off, Kelly, I want you to meet Lori!"

"Hi there!" the redhead waved cheerily.

" _Wo kao_ (well fuck me / holy shit), you are even cuter than Dani described!" Kelly said with a grin.

Lori and Dani shared peals of laughter. "Oh, girl, I think we're gonna get along just fine!" Lori said, smiling.

"Alright, I've got to split, see you all on the ground tomorrow, okay?" Kelly said.

"See you then!" Dani replied, and Rain called out a "See you Aunt Kelly!" before the connection was cut.

"That's awesome, I gotta tell Cali, we haven't gotten to see Aunt Kelly in forever!" Rain said as she started to rise from her chair. Pausing, she looked back at a smiling Dani. "Um, you don't need me or anything, do ya Captain?"

Dani just made little shooing motions with her hands. "I'll take 'er down, go ahead." And as Rain left, she gently pushed Lori off her lap. "That means I gotta get to work, so no more distractin'."

Lori grinned and sat down in the seat Rain vacated. "That's okay, I'll just sit here and stare at you, imaginin' you in a bikini..."

"What did I tell you about distractin' me?" Dani replied with mock severity.

"Hmm, or maybe a nudist beach, do they gots those here?"

" _Bi zui_ (shut up)!" Dani laughed. Then, reaching over she picked up the comm and made a shushing noise to her lover, who in turn made a motion like she was sealing her lips and throwing away the key.

Dani fought down a giggle and spoke into the mike. "Pelorum Control, this is Firefly transport _Fortune's Favour_ , requesting clearance to land. We have supplies for the White Sands Resort."

"Ooohhh, so official sounding," Lori whispered.

" _Bi zui_ (shut up)!" Dani giggled back softly, as the voice came back over the comm. "Roger that, Firefly transport. Proceed to beacon alpha-one-niner, landing pad seventy-four. It's the closest pad I have available to your client."

"Thanks, Pelorum Control, you're a sweetie!" Dani replied.

"Don't tease the poor lonely controllers," Lori scolded quietly with a grin.

" _Ai ya, huai le_ (shit on my head)," Dani hissed, also grinning. "I swear to Buddha, girl I'm gonna come over there an'-"

"My pleasure, Firefly transport. If you're going to be down for awhile, you want to grab a few drinks? I get off shift in a half hour."

Dani just stared at Lori, her jaw hanging open. _Well that was a first._ Lori had both hands clamped over her mouth to contain her laughter. After a second she moved them away long enough to squeak out, "Told you so!" before sealing them back up again. Dani heard snickering behind her and turned to see Maribelle also covering her mouth, obviously there long enough to hear the gist of the conversation.

Dani picked up the mike again, clearing her throat. "Sorry Control, I don' think my girlfriend would approve." Lori's eyes were watering she was laughing so hard behind her hands.

After a beat or two, the comm crackled to life again. "Well, you can bring her along too."

At that, both Maribelle and Lori collapsed to the floor in tears. Trying vainly to keep the laughter out of her voice, Dani answered, "Thanks again, Control, but we'll pass. Out." And she closed the connection.

"Gorramit, how am I s'posed to make a decent landin' now with you two _lan rens_ (loons) rollin' around the floor of my bridge?" she snickered.

* * *

Inbound to Persephone. Lux system.

The delivery went smoothly enough, and there were no further amorous attempts to lure away any more crew members from the _Favour_. Lori did not, sadly, get her wish to see Dani in a bikini on the beach, though she was promised a mock-up later that evening.

It was now early morning, ship-time. Dani had finished her _tai chi_ workout with Lori, Jess, and Sara, showered (with Lori) and then slipped upstairs to take the shift over from Keith, who remained on the bridge for awhile. They were still an hour away from Persephone's outer marker.

"So," Keith rumbled. "I don't want to keep pushing you on this. But have you given any further thought to taking on higher-risk jobs?"

Dani pursed her lips thoughtfully as she checked the ships system status on her boards. "I have, actually." She glanced up at him. "I'm guessin' this's in response to our little impromptu op last time we were here, what was it, a month ago?"

Grunting in affirmation, Keith continued. "I think we work well together as a unit. Obviously comfortable together, still like to see some combat but might not get that until we try one of those jobs."

"Alright, Keith. Set out some feelers on corporate boards and such. If you don' find anythin', I s'pose we could give Mikki and Dev a ring. Might need to visit them again soon anyways, now we've had the chance to test out our gear." Dani sat back thoughtfully. "Do you wear armor under yer clothes?"

Keith nodded. "Both Jess and I have matching sets. Light, bullet-resistant mesh."

"Awww," Dani teased. "That's so cute."

Keith barked a laugh. "I get your point, though. Don't think anyone else owns a set, so we should take measurements and get everyone situated. Especially little Sara."

"Why 'especially'?" Dani asked curiously.

"Girl has a habit of rushing in when one of us is in danger, needs protection," he replied. "That incident back when we first met Ho concern you any?"

"What, when she tried to attack him right there in front of a half dozen armed Tong thugs?" Dani snarked. "Yeah, mebbe a little." She sobered, and then continued quietly. "I know she's had it rough, and I know it changed her. I just don' know what she's going through sometimes, it's like a diff'rent person slips in and takes over. And sometimes it scares me." She looked back over at Keith. "Not like I'm scared fer myself or 'nother member of the crew. I'm scared fer her."

Keith let out a deep, weary sigh. "We'll just have to take it as it comes. That girl is a serious asset for us, but I don't want to risk her sanity if we're pushing her."

She gave him a warm smile. "Glad we're thinkin' the same thing, _didi_ (little brother)."

A short while later they reached the outer marker. Rain, who by now had returned to the bridge, looking sleepy and disheveled, yawned widely before asking, "C'n you take this one _Kaasan_?"

"I got this, sweetie," Dani laughed. Keith had left the bridge to be replaced by Lori, who was sitting quietly behind her in the nav seat. She swiveled her seat a little to look back. "Gonna behave this time?" she grinned at her redheaded lover.

Lori just blinked back at her with an expression of innocence so pure, she must have been taking lessons from Cali. "I don' know what yer talkin' about, beautiful."

Dani snorted in amusement, and swiveled back, picking up the mike. "Persephone control, this is Firefly transport _Fortune's Favour_ , requesting clearance to land at Londinium Field." She thought the name sounded awfully pretentious, personally.

"One minute, Firefly transport, while I transfer you to that field."

"Oooh, they have their own control tower as well, very nice," Lori murmured. Rain snickered in response.

"Girl, what did I tell ya-"

"Firefly transport, this is Londinium Field tower. You are cleared to land on pad six. Please follow the track down precisely, and do not stray or your landing privileges will be revoked."

Dani rolled her eyes irritably. "Thank you, Tower, for the landing instructions. Out." She placed the mike back in the holder then growled, "Sometimes I hate the upper crust of society."

Lori and Rain just shared a giggle, wisely keeping quiet as Dani brought the _Favour_ in for a very precise landing.

* * *

Londinium Field. Persephone.

They were met on the landing pad by a very exuberant Kelly. "It is so _niubi_ (fucking awesome) to see you all again! And to meet you in person Lori! I'm so excited!"

"I can tell," Maribelle laughed, hugging her oldest friend close.

"Kelly, what happened to yer ship?" Dani asked curiously. "Didn't you have a lil' one-person cutter you used to fly around in?"

"Ugh," Kelly groaned irritably, rolling her eyes. "Yet another nightmare. The piece of _gou se_ (shit/crap) finally gave out on me. Complete engine failure, I guess I wore it out with all the traveling I've done. My boss only reimburses for fuel, meals, and lodging, and refuses to spring for a new ship." She looked up at Dani, pleadingly. "So, I was hoping, maybe I could tag along with you guys?"

Dani laughed and encased Kelly in a hug. "You know yer always welcome, anytime. I don' know if'n we c'n keep a schedule for ya, though."

"Oh, no worries about that!" Kelly said cheerily, leaning back to accept a tight hug from her niece Cali. "They're so flexible with my schedule, it's more just like, these are the planets you have to visit this calendar year. And they're mostly central planets in each system, so we should be able to get to them all eventually!"

"Hmm," Dani mused, tapping her chin with her finger. "We could make it work. And we could let you use a shuttle while we're inbound, you c'n visit clients an' the like while we unload an' load cargo... Gotta warn you, though, our shuttles have some quirks."

"Can't be worse than the old rust-bucket I was flying!" Kelly laughed.

As Kelly turned to talk with Cali and Sara, excitedly welcoming the latter into the family, Dani heard a squawk over the comm unit each crew member now carried off-ship at all times.

" _Kaasan_? Um, I think we gots a problem..." Rain said uncertainly.

"What's up, sweetie?"

"Well, I'm getting a weird signal on here, never seen it 'fore... Hang on, I called Uncle Cory up, I hope he c'n tell me what it is."

"Captain," Cory's voice came over immediately. "Ship's been landlocked."

Dani had started moving back to the ramp of the _Favour_ , but stopped in her tracks. "What? Why in the ruttin' hell are we landlocked?"

" _Gao yang jong duh goo yang_ (motherless goats of all motherless goats)!" Kelly shouted angrily, hearing Dani's words. "It's him! It's that _si pi yan_ (damned asshole)! I can't believe he'd pull this stunt!" She continued to stalk around, throwing her arms around animatedly cursing streams of Mandarin.

"Um, _Kaasan_?" Cali asked at her elbow. "What's that mean, landlocked?"

"It's a signal that the control tower c'n send to our ship, prevents it from lifting off," Dani explained. "Lawmen usually make use of it. Guess someone with enough money c'n too." She looked up at the still bristling Kelly. "Takes a second signal from the same source to unlock"

"Right!" Kelly stated angrily, her tirade finally over. "We're going to the source to take care of this. C'mon, I'll get this straightened out."

She started walking away from the _Favour_. Dani followed, explaining briefly into her comm to Cory and Rain that they were going to try and work things out.

"Ugh, I'm so sorry guys, to drag you into this," Kelly said, her calm somewhat restored as she strode back the way she had come. "This has all gotten so ridiculous..." Dani and Lori trailed behind her, holding hands, while Maribelle, Cali, and Sara brought up the rear. _She's always moved so fast for such a diminutive woman_ , Dani mused, stretching her legs to keep up.

"Why don' you start at the beginning, 'kay sweetie?" Dani asked.

"Alright, that'd be best," Kelly replied, and then started in on her tale.

Kelly had been visiting Persephone in her usual role as a pharmaceutical representative for the Blue Sun corporation. Her work duties over, she had accepted an invitation to attend a fancy ball hosted by a Lord Samuel Hastings. What she did not know was that the Lord had seen Kelly on her business activities and had become entranced. Now he was attempting to actively court Kelly, and she found out when she arrived that the ball was in her honor. He's wealthy, charming, honest, nice, and very handsome, as well as a councilor and landowner, but Kelly wants none of it. The matter was complicated further by the political machinations of other councilors who wanted to use the whole affair as an excuse to bring the young Lord Hastings down.

"And he won't take no for an answer!" Kelly raged as they approached her rental aircar. "He keeps sending me love notes, proclaiming his love to me, writing godawful sonnets..." She broke off as they reached the aircar, turning around and looking at the others incredulously. "Are you laughing at me?"

Dani and Lori were now bringing up the rear, as they couldn't keep up anymore. Dani was finding it hard to walk at all, actually, she was giggling so hard tears were streaming down her cheeks. Maribelle and the girls were snickering almost as much.

Lori, who was grinning widely, tried to placate the bristling woman. "Well, mebbe they're just laughin' with you, not at you...?"

Kelly threw up her arms in frustration, screaming "Arrrgh!", and opened the aircar doors. "Just get in, you _si pi yans_ (damned assholes)."

Once they were all in, Dani and Lori up front and the others in the back seat, Kelly started up the small turbine and the craft began to rise. "I just wanted to get off of this gorram planet, away from _him_. I just needed to disappear for awhile. I don't know how that _piyan_ (asshole) found out about your ship, but this has gone on too long, and he's pushed me too far this time."

Dani had calmed down somewhat and tried to be more sympathetic for her friend. "D'ya think he'll react any differently this time?"

"Well," Kelly sighed morosely, "Not likely, no. He's just... well, you'll get to see him soon."

As the aircar approached a large tract of land with an enormous manor house in the middle, Kelly let out a groan. "Seriously? _Tai-kong suo-yo duh shing-chiou sai-jin wuh duh pee-goo_ (shove all the planets in the universe up my ass)..."

Dani looked out the side window to see that the groundskeepers had cultivated the lawn in front of the house to read, "I LOVE YOU KELY". Dani grinned at the misspelling of her friend's name. "He gets an 'A' for effort, though!" she smirked, turning back around to look at Kelly.

Her old friend just rolled her eyes without answering.

As the aircar set down in a wide landing field just outside the front lawn, a peculiar sight came striding from the house. He was dressed in a foppish outfit, long permed blond hair flowing behind him. His coat, a variation on a classic Core fashion, was bright purple and baggy, while his pants were of some sort of skintight leather of an even brighter purple if that were possible. He seemed to be wearing a normal white dress shirt, and a long thin black tie.

Following behind him was a herd of bodyguard types, all in black suits and ties, with eyeshades and ear comms on.

The _Favour_ crew, stunned, couldn't even move at first until Kelly sighed and opened the doors of the closed-cabin aircar with a press of her button.

Shaking herself, Dani joined the others behind Kelly as she advanced about thirty meters and then stood there, arms crossed and foot tapping in irritation.

"My darling!" the man said in a cheery tenor. "So good of you to join me again-"

"Don't start with me, Samuel!" Kelly barked. "Why did you landlock my friend's ship?"

"Why, my dear, I couldn't let you fly away just yet! I have not yet won your heart, my lovely little songbird!" He turned his attention to the others standing behind Kelly. "Ah! Where are my manners? Dear gentles, I am Lord Samuel Hastings, and I welcome you to my estate."

"Samuel!" Kelly almost shrieked. "Enough of this! I am not interested in you, and I never will be! Please, please just release our ship so I can leave!"

"But, my fairest maiden!" Hastings protested. He looked at her with adoring, puppy-dog eyes. He looked so pitiful, it almost seemed that refusal of his pleas would be physically painful. "Please let me have a chance! Just the time to show you what a wondrous couple we might be!"

Cali leaned over towards Dani. "Can I hug the puppy?" she whispered.

Dani snickered and whispered back, "No. Now hush."

"My new friends," Hastings said grandly, as Kelly sputtered in indignation, "I am hosting another ball tonight in the fair Miss Kelly's honor. You are all invited. And, my dear," he directed his gaze back towards Kelly, "I implore you. Give me one week to win your heart. If I have not, by the end of the week, I shall bid a sad farewell to you."

"One week?" Kelly glared at the puffed up Lord, suspiciously.

"Yes! But one week and I am guaranteed to succeed in my courtship!"

"Fine," Kelly signed, resigned. "One week."

She turned back to her friends as the Lord practically skipped with joy back to his manor, his bodyguards hurrying to keep up.

"I am so, so very sorry," Kelly began.

"Hush, it's okay," Dani said grinning. "I can't speak none for t'others, but this could be fun. A fancy ball in yer honor? I bet they even have strawberries there."

Cali and Sara had been whispering furiously together, but her youngest perked up at the mention of fancy food. "Ooh, d'ya think they'd have mangoes?"

"Possibly," Dani grinned.

"Really, you don't mind?" Kelly asked as they turned back towards the aircar. Maribelle was walking with a comforting arm around her shoulders.

" _Kaasan_ ," Cali spoke up again, tugging on Dani's arm. "We gots this."

Dani stopped and looked over at the two of her daughters present. The were both grinning widely, and Sara was standing back a few paces. She was whispering into her comm unit, presumably to Rain back on the ship.

"You gots what, honey?" Dani asked curiously.

"We gots this," Cali repeated, beaming. "We're gonna help Aunt Kelly out an' chase away the puppy-eyed man."

Dani gave a little snort. "Just so long as you don' get caught none, you do what you can, girls."

Cali gave a little whoop while she jumped in the air, twirling around and grabbing Sara's arm. The headed off towards the mansion. "His code name's gonna be Puppy..." she heard Cali saying excitedly to her sister.

Lori sidled up to Dani, moving her arm around her back and tugging her close. "Why do I have a bad feelin' about this?" her redheaded lover murmured.

"They've got their comms, and Sara will keep 'em outta any physical trouble," the lanky spacer murmured back. "And now I'm actually all sorts of curious as to what they can pull off..."

They started back towards where Kelly and Maribelle were standing by the aircar, talking to each other. _I wonder if I have a decent dress to wear for this ball_ , Dani mused to herself. Before she could mentally flip through her wardrobe, she was approached by a rail-thin man with a shock of light grey hair on his head. He was dressed in a sharp navy blue suit and a red tie.

"Excuse me," he began in a cultured voice. "Are you compatriots of Miss Kelly over there?"

"We are," Dani answered curiously. "C'n we help you?"

"I truly do hope so," the man began. "My name is Albert Whittingworth, I am the manservant of Lord Hastings' parents. I must tell you, they strongly disapprove of this liaison. It would bring disaster to their family, and Lord Hastings would be exiled from society."

Dani gave a chuckle. "You don' need to convince us, _pengyou_ (friend). Kelly wants nothin' to do with the _bendan_ (idiot). But he's got us trapped here on-planet until we can convince him of that fact."

"Oh, dear," Albert mused. "Well, that changes things. If I may, at the ball tonight there will be a large fellow with a red sash by the name of Sir Warrick Harrow. He should be friendly to your plight. If one of you might speak with him, he could reveal more about the situation, which I cannot."

"You can't, or you won't?" Lori inquired, eyebrows raised.

"Cannot, I'm afraid. My station forbids it." Albert gave a low bow and walked away.

"Huh," Dani grunted in a very Keith-like manner, then walked over to the aircar to reveal their little discussion to the others.

Dani and Lori stayed behind at the mansion in case Sara and Cali ran into trouble. Also, they hoped to maybe gather some more intel from the servants at the manor, and maybe find a weak spot in Samuel himself. Kelly and Maribelle waved their goodbyes as they fled back to the _Favour_ , where Kelly already had a bunk prepared for her. She'd move in and visit with the rest of the family before resting a bit. She assured them the ball would be immensely exhausting.

The two lovers strolled through the gardens, holding hands and enjoying the weather. "I can't stay out here long," Lori murmured. "I burn easy without lotion."

Dani gave a little laugh. "Well it wouldn't be all bad, granted you'd be hurtin', but then I could slather healing gel all over yer naked body..."

Grinning back, Lori arched a brow. "And just how are you plannin' on gettin' my entire body sunburned?"

Dani winked at her. "There's some very private nooks in this place. Look over here," she pointed to a spot in between the hedges. "An honest-to-Buddha maze garden. I've only read about these before. Wonder if'n we could get lost in it?"

"Alas, it is all too easy to become lost in such a maze," came a mournful tenor voice behind them. "Just as it is to become lost in fair Kelly's eyes."

They both choked down their laughs and turned to see Lord Hastings strolling along, followed by his small army of bodyguards. "You are the ladies Danielle and Lorraine, yes? You will accompany me back to the manor, I must entreat you for advice."

Sighing, Dani took Lori's hand again and they nodded, following next to the young Lord as he made his way back up through the garden.

"I am sore afflicted by this longing for the fair maiden, and I hope to win the two of you over to my cause." He looked down at their intertwined hands. "Lovers such as yourselves must surely be advocates for happiness in others, yes?"

Lori gave her hand a squeeze before answering. "Dani and I were immediately attracted to each other, um, my Lord. I just don' think yer affection is, erm, reciprocated."

Dani smiled and took up the argument. "Really, Lord Hastings, I've known Kelly for some time, and I don' believe she would ever consent to bein' tied down."

"But I shall win her affections over!" he cried, as they neared the back of the manor. One of the doors was slightly ajar, and he headed towards it. "With your help, you can tell me her heart's desire, and her love will be mine!"

"My Lord," one of the bodyguards interrupted. "If I may?"

"Yes, yes, of course," the young Lord gestured impatiently, rolling eyes. "Honestly, you people are entirely too paranoid-"

He broke off as the bodyguard went in first, pushing the door open the rest of way, and had a bucket of water splash on his head for the trouble. All of the bodyguards' guns were out, searching for a target.

"Well, I never!" Hastings said indignantly.

Lori and Dani shared an incredulous look. _Couldn't be... could it?_

Undeterred, Hastings led them further into the manor. "I need to know, ladies, what makes her tick? What excites her? What drives her passion?"

Lori rubbed her finger along Dani's wrist of the hand she was holding. "Well, my Lord, it all depends on how you do the excitin'," Lori said. Dani held back a snort.

"Really, such as?"

"Well, it's best to start slow in yer affections. Work around the edges a lil'," Lori was saying in a voice full of innuendo. _That little tease, she knows how much this is turning me on_...

"Yes, yes?" Hastings prompted.

"Well, then, once you have yer target, you work yer way in, all methodical and relentless-like. Make sure yer gettin' a positive response." Dani could tell her redheaded lover was really warming up to this now, and she continued to stroke her wrist. The simple motion made her weak in the knees. Fortunately, they had stopped walking and were simply standing in a very large central hallway.

"So," Lori continued, "you keep moving on in, relishin' the heat of the moment, until you c'n reach the climax of yer relationship, as it were, an' you profess yer undyin' love. Loudly."

Dani was pretty sure she was blushing at this point. " _Wuh duh ma huh tah duh fong kwong duh wai shung_ (Holy Mother of God and All Her Wacky Nephews)," she muttered under her breath.

"Hmm, yes, yes, I think I see... thank you, my lady, you have given me much to think upon." And the Lord stalked off down the hallway and around a bend, stroking his chin thoughtfully. His bodyguards followed like a trail of ducklings, including one that left wet footprints behind.

Lori turned to her love and asked, innocently, "Why sweetie, yer blushin', is somethin' wrong?"

Dani couldn't take it anymore. All of the teasing, the sexual innuendos, they had built up and she was at a breaking point. She needed to take care of this. _Now_.

Dragging a giggling Lori along by the hand, she ducked down a side corridor searching for anything that would do. Fortunately, she spied a door conveniently marked 'broom closet'. _Cliche, but beggars can't be choosers_. Dani took one more glance around the deserted hallway, opened the door and thrust Lori in before her, closing it shut behind.

 _Gorramit, there wasn't a lock. Well, no matter_.

"Dani, what're we-" Lori started to protest humorously, but she was cut off by Dani's furious assault on her lips. Their kiss was full of hungry need, but it only lasted a few minutes, as Dani had other things in mind.

"Sweet Buddha, Dani," Lori moaned softly, as her lover trailed kisses down her cheek. "Someone could walk in here..."

"Could be," Dani growled, grazing her teeth along the freckles on Lori's neck, who gave a little gasp. She moved her head further down, not even bothering to remove Lori's dress, just gave little nips on her skin through the clothing until she came across her right areola. Then she fasted her teeth around the hard nipple and ever so gently gave it a tug.

Lori shuddered in her arms, gasping. " _Ta ma de_ (fuck me blind)!"

Chuckling darkly, Dani swiftly kneeled down in front. "That's the idea," she murmured. Without further ado, she lifted up Lori's skirt and pulled her panties down to her ankles.

"Dani!" her redheaded lover squealed, softly. "What're you... oooohhhh..." Her protests trailed off in a moan as Dani draped her leg over her shoulder, trailing her tongue along the inner thigh.

She could smell the musky scent of Lori's arousal, taste it along her leg, and Dani followed it to the source, latching on with her mouth and lavishing attention with her tongue. Normally she enjoyed taking her time, but right here and now, she wanted her lover to come, hard and fast.

Lori squirmed above her, pressed up against the wall, panting hard already and whimpering her name. Dani reached around and grabbed Lori's ass in both hands to press her face harder into her clit, thrusting her tongue as far inside as was possible from this angle.

Crying out in desperate need, Lori, pulled her skirt up and laced her fingers into Dani's hair, pulling her against her. The leg she was standing on was trembling, and her whimpers were reaching a crescendo. "Oh, _cao_ (fuck), Dani, oh _cao, cao, cao_..."

Dani could feel her lover arch her back as Lori's entire body tensed. She came so hard that she couldn't scream, her vocal cords were locked up as tightly as the rest of her. Her hands locked tightly around Lori as she felt her own orgasm run through her body like an electric shock. For a second, Dani wondered if she would be smothered, but then Lori slumped wearily against the wall, her juices running freely down Dani's face.

Smiling wickedly to herself, Dani pulled Lori's panties back up, straightened her skirt, and used her own sleeve to wipe her face off while she stood. She gathered her girlfriend into her arms, who was still shuddering "C'n you walk?" she whispered into Lori's ear.

"Ummm... I need... a few... seconds..." was the panted reply.

Dani chuckled, feeling very satisfied with herself and happy that she could please her lover. She continued to hold onto her tight, supporting her against the wall, until Lori's breathing was under control.

"That was so fucking hot," Lori murmured against her chest. She leaned her head back and tried to look at Dani in the dim light. "Didya come too?"

"Gorram right I did," Dani purred, and lowered her head into a kiss.

Dani opened the door a crack as Lori finished straightening out her dress. Spying no one, she slipped out, but gave a squeak of surprise. Sara was leaning nonchalantly against the wall right next to the door to the closet.

"Sara, what-" Dani started, then cut herself off, blushing.

"Just guardin' the door, _Kaasan_ ," her daughter smirked, turning to walk off. "By the by," she said over her shoulder, "you missed a spot on yer chin." Giggling, she left the hallway.

Blushing even harder, Dani scrubbed her chin with her other sleeve. "Okay, let's go," she murmured to Lori.

"No, it's okay," Lori squeaked. "I'll just stay in this nice closet the rest of the day an' die of mortification."

"Oh don't be such a coward," Dani scoffed, dragging her blushing redhead out.

* * *

 _Fortune's Favour._ Londinium Landing Field. Persephone.

The entire family was back onboard, including Sara and Cali who were clustered around Rain, furiously plotting. Dani had wanted to ask Sara about the bucket of water, but then she kept thinking of the later embarrassing escapade and decided to just let it drop.

Kelly was happily entertaining the rest of the crew from her spot down by Maribelle, telling stories of her adventures in glamorous high society.

The crew was good-naturedly giving each other ribbing about the ball coming up. Mike and Julie had begged right off, claiming they'd watch over the ship as well as the boys. Dani looked over at her girls. "Any of you planning on attending?"

All three shared equally guilty looks as they poked their heads up from their conference. "Um, we have plans already, thanks!" Cali chirped.

Dani just shook her head humorously. _Those three_...

The conversation had turned to the other couples attending. Jess was excited to wear a new dress that she picked up from Londinium the last time they were there, and just as excited to get Keith into a tux again. Maribelle brought out her pale yellow formal dress, asking for opinions, while Cory mentioned he needed to cut out early to get his suit out of mothballs and clean it. Dani and Lori agreed to handle the cleanup from their meal.

And then they all parted their separate ways to start primping for a high-society shindig.

* * *

Lord Hastings' Estate. Persephone.

Hastings had set up quite the gala for Kelly. The entire manor house was decked out in bright ribbons and banners, fragrant flowers everywhere. He had a live band playing in the corner of the main ballroom, and a huge buffet set up with a wide variety of fruits and cheeses. But what had caught Dani's attention, as she stood in the entryway in her long flowing turquoise dress, was something else entirely.

"Huh," she mused.

"Right?" Keith spoke up next to her, staring in the same direction.

"I mean," Dani continued in a thoughtful voice. "I see the how they did it. I'm just not gettin' the why."

"Nope," Keith grunted.

The object of their musings was a very large, hovering chandelier in the middle of the ballroom. It glittered like a thing alive as it rotated.

"Maybe it's so's they c'n clean it easier?" Lori murmured from where she was standing, her arm linked through Dani's.

"You _bendans_ (idiots)," smiled Jess from her place on Keith's arm. "It's a chandelier! It looks pretty! And the hovering of it shows off his wealth!"

"Ooooh," the other three murmured in unison, and they proceeded into the ballroom to mingle.

Dani watched with some amusement as Keith and Jess moved through the crowds, effortlessly integrating themselves into the other attendees. _They're really in their element here_. Jess looked fabulous in a dark purple shoulderless dress, and Keith cleaned up pretty nice himself, she had to admit grudgingly to herself. He definitely looked different in the smart tuxedo that he wore.

Then the music cut off, and Lord Hastings made his appearance to polite applause. He walked behind the small stage the band was set up on, mounted the temporary steps there, and strode to the front.

"My friends," he began jovially. "I thank you all for coming tonight! I want to make sure you are all aware of who this night is in honor of!"

 _Oh no, here we go_... Dani thought wryly.

Hastings took out a piece of flimsi, cleared his throat, and began to recite. "My fairest Kelly,

Every night, tears I shed  
Every day is a day I dread  
When you're not around  
I wish you were  
Though every time I seem to hurt  
I try to take it day by day  
But you're in my thoughts  
And won't go away  
I never wanted to feel like this  
I never asked to even exist  
I just want you to hold me tight  
And tell me things will be alright  
But you don't even seem to care  
And never noticed my love was there  
Even though it's painful to me  
I'll love you forever endlessly."

Hastings finished, tucked the flimsi back in his pocket, and then beamed out at the stunned audience. "Thank you all, please enjoy the party!"

He turned from the front of the stage, waving merrily at the scattered applause, and went to walk back down the steps. Unfortunately, though, they seemed to have disappeared. He fell flat on his face.

The audience gave a sharp gasp, but then the Lord jumped up. "I'm fine, absolutely, just fine, enjoy the ball!" he said, weaving his way uncertainly out of the room.

An hour later, Dani was trying very hard to enjoy the party that Lord Hastings was throwing. She'd had to ban her daughters, after she had found them, outright to prevent any more pranks - this wasn't just about him, and the elite of the planet wouldn't take kindly to such shenanigans. However, she was pretty sure Sara would have a simple solution to her current problem.

Lori, looking ravishing in her full-sheath emerald green gown, had gone off to use the restroom. And in her absence, a very sorry excuse of a 'gentleman' was pushing his advances upon her.

"Look," she said in exasperation, all pretensions of civility gone. "C'n you take a gorram hint? Not. Interested." She turned on her heel and strode over to the refreshment bar.

Her 'suitor', Edward the some-number-or-other she thought he called himself, was not so easily derailed. He followed her to the table, and pushed in close behind her, placing both hands on her hips. "Now, dear, don't be like that..."

Dani froze. Her entire body tensed up, and she couldn't move. Sounds from the ball drifted away and were replaced by a roaring white noise as she was transported back to a room, a brute of a man bending her over a table, taking her from behind while other hands held her down, violating her...

 _No no no I don't want this, God please make it stop_... and all she could see was the pain, the bright red of the pain which was now between her legs as well...

She didn't realize she had been whimpering, nor could she tell how long she had been there, frozen in place, with the man behind her trying to woo in his clumsy fashion. She was startled out of her unwanted reverie by the sudden loss of the presence behind her. She turned slowly to see Edward, his back arched in pain, a meter away now. Lori was behind him and had his arm behind his back at a very painful angle. And she was absolutely furious. _I don' think I've ever really seen her that angry_ , Dani thought with detachment. It was both terrifying and exhilarating at the same time, the fact that her lover could attain a level of rage that intense and that it was over her.

"You are very lucky this is a formal affair," Lori was hissing in Edward's ear, "or I would tear you a new _piyan_ (asshole) on the spot. I do not want to ever see you again." Her grip tightened, and moved the arm up a few more centimeters. Edward let out a quiet squawk that Dani could hear over the music. "And you will never, ever come near my girlfriend again. _Dong ma_ (understand)?"

Edward nodded rapidly, and as soon as he was released, scurried off.

Dani still couldn't move, the room seemed to be closing in on her as the memories threatened to overwhelm her again. Again with some detachment, she noted the someone was still whimpering. _Oh, right, that was m_ e. She couldn't stop, though, just stood in place panting, eyes wide and arms wrapped tight around her middle. Lori approached her cautiously. "Dani, honey?"

Lori must have realized what was happening, as a panicked look crossed her face. " _Cao_ (fuck)," she muttered under her breath. She quickly closed the distance, putting her hands on Dani's shoulders. "Dani. Hey, look at me, beautiful."

Dani didn't realize how much her eyes had been darting around the room, maybe looking for an escape from the ballroom, from the memories, from the _room_... but at Lori's words they snapped back into focus on her lover's concerned light brown eyes.

"Okay," Lori said soothingly. "Let's get away from here for a bit, alright?"

Dani nodded rapidly, tears beginning to leak down her face. She couldn't stop the trembling, oh sweet Buddha she did not want to go back there again...

She let Lori lead her gently to a nearby passage, heard a whispered conversation with someone, a servant maybe, and then Kelly's concerned voice was on the edge of her consciousness. She couldn't focus on the words, she was almost hyperventilating by now, she could still feel the hands on her waist from behind, holding her, holding her down, _oh god oh god oh god_... Her panic was beginning to spiral out of control.

"Dani." She heard her name and latched on to it, like a rope. _Focus on the voice that was talking to her, talking about how much she loved her... loved her, that was Lori, her Lori was here, she wasn't in the room, Lori could keep her out of the room_...

Dani had no idea how long she had been there, curled up in a ball on the floor, head in Lori's lap. Her face was wet with tears, and her throat closed up, choked with emotion. She tried to speak, but couldn't. Clearing her throat a few times, she tried again. "Lori...?" she managed weakly.

Lori stopped her murmurings of nonsensical things about her past and the future she hoped for them. "Hey, beautiful," she said warmly, a hint of tears in her voice, but still lightly stroking Dani's hair.

Dani sat up and wiped her face with a shaking hand. She was trembling all over still. Lori reached over and dragged Dani back against her so that she was lying against Lori's front and partially on her lap, her arms wrapped around her. _Safe, she was safe... deep breaths_...

Then she was able to note her surroundings. They were in an office, and the two were against the desk sitting in the middle of the room. She could tell others were in the room as well, close by, but couldn't tell who they were in the dim light. "Who..." she began, falteringly.

"Shhh, it's okay," Lori soothed, rocking her gently and continuing to stroke the top of her head. "Jess, Maribelle, an' Kelly are here. Keith an' Cory are standing outside the door. Nobody's gonna bother you, just take as long as you need."

Dani let out a quiet sob. " _Cao_ (fuck), I'm so embarrassed..."

"Don't be," Maribelle murmured from her left. The others must have been sitting in a semicircle around her, closing her in protectively. "You have nothing to be embarrassed about, okay? This wasn't your fault, it was a perfectly normal and natural reaction."

"I'm not broken?" Dani whispered hopefully.

"Oh, honey, of course you aren't," Maribelle assured her.

They sat there for a few more minutes before Dani could try to talk again. She owed these women so very much, she didn't have the words to thank them really.

"I was so _jing kuangwang_ (scared shitless), I was back in the room again..." Dani whispered brokenly. She craned her head to look up. "You saved me. You brought me back."

Lori smiled down at her sweetly. "And I always will, beautiful."

Dani heard a sniffle from her right, and then Kelly almost wailed, "You two are so gorram cute together!"

All five women shared a giggle that turned into full laughter as the tension was released. Dani sat up, scrubbing her face with her hands.

"Here, sweetie, take this," Jess said and pressed a handkerchief into her hands.

Dani murmured her thanks and then used it to wipe her face clean. She took a deep breath again, this time without a tremble. The shaking had finally stopped. " _Dao xie_ (thank you), all of you," she whispered. Then a thought came to her. "Oh, Kelly, God I'm so sorry, you didn't need to find out this way..."

Kelly leaned over on her knees and gave her a tight hug. She was almost at Dani's height in this position, with her sitting on the floor. "Don't you dare apologize. I'm just glad I could be here for you." She let go and wiped away tears of her own.

Stroking her back lovingly, Lori spoke up from behind her. "Let's go home, okay?"

"Yeah," Dani answered, smiling. "Let's."

They made it back to the ship, the ball having ended long ago. The other girls, with Keith and Cory looming protectively behind them, ran interference from any further conversation until Dani found herself sitting on her bed. Lori was already naked, and undressing her gently, until she could push her back. Lori curled up behind her, pulling the sheet over and turning the lights off. "Go to sleep, beautiful," Lori murmured in her ear. "I love you."

"I love you too," Dani whispered back. Exhausted from the day's ordeal, she dropped into sleep immediately thereafter.

* * *

 _Fortune's Favour._ Londinium Landing Field. Persephone.

Dani woke up feeling immensely refreshed. She woke up warm, and still with her lover's arms around her protectively. She softly stroked the arm that draped over her, marveling at the strange path her life had taken. How lucky she was. _How in the big wide 'Verse can one woman find a love this strong, this sure, twice in one lifetime?_ Most people, she knew, couldn't even find love the first time around, at least not like this.

She tried not to compare Lori to Beth. They had their similarities, to be sure. Both had the same approximate body type, both were intensively loving and caring. And she considered both of them to be very close friends first and foremost.

But while Beth had been a nurturing, calming influence, Lori ignited her passions. She wasn't the type to settle down or have children. She was eager for adventure and knew Dani would keep up with her.

It was odd in a way. Beth had been in her life at a time when exactly what she needed was stability and a home to raise their children in. Now, with Lori in her life, what she needed was someone who could sail the Black at her side. Her children weren't kids anymore, they were adults in their own right, and they wouldn't have turned out the way they did if it weren't for Beth.

She couldn't be more proud of how her children had grown up. _All three of them_ , she thought with a grin. And she almost couldn't believe that her heart had the capacity to love the memory of Beth as much as she loved the woman currently spooning her in bed, and who wanted a future with her...

Her hand stopped its motions suddenly. _What had Lori been talking about last night, when she was bringing me down from my panic attack?_

Lori stirred at her back. "What's wrong, beautiful?"

Dani turned onto her back, so Lori was now draped over her. She stared into those light brown eyes that just melted her into a gooey mess every time. "What were you talkin' about last night, 'bout our future?"

Suddenly blushing, Lori looked away bashfully. "Oh, um... y'know, stuff... about us..."

"Hey," Dani whispered, reaching up and turning Lori's face back. "Do you... wanna get married someday?"

Lori's eyes widened. "I... I dunno. Mebbe? I think I'd like to, I just wasn't sure what you thought, how to even bring it up..."

Dani pulled her in for a long, sweet kiss, When they parted, she murmured, "It's a big step, but yeah I've thought about it. Since we both kinda like the idea, why don' we just let it sit there for awhile? No need to rush, right?"

Grinning, Lori gave a soft nod of her head. "Works for me." Then as she squinted towards the display by their bunk, she let out a small squeal. " _Ching-wah tsao duh liou mahng_ (frog-humping son of a bitch), look how late it is! We gotta get up and talk to Maribelle and Jess, they cornered that Sir Harrow fella last night!"

The two women jumped up and dug around for clothes to make themselves presentable for lunch. They both decided to just forgo shoes until later. Lori grinned at Dani's toes, which were painted a bright turquoise. "When didya sneak that in?"

"After dinner, sittin' on the bridge," Dani grinned back. "Figured I'd match my dress, but then plumb forgot I didn' have shoes that showed off my toes." She shrugged, and Lori gave a giggle.

"Guess we'll need to do some shoe shopping together, huh?"

Dani groaned. "I'm gonna hafta start requisitionin' cargo space fer our wardrobe soon."

Laughing as she moved up the ladder, Lori joked, "Well we could get yer kids to move in together, use one of their bunks as a closet."

That made Dani bark out a laugh, as she followed her up. "Don't even let them hear that, I know yer jokin' but they'd completely flip. Besides, nobody'd room with Cali, there's no room for anyone but her pandas."

"Sooo..." Lori mused thoughtfully as they stood in the hallway together. "Cali has her pandas, Sara has her shivs... what does Rain have?"

Dani thought for a second. "Snark," she replied with a grin. The two girls moved into the galley, giggling together.

Entering, they could see most of the crew assembled, except for her girls and, worryingly enough, the two little boys, LT and Junior. She looked over at Maribelle. "Where're yer _xiao gui_ ([affectionate] little devils)?"

She smiled up from her conversation with Kelly. "Oh, good morning Dani. They're off exploring with their cousins."

Dani tried to keep the shock off her face and walked over to the stove to get some tea and assemble a sandwich for her and Lori to split. As her girlfriend moved up next to her and reached for the pot of coffee, Lori whispered, "Should we be worried?"

"Um," Dani started. "No?"

"Well _that_ didn' sound all that confident..." Lori smirked.

"So, Maribelle an' Jess, you guys talked to that Sir Harrow gentleman? Anythin' of use?" Dani sat down at her seat, with the plate between the two of them to share. She thought it was another sign, really, that she found someone who shared her strange tastes when it came to putting things in sandwiches.

Jess looked up from her rice bowl. "Well, possibly. But we don't know how much use it will be..."

Maribelle took up the narration. "Turns out that most of the Council disapproves of Lord Hastings' actions. They've already publicly stated that he will be stripped of his title, and kicked out of the Council, if he keeps on going with this."

"And," Jess added after swallowing a mouthful of rice, "this isn't the first time he's pulled a stunt like this."

Dani's eyebrows climbed up on her forehead. " _Ni zai jiang shen me pi hua_ (what the fuck are you saying), he's pulled this _gou se_ (shit/crap) before?"

"Exactly," Jess answered with a grin. "And I think we will finally get a resolution today, this afternoon actually."

"Finally," Kelly sighed in frustration.

Maribelle nodded enthusiastically. "At the latest declaration of love from Lord Hastings, he intends to dedicate his prized rose garden in Kelly's name. We should be there."

Dani laughed. "Well, if'n it's a chance to see the pompous little _pigu_ (ass) get what's comin' to him, I wouldn't miss it fer the 'Verse."

* * *

Hastings Manor. Persephone.

Kelly's nemesis stood in front of his rose garden (which, Dani had to admit, was indeed pretty impressive) and spoke with adoration in his eyes of how the beauty of the roses could not compare to that of his one true love.

Dani was all for romance. But this almost made her throw up a little in her mouth.

She noticed that the Lord was looking a little more disheveled than he had been when they first met. His hair was shorn to almost a buzz cut now. _Hmmm, the old shampoo switch?_ Also, his coat was wrinkled, his tie had been cut in half, and there seemed to be red paint splashed across the seat of his pants. _Okay, I don't even know what they did to make that happen_ , she mused. Her daughters' hands in all this were clear, though they were nowhere to be seen.

"Gorramit," she suddenly whispered to herself. "Sara's teaching Cali to be all ninja-stealthy now. This won't end well on the ship." Lori snickered at her side.

Finally, Lord Hastings finished his speech. Which was fortunate, as Dani was beginning to wonder what was on hand that she might use to dig into her eardrum. Surprisingly, though, Kelly stepped up to speak.

"Lord Hastings, a question if you please," Kelly began formally, and loud enough that the crowd (mostly the _Favour_ crew and Hastings' servants, with a few sycophants) could hear.

"Certainly, my dear," the young popinjay replied joyfully.

"Was this garden also dedicated to Angela?"

Hastings went ashen at the name, and his mouth opened and closed wordlessly.

"No? Then, how about Pamela?" Kelly continued relentlessly. "Or maybe Sandra? Rita?"

She looked at him with cold eyes. "Yes, Samuel, I know about them all. I'm just the last in a long list of names you've had in your life, aren't I? Monica, Erica, Rita (again), Tina, Sandra, Mary, Jessica..."

"All right, stop, please," Hastings begged.

"...and then me," Kelly finished, her arms crossed and smirking. "You intend me to be another notch? Promise me the world, that you'd give up everything until either you're bored, or actually risk losing your precious station in life?"

"No, no I assure you!" Hastings was on his knees now, hands clasped in front of him. "You are different from all the rest! I will give it all away, I defy any and all disapproval from my peers, I can only pledge my heart to your beautiful-"

"ENOUGH!"

Everyone assembled jumped slightly at the roar. Even, Dani noted with some small glee, the normally imperturbable Keith.

Striding up the lawn was a massive, barrel-chested man in a smart navy-blue suit and orange sash across his chest. Trailing behind the man Dani assumed was Hastings Sr. was Albert Whittingworth, his manservant.

The man parted the crowd in front of him to bows and murmurs of "Sir Hastings" until he stood before his son, his iron-grey beard bristling irritably, great mane of matching hair blowing in the slight breeze.

"Sammy, you are a disgrace. You will stop this nonsense immediately. Get up."

Lord Hastings stumbled to his feet. "But... but father..."

Sir Hastings growled low in his chest. "You mother wishes to see you. Now."

"Now?" Samuel squeaked.

"Now, Sammy." And without another word, Sir Hastings whirled around and began to stalk back the way he came, Lord Hastings trailing behind him like a lost puppy.

Albert stopped by Dani on his way out as well. "Captain Danielle Grant. Our sincere apologies for all of this, please also convey the same to your friend Miss Kelly. Your ship has had the landlock removed. Good day to you madam." He bowed low again and scurried after the departing nobles.

"Huh," Dani grunted.

"Yep," Keith grunted next to her.

"Gorramest thing I ever did see," Dani mused.

"Yep," Keith repeated.

Lori looked between the two of them, eyes twinkling. "Oh you two are such siblings."

Dani laughed as she headed back towards the Mule they had brought over from the _Favour_. "I'm prettier."

"Also scream more," Keith smirked at her side.

" _Qu nide_ (fuck off)," Dani laughed.

"We're on the ground, I'm in charge," Keith rumbled mildly. "Show some respect."

Dani barked out another laugh. "This ain't an op, _pigu_ (ass). I still outrank you."

"I can still take you."

"I'm still prettier."

"Bet you I could beat you in a footrace."

"Oh, yer on _huoban_ (buddy)..."

Laughing, Jess and Lori linked arms and followed behind the bickering siblings.

* * *

 _Fortune's Favour._ Outbound from Persephone.

Kelly climbed up the ladder to her bunk situated above the infirmary. She was pretty isolated up there, which was nice. No neighbors to keep her awake at night.

She sealed the door behind her and sat on her bed. _This was nice_ , she mused, _get to spend a little time with the family for a spell, before she kicked on again._

Speaking of which, she had a long-overdue call to make. She reached under the mattress and withdrew a fancy-looking piece of technology. She entered in a complicated code and pressed her thumb to a sensor before it unlocked. Then she entered in another series of numbers, holding the screen up to her face.

A stark-looking bald man in a black suit appeared on the screen. The edges of his eyes crinkled as if that were the only way he knew how to smile. "You are two days past your check-in. Have you had complications?"

Kelly shook her head and answered softly. "Negative. Nothing I could not handle. Alternate transportation has been attained."

"Good," the man replied. "Any trace of the subject?"

"Also negative, I will continue surveillance and report back in five days." Kelly paused. "Have the parameters changed?"

"Negative," the man replied. "Nothing has changed." He reached up to switch off the comm unit with a hand that seemed to be encased in blue latex.

"We will speak again in five days, Agent Thirty," he remarked, and the connection closed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Boom! (drops mike)
> 
> Hope you enjoyed. As Mikki would say, it's a muthafuckin' masterpiece.
> 
> Stay shiny!


	33. Episode 26: Take On Me, Part I: The Interview

_Fortune's Favour._ En route to Space Bazaar. Red Sun.

Dani was late.

She didn't think she'd been on the bridge as long as she was until Keith mildly reminded her of her appointment.

" _Cao_ (fuck)!" she swore, jumping down to her bunk and foregoing the ladder completely. Everyone else was likely already assembled, she was setting a terrible example as Captain being late.

She tore into her wardrobe, or at least her half of it since Lori's clothes took up the other half. Fortunately, their clothes tended not to get mixed up since they were such different sizes. She discarded several outfits before settling on the perfect set of lounge pants. She paused over the matching tank top, but instead selected one that was long-sleeved. She had gotten a lot better about letting Lori see all of her scars, but she still wasn't ready to bare her arms in front of others. Even if she couldn't do much about her left hand with its crisscrossing stark white lines.

Tearing back up the ladder, she raced into the galley, where Mike and Chris were playing Mahjong.

"Yer late," Mike commented without looking up.

"Thank you, I know!" Dani shouted as she flew past. She took the steps two at a time in her bare feet, going down until she arrived at the lounge.

She was met by various cheers of " _Kaasan!_ " and "Dani!".

"Alright, I'm here! Sorry fer bein' late!" she panted, hands on her knees.

Maribelle walked over and handed her a bottle of homebrew that they had picked up last time on Greenleaf, and gave her a peck on the cheek. Turning to the room, her petite sister-in-law announced, "Let the Girl's Vid Night begin!"

Grinning, Dani waded through the pillows piled up across the floor in front of the large-screen Cortex unit. Her daughters, Rain, Sara, and Cali (for once not wearing her panda hat), were all sprawled out across them. Maribelle stepped gingerly over towards her seat on the sofa with Kelly and Jess. On the far wall, Julie lounged on the loveseat with her feet up on the armrest. Everyone had their pajamas on in one form of another.

Dani joined her girlfriend Lori on the large stuffed chair. "Excuse me, miss, this seat taken?" she asked jokingly.

"It is, actually, by my very gorgeous girlfriend," Lori smirked, eyes glittering with humor. "She's the jealous type, so unless you wanna get shot, best move along there."

"Ah, well," Dani sighed, snuggling into Lori's side. "I'll take my chances, yer just too cute to pass up." She leaned in and gave her redheaded lover a tender kiss.

"No fair!" Cali called from the floor. "Girls Night means no kissin'!"

Dani laughed good-naturedly. "Okay, fine, we'll behave."

"At least until the lights go out," Lori murmured in her ear.

Dani gave a quiet snicker in response, and murmured back, "An' at least we didn't show up naked, which is our usual sleepwear." They shared a soft giggle.

"Alright then," Jess started. "As the organizer for this Girl's Vid Night, I have assembled a selection for us to choose from..."

Dani relaxed in the chair, curled up around her gorgeous lover, and let out a sigh of contentment. _Life can be pretty gorram good_ , she thought with a smile and took a swig from her bottle.

* * *

Inbound to Space Bazaar. Red Sun.

Dani was back on the bridge the next morning; it was still too early for Rain to be up yet.

"Space Bazaar Control, this is Firefly transport _Fortune's Favour_ requesting docking clearance."

"Affirmative _Favour_ , you are cleared for docking bay eighteen. Welcome back."

"Thank you, control, good to be back again."

Keith gave a grunt from behind her in the navigation seat. "This does seem to be a regular stop for us, doesn't it?" he mused.

"I'm not that crazy 'bout it," commented Lori from the pilot's seat where she lounged. "Looks almost like a travesty, all lit up and neon-like out in the Black, like it's a mark against the purity or somethin'."

Dani let out a laugh. "Careful sweetie, that almost sounded poetical."

"Bite yer tongue!" Lori squawked.

"Can I bite yers instead?" Dani replied, grinning.

"Hey there Dani, sorry to interrupt your flirting, but I got something here," Keith spoke up again.

"Oh? Go ahead, I c'n dock with only half my attention," Dani said.

"Show-off," Lori smirked.

Dani stuck her tongue out in a most un-captainy fashion and proceeded to line up her ship for approach.

"Well, we got a hit on one of our bids off of the corporate boards. Seems like someone is interested in us for a job."

"Nice! Where at, for who, and how much?" Dani tweaked the thrusters a little bit, altered trajectory just a smidge... Perfect. There was a slight noise that reverberated throughout the ship as the docking clamps connected. She picked up the intercom and spoke into it. "Attention crew, we are docked. Cory, please don' forget to pick up more of that tea you found the last time."

"Got it on my list, Captain, be back in a few," Cory's voice responded from the cargo bay controls.

Danis swiveled in her chair to face Keith who was still reading through the details of the job.

"Actually..." Keith mused. "Seems this is more of an interview than the actual job."

Dani blinked. "Come again?"

Keith held up a finger as he read through. He gave a grunt and sat back in the seat, turning to face both Dani and Lori. "We want to get Sara and Jess up here for their input?"

"Sure!" Dani grinned and pulled the intercom back over. "Sara and Jess to the bridge please, conference time."

"I'm thinking this is actually a good thing," Keith mused in his quiet baritone, as Dani replaced the mike. "We're still a relative unknown, even with our rep, as it were. Got to get a few jobs under our belt before clients will trust us with the big stuff."

Sara entered the bridge then, followed closely by Jess. Lori got up from her seat and moved over to sit on Dani's lap, while Jess did likewise on Keith's. Sara plopped herself down at the pilot's station, curling her feet under her. "Thanks, Lori!" she chirped.

"Okay, here's the details of the job," Keith began, running his hand along Jess' spine. "It's for Iskellian Technology Solutions. They're mostly ship-based tech, own a shipyard out in the Georgia system, Ares I believe?" He looked over to Dani for confirmation, who nodded her head.

"Right, so here's what they posted. They want us to do a smaller job first, to prove ourselves. It's a bank robbery." Keith paused, looking at the faces around him. "And we're going to have competition."

"We're robbin' a bank?" Sara grinned enthusiastically. " _Niubi_ (fucking awesome)!"

Keith laughed and held up a hand. "Not the whole bank, _wai sheng nu_ (niece, sister's daughter). Just the contents of one security box, which they give the number for. Once we get the contents, we'll know where to go next."

"Almost like a scavenger hunt with the potential fer violence," Dani mused.

"I like it!" Lori smiled. "We gonna take it?"

Keith raised his eyebrows at Dani, who nodded again eagerly. The other three girls were all smiling and nodding as well.

"Alright then," Keith grunted. "Once we're done here, and we might want to get them to hurry a bit, we can set a course for Sho-Je Downs in Kalidasa, and a little town called Ridings East."

* * *

Inbound to Sho-Je Downs. Kalidasa.

"Sho-Je Downs control, this is Firefly transport _Fortune's Favour_ requesting clearance to land," Rain spoke into her mike.

"Yep, Firefly transport, come on down to pad seven, we got it open fer ya."

"Um, thanks, control, out." Rain raised her eyebrows at Dani. "They seem a mite relaxed here to you?"

Dani chuckled. Then jumped in her chair as a deep voice came from behind. "Good thing, actually."

" _Da-shiang bao-tza shr duh lah doo-tze_ (the explosive diarrhea of an elephant)," she snarled at her brother. "One of these times, Keith, I'm gonna bring my gun onto the bridge so's I c'n put a hole in ya, next time you pull this _gou se_ (shit/crap)!"

Keith snorted as he eased himself into the nav seat. "You'd shoot me?"

Dani waved away his concern carelessly. "Maribelle c'n patch you up again. Then I c'n just shoot ya once more."

Keith just snorted again but returned to his earlier subject. "If they're lax, then we will have an easier time getting away."

"True," Rain mused. "Well, I'll just be sittin' here and monitorin' things as y'all enjoy your life of crime. Hey, _Kaasan_ , if you get pinched do I get the ship?"

"Nope," Dani popped the last syllable. "Mike is second officer, he's in charge while we're gone."

"Can I have your bunk?"

"Sorry, I share with Lori now, not just my bunk to give over."

"How about your seat at the table?"

"Well, okay, fine, can't argue with that none."

* * *

Ridings East. Sho-Je Downs.

They had waited until the following day, Sunday, when most of the town would be in church. They dropped off Lori first next to the town's water tower. She scaled up the access ladder and got into position, lying on the walkway around the top to look across the town. "Five, in position," she whispered into her comm.

Keith decided ease of escape was better than discretion at this point and parked the Mule in an alley right next to the bank. Hopefully, it wouldn't be noticed. Dani thought it was a good bet as the streets were completely deserted.

"I'm finding a new respect fer the God-fearin' folk," she whispered to Jess as they made their way to the front of the bank.

"Especially when we're embarking on crime!" Jess giggled back.

Keith paused at the entrance. "Trouble," he grunted quietly into the comm. "Already open."

" _Huh choo-shung tza-jiao duh tzang-huo_ (filthy fornicators of livestock)," Sara muttered angrily. "They took our idea of comin' on a Sunday! Who beat us here?"

 _She was definitely getting into crime-mode_ , Dani grinned to herself as she unlimbered her sidearm. Then again, she likely had the most criminal experience out of their entire group.

Keith and Jess both brought their rifles from around their backs and readied them, while Sara stepped up to gently push the door open and peek around.

"Two," Keith murmured. "Did you not bring your shotgun?"

"Um, sorry One. Left it on the ship," Dani replied sheepishly.

Keith just let out an irritated grunt. "I'm gonna get chewed out later, right?" Dani said wryly.

"Captain got in trouble," Sara whispered from the front in a sing-song voice, before she slipped inside, quiet as a ghost.

The other three waited a beat and then followed inside.

The lobby of the bank was deserted, but they could see a light coming from down the hallway where Sara was currently perched. She was poking her head around the corner, then pulled it back with a grimace.

"I see four inside the vault. Nobody on guard. Either sloppy or overconfident," she whispered in her comm.

"Let's disabuse them of either notion," Keith grunted quietly and signaled the others to follow him around the corner to the vault.

They entered the vault silently to see the four individuals clustered around a security box they had just opened up, but were immediately noticed. " _Cao_ (fuck)," one of them said, and they spread out as well to face them.

The one holding the object from the box seemed to be the leader. Of Asian descent, shaved head with some linear tattoos under his right eye, he wore a long brown trench coat and had an Ares machine pistol, a twin of Keith's, in his hand.

To his right was one fairly broad-shouldered _hun dan_ (bastard) with cocoa-colored skin and wearing a white tank top over his muscular torso. He was handling his large assault rifle easily and chewing on an unlit cigar.

And to his left was a woman, about Jess' height but with Dani's physique, maybe even more muscular. Brunette hair tied back, she cradled a deadly-looking auto-shotgun.

Finally, there was the creepy one of the lot. He was pale and stooped but carried an array of knives, including one in his teeth. His lanky hair fell into his face as he prowled back and forth, like an attack dog waiting to be let off the leash.

"Well, now," the leader said in a soft voice. "What have we here, late-comers to the party?"

"What was that saying about the early bird?" the lady next to him smirked.

"I'm more thinkin' of the one about the mousetrap," Dani smirked back. The muscular woman glared daggers at her. _Oh yeah, she's gotta die first before she puts a hole in me with that gun_. She looked at the barrel of her shotgun. _Mebbe Keith had a point about the intimidatin' factor_.

"What we have here," Keith grunted in response to the man's earlier question, "is an impasse."

"Here _pengyou_ (friend), my name is Morten Harket. Surely we can come to an arrangement?" the leader said with an oily smile.

Keith just shook his head. "Hand the item over and we'll let you live. How's that for an arrangement?"

Harket patted the pocket of his coat. "And what happens when the service ends, and folk come back?" the man questioned mildly.

Keith shrugged, the point of his rifle not deviating a millimeter from the man's midsection.

Dani smiled darkly. "Won't matter none if we just leave yer corpses behind."

The creepy little man paused in his pacing, snarling and eyes wide. And that's when the whole situation went to hell.

Out of the corner of her eye, Dani saw Sara's hand whip forward, and a slender throwing knife sprouted from the creepy man's neck. He clutched it it, dropping the knife from his teeth, and collapsed to the floor.

" _Cao_ (fuck)!" Harket shouted, startled.

The others reacted much faster, Dani diving to the side towards Sara and firing her Ares pistol at the woman, who pulled the trigger on her shotgun at the same time. Dani felt a burn across her torso as she fell onto her side. She looked up to see the woman dropping her shotgun and slumping backward, a bloody hole where her right eye had been.

The big _hun dan_ (bastard) had been pointing at Keith, and let off a shot, which impacted on his armor. He grunted in irritation, his aim thrown off slightly so only two of his rounds hit Harket in the chest. The other group's leader had not recovered from his shock in time and didn't get a shot off before being flung to his back in the rear of the vault.

For her part, Jess let off a burst of automatic fire from her Callahan, creating a bloody mess in the large torso of her target. He sank to his knees, eyes wide and staring blankly, before falling to his face. Blood pooled rapidly underneath him.

" _Ta ma de_ (fuck me blind)!" Keith growled as he dug the round out of his vest. "That's going to leave one _biao zi_ (bitch) of a bruise. Status?"

"Two, winged me but I'm good," Dani panted from the floor, holding her hand to her side. Didn't seem to be bleeding too badly right now, could wait til they got back to the Mule.

"Three, I'm good," Jess reported, her rifle still covering the corpses in front of them.

"Four, just peachy," Sara growled.

"Five, still clear," Lori reported over the comm, sounding a little concerned.

"Two, grab the package." Keith turned to Sara as Dani moved towards the body of Harket. "Four, what was that about?"

"He was gonna throw a blade at Two," Sara said solemnly. She pointed down at the creepy guys right hand, which was palming a throwing knife of his own. She walked over, withdrawing her blade from his throat and cleaned it off on the corpse's shirt. "I could see it in his eyes," she whispered.

"Alright, I'm not recriminating. We just got to work out a better signal. A simple 'duck' might have saved me a bruise." Keith chuckled, as they moved towards the entrance of the vault.

Dani had gotten to Harket, and had pulled out the package from his coat pocket. It was a small voice recorder, and it was clearly labeled 'PLAY ME'. Just then Harket gave a wet cough.

"Still alive, I see," Dani murmured.

Harket nodded slightly and spit blood to the side, then whispered hoarsely. "Got... a present... for ya..."

Her eyes were drawn to Harket's left hand when she heard a slight metallic _ping_ , and saw he was clutching a grenade.

She spun, leaping to her feet, screaming "Out!" and practically dived towards the door. The others were mostly out anyways, and turned, guns and shivs ready for whatever threat there was.

Dani rounded the corner and pulled on the door with all her might. Fortunately, the vault portal was well-maintained and easily slid into place. She spun the handle and slumped back against it.

A dull sound reached their ears as the ground shook slightly, and then alarms started blaring.

" _Ai ya, huai le_ (shit on my head), let's go, exit exit exit!" Keith shouted, pulling Dani to her feet and dragging her along with them to the Mule. She tucked the package into her pocket as she ran.

When they reached their transport, Keith pushed Dani ahead of him. "Two, drive! Three, in back with me!"

Dani leapt in, fired up the engine, and executed a sharp turn onto the street in the direction of the water tower.

"Five, you gonna be ready hon?" Dani asked anxiously into her comm as she sped across town.

"Just drive under me, Two, I'll drop."

Dani looked up to see that Lori had rappelled from a line most of the way down from the tower. She dangled a few meters above ground. As Dani pulled up under her, she fell into the cab in between Keith and Jess. She immediately unlimbered her rifle, grinning. "And now for the makin' of the thrillin' escape!"

Gunning the engine, Dani soared past the church where the entire town's population was spilling out and heading for transportation of their own. _Cue the chase scene_ , she thought grimly.

She sped along the forest road as fast as the Mule would take them. Unfortunately, it just wasn't built for speed, and they were rapidly overtaken. Also unfortunately, the forest did not exactly come right up to the edge of the rough road, so their pursuers could often line up three abreast to take potshots at the fleeing crew.

Keith, Lori, and Jess were lined up across the back, trying to take shots of opportunity.

" _Ta ma de_ (fuck me blind)," Lori shouted into her comm, "c'n ya try not to hit every ruttin' bump, honey?"

"Tryin' my best here, sweetie!" Dani shouted back, twisting the controls furiously around the sharp bends of the winding road.

" _Gao yang jong duh goo yang_ (motherless goats of all motherless goats), she drives worse than you, One!" Jess screamed.

"Told you so!" Keith barked, letting another burst of fire rake over a pursuing vehicle. The hovercar swerved into the forest and flipped over, but another took its place.

"Anyone who don't like the ride none is welcome to get off!" Dani shouted back irritably.

Sara, sitting next to her and clutching the restraints around her with a white-knuckled grip, replied tightly, "No, we're good Two!"

"Home, this is One," Keith shouted into his comm, switching channels. "Run into some local color, we're en-route, stay put for now!"

"Um, roger that One, we'll be here!" Rain piped back

As their route took them further from the town, the trees started to thin out a bit more. They had managed to whittle their pursuit down to four ground vehicles and a hover car. Then at their next straightaway, Dani could see directly ahead a river bordering the road, which took a sharp right turn right at the edge. Dani tightened her fingers on the controls determinedly.

Sara looked over wild-eyed, seeing what was planned. " _Kaasan_ , no..."

"Yes," Dani barked back.

"No, you can't make that..." Sara protested loudly.

"Here we go, everyone hold on!" Dani screamed over her shoulder.

" _Kaasan_ nooooooooo!" Sara wailed.

Gunning the engine, Dani sent the Mule flying over the embankment and sailing across the river. It didn't quite make it all the way and hit the water about three-quarters of the way over.

The Mule was a hover vehicle, and it was kept aloft by the constant pressure of microscopic particles being pushed down against dense material. While the swiftly-flowing river was solid enough to gain some traction, the hover-jets were not rated for anything less dense than dirt. Even sand could sometimes give them trouble.

The river was less than a quarter of a kilometer wide, but it could have been a whole kilometer as far as the Mule was concerned. There just wasn't enough for it to push against to keep its momentum going, and it started to slow, dropping further and further towards the water.

"C'mon baby, you c'n do this," Dani muttered under her breath, "make it, make it, gorramit make it across..."

And then, just as the others were beginning to wonder if they'd have to swim the rest of the way (and all but Keith realized that they couldn't swim worth a lick), the Mule came across a submerged boulder. It surged out of the water, leaping forward the last few meters and onto the shore.

Dani brought the Mule to a halt, breathing heavily and looking over her shoulder. One ground car directly behind them had tried leaping the river and was now mostly submerged in the middle. And the last remaining hover car tried the same maneuver but was still struggling across. It didn't find the boulder, but being lighter had a decent chance of making it. Until, that is, Lori sent a well-placed shot a centimeter from the driver's head. He ducked and the car stopped its forward momentum, spinning down the river.

Dani started the Mule back up again as rifle fire from the opposite shore picked up. She floored it, and they were quickly heading back towards the ship.

"Well," Jess sighed. "That was interesting. Maybe not again, though?"

"Yeah, _duibuqi_ (sorry)," Dani replied, "kinda misjudged that."

Keith grunted, leaning back in his seat, rifle cradled between his knees. "Live and learn, _jie-jie_ (older sister). Live and learn."

Sara let out a sudden squeal. " _Kaasan,_ yer bleedin'!"

Dani glanced down at her abdomen. Either the running or the driving had opened her wound up further, or maybe both. Now that she thought about it, she was getting a little light-headed. She pulled the Mule over to the side and stopped. "Well, how 'bout that," she mused.

"You _feng li_ (crazy) woman, lemme see that," Lori said as she crawled into the middle of the front bench with the first aid kit. "Yeah, let's get you in the back and patch you up until Maribelle c'n take a look."

"Sounds like a plan," Dani said dreamily, as her crew maneuvered her to the back bench. Keith moved into the driver's seat and Jess slipped in beside him. They were soon off again, at a more sedate speed.

Lori had her lover's shirt up to expose her abdomen and sucked in a breath when she saw the ugly bleeding welts. "Looks like three pellets grazed you, beautiful. 'Least they're not inside ya."

Dani smiled up at her redheaded girlfriend. "Yer awfully cute when yer concerned fer me," she slurred.

"Hey," Lori looked at her worriedly, as she started to bandage her up. "Stay with me, girl, don' go fallin' asleep, gotta stay conscious, okay?"

"Why not?" Dani murmured.

"'Cause, if'n ya do, Keith takes over and runs the ship. You want that?" Lori grinned down at her.

"Mmmmm... mebbe not then," Dani said thoughtfully. "He'd likely get us all killed in some _jingcai_ (brilliant) scheme or somethin', like tryin' to jump a river..."

Keith barked a laugh from up ahead. "Now I know she's delusional. She didn't get her head bumped, just give a smoother till we get there, okay?"

"Roger that, One," Lori snarked, and brought out an already-primed syringe from the kit. She injected Dani in the arm, and then leaned over to give her a kiss. "Take a nap, beautiful," she whispered against her lips. "I'll be there when you wake."

And with that, Dani drifted off and let the blackness envelop her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so ends part one. I could have made this one gigantic episode but decided to break it up a little. Read on for part two!
> 
> Stay shiny!


	34. Episode 27: Take On Me, Part II: The Job

Paquin. Heinlein system.

Paul Waaktaar-Savoy was about to finally take a well-deserved vacation. He had been a loyal employee of the Weyland-Yutani Corporation for ten years now, and on his anniversary at the company, he finally had enough time off to go away for a whole week. While his preteen daughter wasn't exactly thrilled to be leaving, his wife Leelah was ecstatic to finally visit the exotic planet of Pelorum, a vacation spot she had always dreamed about.

Walking down through the front lobby, he waved to the guards on his way out of work. He never really got to know them as they were constantly rotated, but every so often he'd see a familiar face. He went out the front door and passed by the garage, where most employees parked.

Owning only a single hovercar was the main reason they could afford this vacation. It was pricey, to be sure, but worth it. Fortunately, his home was only five blocks away, and the weather here on Paquin was usually mild enough it wasn't a bother. He was content to just let Leelah drive the hovercar around.

Paul smiled as he saw a young girl about his daughter's age stroll towards him on the sidewalk. She had curly brown hair that bounced about her shoulders and wore a bright sundress so popular with the kids on Paquin nowadays. Surely his Jennifer would want some more outfits for their vacation. Funny he didn't recognize her, though, he thought he'd seen all the girls Jennifer's age in the neighborhood.

The girl smiled and nodded to him as she passed, brushing lightly against his side. Paul frowned briefly. Was that a tug on his jacket? He walked several paces more before digging out his work ID from that pocket, but it was still there. He grimaced at the photo, it was taken ten years ago and not updated since. _Sweet Buddha, I looked ridiculous with that beard_ , he thought to himself as he replaced it and continued on his walk home.

If he had been of sharper hearing or even a dozen paces back, he might have caught the very faint whisper of a voice as it spoke, "Four here, item secure."

* * *

 _Fortune's Favour._ En route to Paquin. Heinlein system.  
Two days earlier.

Dani woke to a fuzzy light overhead. She couldn't really focus on it, but it was replaced with the face of an angel, bearing a halo of red hair.

"Hey, beautiful, welcome back to the land of the awake," Lori grinned down at her.

"Whazza... where... oh." Dani remembered the events back on Sho-Je Downs. "Hey, we made it, huh?"

Lori gave a giggle which was shared by Dani's sister-in-law, Maribelle, as she moved into her field of vision as well. "You're all patched up sweetie. Give it a couple of days to heal, no workouts, okay?"

Dani grunted, and tried to rise. She only succeeded with the help of the two other women.

"Whooo..." Dani murmured. "Did I lose a lotta blood?"

"Just a bit, I gave you a pint," Maribelle smiled warmly. "Walk around a bit, you'll shake it off."

Lori interlaced her fingers with Dani's and led her out of the infirmary and up the steps. "C'mon sweetie, they're waitin' upstairs. We gots crime to plan!"

Dani grinned back at her lover. "Sounds like fun!"

They entered the galley to see Keith, Jess, and Sara at the table, looking over a map on the table. They looked up with smiles. "Ready for this, _Kaasan_?" Sara smirked.

"Always, _nu'er_ (daughter)," she smiled in reply, sitting down at her usual place. Lori kept hold of her hand under the table as she took her seat on Dani's left. "So what d'we have, _didi_ (little brother)?"

Keith gave a grunt as he got up with his empty coffee cup. "We listened to the recording," he started, filling up from the pot on the stove. "Here's the gist of it. Iskellian wants us to break into a research lab belonging to Weyland-Yutani Corporation on Paquin, in the Heinlein system. We're en route to there now, about two days out."

"Should be long enuff for her to heal up," Lori interjected, giving Dani's a hand a squeeze.

Keith nodded. "Good. We need to grab both physical blueprints from one room and a backup hard drive of data from a vault in another room. We can pull this off, though.

"We don't have a lot to go on, but this is what we've been able to come up with in order to break in. Need three things. An ID to get in, computer codes to open the vault since we'll be going in after normal hours, and the floor plan for the building so we can tell where everything is."

"Alright then," Dani said determinedly. "Let's get started."

Over the next day, they had accumulated enough intel to formulate a plan. Keith's access to Alliance databases helped some, as did some of Mike's connections in the underworld with some of his old scavenger buddies.

They found an employee, one Paul Waaktaar-Savoy, who was about to take a vacation for a week. In fact, he was due to leave the morning after their arrival. Keith was able to obtain pics of both the employee and of what a Weyland-Yutani Corp ID card would look like. Keith assured them that between Sara and himself they could come up with a reasonable fake, but it would not have the access chip inside they needed to get in. Sara would be charged with making the switch when the employee left work.

For the computer codes to open the vault, they set up a meet the same evening as their arrival, to take place in a red-district bar. Keith and Jess would go to that one to meet with the black marketeers.

And then finally the floor plans they needed were available at the local government building planning office. Unfortunately, none of it was available electronically, so they'd need to break into the building after-hours to obtain them. Since it was only lightly secured, Dani and Lori assured them they could handle it.

The next day was spent going over each plan methodically, ironing out the details and making sure everyone was comfortable with their role. After everything was assembled, which should be before early evening local time, they would assemble back at the _Favour_ to go over any last-minute details and make sure they were familiar with the research center's layout.

Then they would go in late that night, get the packages, and get out again. They should be off-planet before anyone was the wiser.

* * *

Biker Joe's Bar. Paquin. Heinlein system.  
Current day.

"Such charming locales you find for us, darling," Jess murmured over her glass. Neither she nor Keith were really drinking, just making it look like it so they didn't stick out.

Keith gave a grunt as he cradled his bottle. "Been in worse."

"True, that," Jess giggled.

The dive of a bar was located in the basement of a large restaurant that seemed to serve some sort of fusion of ethnic foods. While he was sure it must taste fine, as it was packed when they passed it, the smells drifting down were almost enough to make his eyes water.

Or perhaps that was the stench of piss, stale beer, and cheap cigars. _Take your pick_.

Several holo-pool tables were set up, though only a few were being used. The rest of the patrons were clustered around the bar, watching a small Cortex unit on the wall that was broadcasting a hoverbike race from Silverhold. They would occasionally cheer or curse, so they must have had a local favorite in the race.

Jess perked up at the chime of the front door opening. "That them?" she whispered.

Keith looked over the disreputable and scruffy duo that entered. The man first in the door had a huge beer gut straining his dirty white shirt over stained jeans. Biker boots and a wide, studded belt completed the outfit. The black holster at his side contained a large-handled revolver, close in girth to Mike's side cannon he liked so much. The man's face was obscured by a reddish beard that bristled as he walked, and his close-set beady eyes darted suspiciously around the room.

Following him was a lanky man close to Keith's height. He wore cleaner clothes than his friend, a white button-up shirt over jeans and under a black leather jacket. He also wore biker boots, but his gunbelt was low-slung and had a medium-sized automatic in it. The tall man was clean-shaven, with close-cropped black hair and dead eyes that searched restlessly. _That's the dangerous one_ , Keith thought.

The taller one nudged his buddy and tilted his chin in Keith and Jess' direction. "Yep," Keith grunted. "Showtime."

Jess kept her right hand on the table but with her arm across her chest, where it might easily access her shoulder holster. For his part, Keith kept his right hand on the seat next to him, the left playing with the bottle in front.

The two stopped in front of their table. "Jake," the taller one said, indicating himself, "and Bubba," he nodded towards his partner. _Charming_.

"Keith, Jess" he grunted, not bothering to point out who was whom. If he needed to do that, then they were off to a worse start than he imagined.

The two sat down at the table, and Jake laced his fingers in front of him. Bubba sat back scowling, his arms folded over his bulging belly.

"So, _pengyou_ (friend)," Jake started. "I understan' you're in the market for some computer codes."

Keith nodded, still playing with his bottle. "Got the datastick?"

"Well now, that depends. Are you Feds? 'Cause you look a mite like Feds to us," Jake asked warily. Bubba grunted in agreement.

Jess sighed. "Told you we should have dressed down, honey."

Keith looked down at his usual attire of grey fatigues and tight black tee shirt. "This is dressing down," he protested mildly.

Grinning, Jess turned back to Jake. "No, we're not Feds. Now could you please answer my husband's question, so we can make sure we're not wasting our time here? Do you have the datastick?"

"I do, if you have the money," Jake responded then, evenly.

Jess slipped her left hand inside her jacket and withdrew a wad of banknotes. "One thousand, as agreed." She held the notes just inside her jacket so it wasn't flashing the entire bar.

Bubba grunted again and then spoke up for the first time with the voice of a heavy chain-smoker. "Mebbe we should ask fer more," he rasped.

Keith shook his head calmly. "One thousand was what was agreed. That's all you're getting."

Jake just sat there, drumming his fingers with a small, amused smile on his face.

"An' I say," Bubba growled under his beard, "tha' I wan' more than a grand. Or mebbe I take it outta ya."

Keith just sighed, looking over at Jake. "Not especially blessed with an overabundance of schooling, is he?"

Jake snorted softly, still not moving, while Bubba took a second or two more to absorb the insult. When it finally dawned on him, he reached down towards his massive revolver. " _Liou coe shway duh biao-tze huh hoe-tze duh ur-tze_ (stupid son of a drooling whore and a monkey)," he snarled.

Keith whipped his left hand outwards and flung the bottle he had been playing with at Bubba's head. It impacted right between the eyes but did not break until it spun upwards over his head to land on the floor behind him. Bubba stopped his motion as he went cross-eyed and then toppled over in his chair backwards.

Before he had hit the ground Keith had his Ares out and pointed at Jake's head, while Jess had her own Beretta out next to his.

Jake just sat there calmly, smirking. " _Dao xie_ (thank you)," he murmured as a hush fell across the bar, broken only by the faint sounds coming from the Cortex unit. "I was gettin' weary of him. I'll just keep all the profits for mysel' now." He opened his hand and revealed the datastick there. "I assure you, what you need is on there. If not, I'm sure you'd find me, so's you know I'm on the level."

Jess smiled, and exchanged the roll of banknotes with him, putting her gun away. "Pleasure doing business with you, Jake."

"An' you, ma'am." He nodded genially at the two of them while Keith holstered his own gun. The noise in the room picked back up as he stepped over the prone form of Bubba and walked out.

Jess pocketed the datastick while rising from her seat. " _W'rin bu lai_ (things never go smooth)," she murmured with a grin.

"I'd start getting worried if it did," Keith grinned back. Passing the bar, he flipped a credit coin at the bartender. "Sorry for the mess," he grunted.

* * *

Business Planning & Development Office. Paquin. Heinlein system.  
Current day.

"Wonder if the others are havin' as much fun as we are?" Lori whispered over her shoulder at Dani as they crawled through the ventilation ducts.

"I'm sure they don' have nearly the nice view I do," Dani murmured from behind. "You are entirely too distractin'."

" _Bi zui_ (shut up)," Loir giggled. "We're workin' here."

They crawled on for another meter or so towards their end goal. The Dani spoke up again. "Hey, gorgeous."

"What is it, beautiful?" Lori murmured back, smiling.

"Which undies are ya wearin' today, the black or the green ones?"

" _Ta ma de_ (fuck me blind), yer killin' me here. It's the black ones, why?"

"Just using my imagination," Dani purred.

Lori had to stop her progress as she put her head down and laughed silently.

Dani took the opportunity to nip the target in front of her with her teeth.

" _Cao_ (fuck)!" Lori swore in surprise, her head banging on the roof of the duct. "Girl, I swear, captain or no, when we get outta here I'm turnin' you over my knee!"

"Oooh, promises promises," Dani giggled. She gave the distractingly round rump in front of her a playful swat. "C'mon, you're holdin' up the show."

Lori choked down a laugh and started moving again. " _Ni ta ma de_ (fuck you)," she giggled quietly.

"Don' I wish," Dani murmured in reply.

"How is it I'm bein' the responsible one here?" Lori snarked back.

"Maybe I'm just gettin' you back fer all those times you messed with me while I was flyin'," Dani grinned.

Lori gave a mock growl, spoiled by the smile Dani could hear in her voice. "Stop bein' irritating. We're here."

Lori pushed on the grill next to her, and it popped open. They crawled out and into a dimly lit room filled with shelves and shelves of papers, rolled up and folded.

The two dirty and smudged lovers looked around in awe. "That's a lotta paper," Lori whispered.

"Uh-huh," Dani whispered back. "Gorram good thing I stopped by earlier to find the location or we'd be here all night. File card from the front office said E-7, let's go."

"Wait," Lori said as they moved off. "Did'ya really pull the card for the target building? Won't they notice?"

"Nope," Dani smirked back. "I pulled the one fer the office next door, just happened to take a peek at that one too."

"Slick," Lori murmured appreciatively.

Dani stopped at a row. "Here we are, now... five, six... seven! Okay, should be in here." They rifled through the papers for only a few seconds before Lori gave a soft cry of victory. "Got it! Here, slip it in the tube." Dani had the long sealed tube slung across her shoulders, the same one they would be using later that night to hold the blueprints.

Floor plans stored, they made their way back to their entry point. Lori stood next to the grill, grinning and gesturing inside. "After you, beautiful."

" _Wang ba_ (son of a bitch), I'm gonna regret the trip in here, ain't I?" Dani sighed good-naturedly.

"Paybacks are a _biao zi_ (bitch), Captain!" Lori giggled.

* * *

 _Fortune's Favour._ Paquin. Heinlein system.

They all rendezvoused back at the ship once their tasks were complete. The floor plans were spread out on the table, and everyone was pouring over them intently.

"Alright, easy enough," Keith murmured in a quiet baritone. "Ingress here, by the garage. Ducts here for Sara, lead to the ceiling above the computer room on the second floor. Vault room here, records office here." He sat back in his chair, chin in his hand.

"Intel we have shows only a small security force onsite," he rumbled thoughtfully. "No patrols through the building that we can tell. But there's a corporate office nearby, as well as another research facility for another corporation, so they have a rapid-response security force they contract out to. If we get humped, we'll only have a handful of seconds to make our escape."

Keith switched his gaze over to Lori. "While Dani was at the business office earlier, you scouted out the neighborhood?"

Lori nodded. " _Shi a_ (yes, affirmative), office building right across the street will be perfect. Fire escape access from the alleyway, and it's four stories, one higher than the research center."

Keith gave a grunt. "Good. And you can get to the abandoned lot quickly enough?" They were planning on flying in low to park the number two shuttle in an empty lot only two blocks away.

" _Shi a_ (yes, affirmative)," Lori responded again.

"Alright," Keith sighed. "Good as it's gonna get. Questions?" He looked around at his ground team. Dani and Lori were sitting next to each other, holding hands again, both with dirt smudges on their faces. Sara had changed out of her sundress and was now in dark grey fatigues that were her size. Jess had also changed into her light grey fatigues. All looked eager to get going.

Keith grinned around the table. "Let's go then, people."

* * *

Weyland-Yutani Corporation Research Facility. Paquin.

Dani, Sara, and Jess crept through the dark garage. There were a handful of cars parked there, mostly hover but some ground or aircars. Some might be left overnight, but others were likely property of the guards on their shift.

They had jimmied the simple door at the rear of the garage, carefully closing it again so it could be used on their exit. Now they were crouched in-between two bulky ground cars, one blue and the other a bright cherry red.

"Two, Three and Four in position," Dani whispered in her comm.

"Five in position, I have overwatch," came her lover's response a beat later.

"Affirmative, One moving in." Keith should now be walking up the street, in civilian clothes and with Paul's Corp ID card. He would enter through the front and leave a small audio device under the front of the counter for Lori to listen in on the guards.

"Roger that One, I have eyes on you," Lori answered calmly.

They crouched there for a few more tense minutes before they heard Keith's voice again over the comm. "One, check one."

They got up and moved towards the door; check one meant he was just inside the hallway. Then it opened a crack, and the three slipped inside to join Keith.

They immediately got to work unscrewing the wall grate there, and Sara slipped inside when it was open. They replaced it carefully without bolting it back on.

Wordlessly they moved up the staircase to the second floor, crossed a window-lined hallway to the other side and walked up that stairway to the third floor, entering the deserted hallway. Keith stood in the middle, shrugging off his civilian disguise to reveal his usual combat outfit underneath while gesturing for the others to proceed while he stood guard.

Jess slipped off to the records room, tube slung over her shoulder. Dani went in the opposite direction to the vault room. She had a small satchel around her chest to hold the drive. Before she reached the door, she heard a small voice whisper over the comm, "Four, check two."

 _Good, Sara's in position and ready to enter the code_.

Dani opened the unlocked door and peered inside warily. There was a security camera up above, but Sara had already disabled it. She crept over to the large vault door and looked at the digital readout. From here, it required a username, a password as well as a biometric thumbprint. Fortunately, they had found the back door, so to speak, with the remote access for maintenance, and in case one of the executives locked themselves out.

"Two, check three," she whispered. Maybe five seconds later, the digital screen in front of her flashed. "Access Granted, Magne Furuholmen."

She opened the door and ran her fingers along the neatly labeled shelves until she found the serial number of the one she needed. Grabbing it and placing it in her satchel, she whispered, "Two, check check," and started towards the door, closing the vault behind her.

She heard "Three, check check," but it was immediately followed by Lori. "This is Five, stand by... I think we have a situation here..."

"Report, Five," Keith hissed.

* * *

Paquin. Heinlein system.

Paul Waaktaar-Savoy was an unhappy man. He was so close to escaping for his vacation, when he was called on his personal line - his _personal_ line - to be reminded that he had not filed his TPS reports before leaving.

So now he had to come back to the office, in the middle of the night, to avoid missing the nonrefundable flight in the morning. He was fuming about thick-headed bosses, idiotic bureaucracy, and his lost sleep as he stalked down the street back to the research facility, and entered the front door.

* * *

Weyland-Yutani Corporation Research Facility. Paquin.

"Oooohhh we're humped, One, _ta ma de_ (fuck me blind), Paul just walked through the front door," Lori murmured in a slightly panicked voice.

"Gorramit. Everyone, exit now, stat," Keith barked into the comm. Keith, Lori, and Dani jogged down the hallway to the stairwell.

"Four is moving," came Sara's whisper.

"One, he just tried his pass, it didn' work, they're examinin' it... and now they're lookin' in the 'puter... move your _pigu_ (ass), people..." Lori kept up the quiet commentary. Then, just as she uttered " _Cao_ (fuck)," an alarm started blaring throughout the building.

"Alright gang, listen up," Lori started, speaking calmly now and with authority. "I've got four guards movin' up the staircase from the lobby, one standin' by there... alright, another four just ran out of a back room, they're mebbe ten secs behind the first group... confirm they called in the rapid response team, ETA thirty secs..."

"Thirty seconds?" Dani gasped as they burst through the second-floor door and headed towards the opposite stairway where the garage access was. "That's pretty ruttin' rapid!"

They heard a shout behind them, and Keith whirled around with his rifle, spitting out a round of automatic fire. Jess and Dani ducked around the intersection hallway. They hadn't made it to the stairwell yet, and as Keith rolled in next to them, it would appear they were trapped.

Lori spoke up again. "I c'n see the second group movin' back across the first floor, they're headin' to the garage stairwell, yer gonna get boxed in there, can you move One?"

"Neg, Five, we're pinned down in the middle." Keith rolled to the opposite wall and pointed his rifle down the hall they just came down. "Two, Three, watch behind me, catch them if they start moving in."

Not five seconds later they heard the doorway to their target stairwell burst open. The guards had incautiously rushed down the hallway, but Dani dropped the one leading the charge. The others quickly backpedaled. Dani looked out on the other side of the hallway where the glass windows showed flashing lights pulling into the front of the facility.

"One, looks like you dropped a _gun_ (bad guy), Two got another. _Deng yi miao_ (hold on a sec)." Lori paused, and the sounds of breaking glass could be heard. "Right, got the three on the far end, I can't see the ones by the garage stairwell. I'm gonna lay down suppression fire and keep the newcomers at bay."

"Roger Five, thanks for the assist," Keith grunted, and poked his head around the corner. He was rewarded for his efforts by a burst of fire near his head as he quickly withdrew. From outside, Dani could head short bursts of fire as Lori opened fire on the Rapid Response Team now filling the courtyard out front. She had a moment of worry when she heard the deeper bark of answering fire, but had to trust in her girlfriend to handle herself.

"Four in position, _deng yi miao_ (hold on a sec)," Sara whispered. Keith looked back at Dani and Jess blankly, which they returned. _In position fer what?_

Then they heard a loud crash from around the corner, and several screams that were quickly cut off. "Four, all clear. C'mon guys!" Sara whispered urgently into her comm. The others got up from their crouches and cautiously peered around the corner. Sara was standing there, shivs in hand, over three more bodies and the grate she had crashed through from the ceiling.

"Nicely done, Four," Keith grinned. "Let's exit."

The four of them pelted down the stairs and burst through the door into the garage. "Five," Keith grunted into the comm, "We're clear, extract."

"No can do, One," Lori reported calmly. "Building surrounded."

Dani skidded to a halt, thinking furiously until her gaze settled on an open-topped aircar. "One, can you hotwire that fer me?"

"On it!" her brother grinned back at her. He quickly opened the door and slid under the console.

Dani thrust the satchel into Jess' arms. "You two get to the shuttle. Sara, wanna come be a big damn hero again?"

"Don' I always, _Kaasan_?" Sara grinned.

The aircar engine started up, and Keith rolled back out. "We'll get airborne and track you," he rumbled.

"Stay low," Dani warned. "Meet you soon." She dove into the driver's seat next to Sara, both rapidly strapping in. Keith and Jess ran out the back door into the night.

Dani took a quick breath. "Ready?" Sara nodded, eyes bright. "Okay. Five hang on, we're on our way."

"On your way, what d'ya-"

Lori cut off as Dani burst through the garage barricade, skimmed the heads of the assault team in the courtyard, and jumped the aircar up to the top of the four-story building Lori was crouched on. The aircar slid to a stop in the middle of the roof, and a grinning Lori leapt into the back. "Drive, you _feng li_ (crazy) woman, drive!" she shouted gleefully.

Dani hit the thrusters and launched the aircar into the sky before the Rapid Response Team could even comprehend what just happened.

* * *

Paquin. Heinlein system.

Keith quickly unlocked the shuttle door and dashed inside, wrinkling his nose at the smell. _Really gotta figure out something to do about that._ He started up the ignition sequence as Jess sealed up behind him. She walked towards the copilot's seat, lighting a stick of incense.

"Gorram stinks in here," Keith growled, punching keys in rapid succession.

"You say that every time," Jess said absentmindedly as she stored the blueprints and hard drive in a locker at her side.

Finally, he got green lights and hit the thrusters to gain altitude, trying to stay low as Dani advised. _This was completely backwards_ , he thought irritably. "She should be flying the shuttle, and I should be in the aircar," Keith grumbled, giving voice to his frustration.

Jess just shrugged. "And if were me up on that building, wouldn't you be the first to run to my rescue?"

Keith just grunted again, more irritated with himself now. Then, he murmured thoughtfully, "Think they'll ever get hitched?"

"Dani and Lori?" Jess asked, surprised. "I could see it, they've been together long enough it's past the puppy-dog love stage."

Keith barked a laugh as he banked around a tall office building, searching for Dani on the scanners. "There are stages?"

"Of course there are!" Jess answered with a playful swat to his arm. "Oh," she broke off, pointing, "look, there they are! And they've got company!"

Sure enough, Dani was weaving madly through an industrial section, Lori turned around and firing off shots where she could. He didn't see how that was effective in any way, even he'd have trouble on a platform that unstable. Still, he saw some hits ping off the bow of one of the two pursuing armored aircars, but it didn't do any damage. She must have realized the futility, and she turned back around in her seat, leaning over to Dani.

"Two," Keith rumbled into his comm. "We're coming up on you, steer between those two factories on the left, alright?"

"Confirm, One!" Dani shouted back, and she banked sharply towards the wide alley that the two massive factories formed. Keith put the shuttle in a steep dive and leveled out behind the aircars, who hadn't noticed him yet.

Up ahead, a steel walkway between the two factories loomed.

Jess paled. "Keith..."

"I can fit," Keith grunted.

"No Keith, don't..."

"Hang on, baby."

"Keith, you _feng li wang ba_ (crazy son of a bitch), I take it back, you are not a better driver than Dani!" Jess' voice rose to a shriek as they sailed under the walkway with maybe a meter to spare.

"See, now you're just being mean," Keith commented nonchalantly to his wife.

Without further ado, Keith dipped the shuttle nose under the rear of the aircar in front of him and tipped it up. Overbalanced and taken by surprise, the aircar dove straight into the ground.

Keith pushed the thrusters forward, and simply sideswiped the next aircar, which tumbled into a spin but managed a controlled landing.

"Thanks One, couldn't have done it better myself!" Dani cheered at him. Lori gave him a huge smile and a thumbs-up from the back seat.

"Thanks Two, let's head to the ship," he replied. Keith glanced at his wife, who was glaring at him with her arms crossed. "What," he rumbled mildly. "It worked!"

" _Liou coe shway duh biao-tze huh hoe-tze duh ur-tze_ (stupid son of a drooling whore and a monkey)," she muttered, staring out the window.

"Love it when you talk dirty," he chuckled.

"Oh, _ni ta ma de_ (fuck you)."

"We will discuss that back at the ship, dear, we will discuss..."

* * *

En route to Ares, moon of Boros. Georgia system.

Dani sat on the bridge, smiling contentedly. They had their first big job under their belt, and pulled it off successfully. Few bumps to iron out, but it all went smoothly enough. And now they were on the way to pick up a nice, fat paycheck.

"So," a deep voice grunted from behind. Dani let out a little shriek.

"Gorramit, Keith, I'm gonna space you one of these days," she said, scowling.

Keith barked out a laugh. "Oh you love it, don't deny."

He sat down in the pilot's seat and overrode Dani sputters of indignation. "How do you think it went?"

Dani let out a huff and decided to let it drop. _The more I fuss about it, the more he enjoys doin' it to me_ , she grimaced to herself. "Well enough," she answered. "What d'you think?"

"For a first major op," he said with a satisfied smile, "I think it went niubi (fucking awesome)."

Dani barked a laugh. "Really? That well?"

Keith nodded. "We still got some rough spots, but we work and mesh really well together, as a group or individually." He smirked. "Can't wait for the next one."

Dani grinned, leaning back in her seat. " _Wo kao_ (well fuck me / holy shit), I might just pass out from all the compliments comin' outta you."

Keith snorted in amusement, and rose to leave the bridge. "At the very least, we need to get outfitted in that armor so you don't start leaking from holes again. Am I ever going to get you to bring something other than your sidearm along on a mission?"

"Sure," Dani snakred, "just as soon as you stop with the creepifyin' and the lurkin' outside my bridge."

He let out a snort. "Fine, keep the gorram thing in the alcove by the bay door."

Dani let out a peal of laughter that followed him off to his bunk.

* * *

En route to Ares, moon of Boros. Georgia system.

Sitting in her room again, late at night, Kelly brought out her handheld piece of tech and went through the process to connect. The severe-looking bald man answered immediately once again.

"Report, Agent Thirty."

"No progress on primary subject," Kelly said softly. "But an interesting development from my alternate transportation."

The man on the screen's eyebrows twitched fractionally, for him a sign of shock. "Continue."

"Current party participated in an action of group Yellow against group Orange. Concrete items were obtained. En route to Yellow base now for delivery." Kelly paused for breath. "Orders?"

"That is indeed interesting," the man commented emotionlessly. "Your analysis? Is this a danger to The Company?"

Kelly shook her head firmly. "Negative. I am only reporting activities as required."

The man stared at her for a few seconds. "Are you compromised, Agent Thirty?" he asked quietly.

Kelly shook her head again, swallowing. "Negative."

The man interlaced his fingers in front of him, covered in a blue latex. He waited a beat, and then said, "Very well. Report again in five days, Agent Thirty."

Kelly nodded as he cut the connection. She locked it down and shut off the power.

" _Jingcai_ (brilliant)," she whispered to herself, turning off the light and laying down to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just to leave a little easter egg for y'all. Morten Harket (from Part I), Magne Furuholmen, and Paul Waaktaar-Savoy (both from this episode) were the singers of the 80's band A-ha, who did the song titling these two episodes, _Take On Me_.
> 
> Stay shiny!


	35. Intermission V

Hello again! Just dropping a quick note, as the next episode is taking longer than anticipated to put together. And, since we have some new folk on board the _Fortune's Favour_ , I figured this'd be as good a time as any to point them out. And just as a reminder, the other character bios can be found in Intermission I.

* * *

 **Lorraine (Lori) O'Toole.** Sniper.  
Home planet: Aberdeen, Kalidasa.

The fifth member of the _Favour_ 's ground team. She left her family job at the bar to join the Independents and ended up on the _Starscape_ after the war ended. And then she met Dani and fell head over heels. She's a few centimeters shorter than Dani, on height with Jess. Her red hair is usually in a short bob, and her skin is covered in freckles (much to Dani's delight). Her eyes are a warm light brown.

Lori usually prefers to wear short dresses in a multitude of colors that come down to just her knees. While she does prefer the style, it also reminds her of the waitress outfits she wore for so long. On a job, though, she'll wear fatigues of an appropriate color. She's been assigned one of the ship's Callahan Full-bore Auto-lock Assault Rifles, configured for sniping. Her usual sidearm is a Browncoat Service Pistol McKinley Forelock Revolver, a favorite of many Independent ground troopers. Inscribed on the right of the barrel is the following: _Xian huo de shengming fahui dao linlijinzhi_ (Live Life to the Fullest).

 **Kelly Connelly.** Passenger, Blue Sun Pharmaceutical Rep.  
Home planet: Bernadette, White Sun.

Kelly was very close friends with both Dani's deceased wife Beth, and her sister Maribelle. She became close to Dani after the marriage, and closer still to Dani, Rain, and Cali when Beth passed away. She's always been gallivanting around the 'Verse, usually on her little one-person long-range skiff, but after it broke down she thumbed a ride with her close friends on the _Favour_. Only, recently, things don't appear as they ought to be...

She's quite diminutive, less than a meter and a quarter. In fact, out of the actual crewmembers on board only Sara is shorter than her. Her long dark-blond hair is often styled fashionably for the Core, as well as her smart business clothing over her slim form, though she always wears sensible shoes. Dark brown eyes peer intelligently from a pretty but worn face.

Kelly owns an Astra 200 Light Semi-Auto Pistol.

* * *

Okay, so there we go! I have the next seven or so episodes mapped out in great detail, as the story of Kelly intertwines with the rest of the crew. Should be an interesting journey...

As always, big hugs out to my Beta readers, including **Sylvana_Crowe**. And much love to the immeasurable Joss Whedon for such a wonderful 'Verse to play in, all credit to him.


	36. Episode 28: Dead In Space

En route to Jubilee. Red Sun.

Dani was sitting in her usual place on the bridge, feeling introspective. The _Fortune's Favour_ had been flying for a year now. Today was the anniversary of the day Dani and her daughters first came across the broken-down Firefly Mark III in a scrap yard. _And what a trip it's been_.

Their crew had now expanded to a full dozen, not including the small boys. An extended clan of fourteen family members in one way or another.

And she was the head of it all.

It was a bit of an overwhelming thought, really. All that responsibility on her shoulders. But she had such wonderful people with her on the journey, lending their strength, their experience, and their wisdom. Her enigmatic and immensely skilled brother Keith and his athletic and competent wife Jess. Cory, who could cook up a five-star restaurant meal and still keep the engine room running perfectly. Her sister-in-law Maribelle, one of her closest friends and confidants and a highly competent medical professional in her own right. Then there was the solid, reliable, and imperturbable mechanical genius, Mike. His wife Julie, who was like the nurturing heart of the family, keeping the garden going strong and the boys in hand. Kelly, another close friend who was drifting in the same direction as them for a spell, always full of camaraderie and good advice. And Lori, her beautiful Lori who was one _huaidan_ (badass) sniper and had completely stolen her heart.

And, of course, her own daughters, each with their own distinct personalities and each an important member of the crew. Rain was now a highly competent pilot and navigator, she could easily be crewing on another ship as the primary flight crew. Sara, dangerous with a blade, protective of her family beyond all measure, and still able to let herself enjoy time with the other girls. And then Cali, at first glance a flighty teenaged girl but on closer inspection, a little mechanical genius in her own right, taking after her uncle Mike.

Together they were an almost unstoppable team. And yet there were times, like this when she was by herself when Dani could admit to herself she was terrified of letting them down.

Dani gave herself a shake. People would be getting up soon, and Lori was likely just getting out of the shower. No need for others to see her moping about. Time to kick the morning into gear.

She reached over and pulled up her playlist of old Earth-That-Was music, finding a favorite she hadn't listened to in awhile. Letting the bass and the drums lift her spirits up, she rose from her chair and started shuffling, then spinning with abandon across the deck of the bridge, singing about a girl called Sweet Candy.

On one of her spins, she spied Lori leaning against the entryway, watching her with a grin. Rather than let anything spoil her mood, and ignoring her usual embarrassment at getting caught, she instead spun her way over and grabbed her giggling girlfriend, dragging her along in her dance.

"I don' know how to dance!" Lori laughed.

"An' you think I do? Jus' move yer feet, gorgeous!"

The song was over all too soon, and Dani collapsed in her chair, dragging Lori into her lap, both giggling like teenagers.

Her initial inclination was to pull Lori down into a nice, slow kiss, but then she noticed the Cortex blinking urgently. Sighing, she settled for a quick peck on the cheek and gently pushed her away, switching off the music and flicking another switch to receive the incoming Wave.

Seeing the female corporate drone on the screen, she immediately sobered.

"Is this Captain Danielle Grant, of the _Fortune's Favour_?"

"Yes, that's correct. How may I help you?" Dani asked politely. _Was my hair a mess from dancing? Ugh, I'm wearing my ratty old black tee shirt, that's real professional Dani_...

"My name is Katherine Harrison. I am an account representative for the Blue Sun Corporation. We would like to extend a job offer to you and your crew. Are you, by chance, en route to the Red Sun system?"

Dani blinked at the Cortex unit several times. "Um, yes, we're currently a day out still from Jubilee."

"Excellent," Ms. Harrison continued. "This job would take place in the asteroid belt known as the Motherload, investigating a mining ship that we recently lost contact with. Are you interested?"

 _Interested in a job with the top dogs in the 'Verse? Hell yes... gotta play it cool Dani_... "Certainly, could you please send over the details so I may go over them with my senior crew?"

"Of course," the unsmiling Harrison answered. "we will give you ten hours to decide, if you have not responded within that time we will consider your answer to be in the negative and we will extend the offer to another party."

"Oh, um, great! Shiny, ten hours will be fine!" _Yeah, that was real cool_. "Um, thanks!" _Oh, sweet Buddha just stop talking now_.

"I look forward to hearing from you." And with that, the connection was closed.

Dani slumped forward and let her head bang against the console. "I am such a _bendan_ (idiot)..." she groaned.

Laughing, Lori stroked her back. "You were doin' so well there, and then kinda fell apart at the end."

Sighing, Dani sat back upright. "An' this's why Jess deals with clients." She glanced at the Cortex unit to make sure the information from Ms. Harrison had come in and then pulled her own personal unit out to transfer it over. "Let's get a conference goin'."

"May I?" Lori asked, eyes twinkling as she picked up the intercom.

Dani smiled back at her. "Sure you c'n, _wo de ai_ (my love)."

Lori cleared her throat softly, then raised the mike to her lips. In a very seductive purr, she said, "Attention please, all senior crew and members of the ground team to the galley."

Dani leaned back in her seat with a peal of laughter. Grinning widely, Lori replaced the intercom and hauled Dani to her feet, propelling them to the galley.

Both Keith and Jess were already at the table, both smiling at the pair as they entered. "You planning on going into the voice acting biz, Lori?" Jess joked.

Lori gave a snort as she sat down. "I could pull it off," she grinned back.

Mike entered the galley, also grinning, and said, "I vote Lori controls the comms from now on."

Right behind him, Sara piped up, "Gets my vote!"

They shared a laugh as they settled in, and then Maribelle finally entered, smiling. "Gorramit Lori, you made my husband's eyes bug out. That's mean."

"Alright, alright," Dani snickered. "Let's get into this here. Gotta job offer I want y'alls input on. From Blue Sun."

Mike gave a low whistle. "Nice!"

"They reached out to us?" Jess leaned forward, asking curiously.

Dani nodded. "Yep, a Ms. Harrison just gave me a Wave. It's for Red Sun, where we're headin'." She pulled out her her handheld and called up the recently transferred file. "Job site is in the Motherload asteroid belt. They have a super-sized mining ship out there, the _Ishimura_. Lost contact right after they reported findin' somethin' unusual out there."

"Something?" Keith grunted.

Mike sighed heavily. "Please tell me this ain't another gorram plague ship."

Laughing, Dani replied, "I hope not, but we'd hafta find out when we got there. Job parameters are, first, find out what happened to the crew, second, find out exactly where they found whatever it was, and third, retrieve whatever it was they found and bring it to Ariel. No need to bring the ship back, that's another operation they'll take care of, but they need these items taken care of by us."

Dani looked up from her screen. "I've seen the type of massive ships they use out in the asteroid fields, they're giant floating cities. Mostly automated, relatively small crew, maybe twenty or so? The exact class of ship is listed on here as 'classified', so it's unlikely we c'n get any blueprints outta them. We'd be going in blind."

Keith drummed his fingers on the table. Just then their petite passenger Kelly walked in. "Anyone want tea or coffee?" she asked cheerfully.

A chorus of assents came from around the table, and she laughed. "Okay but I'm gonna ask for tips!"

Lori gave a giggle. "Here, I'll help." The two of them moved around the table, passing out preferences, as Keith finally spoke up.

"Not sure I like going in blind," he rumbled, "but seems pretty straightforward. No idea of what this 'something' is?"

"Nope," Dani popped the end of the word. "Mebbe an expensive ore?"

"Oooh, mebbe an alien artifact!" Sara giggled excitedly.

"Well, whatever it is," Lori snickered as she handed Dani a cup of tea ( _Just the way I like it_ , Dani thought with amused affection) and sat down with a cup of coffee for herself, "we'll need t'be prepared for anythin'."

Keith grunted, and leaned forward. "So, we could do this in two teams. Dani, Lori, and Jess could work through the crew compartments, up to the bridge, and find out what happened to the crew. We find any survivors, Maribelle could be on standby. Meanwhile, Mike, Sara, and myself head to the processing area, find out what might be down there that they found. We have six suits now since we picked up the extra pair on Space Bazaar if we need them."

Dani raised a finger. "Not dissenting any, just curious really. Why Sara in your group?"

"She's small, can fit most anyplace," Keith smirked. And then added, almost as an afterthought, "And I like her watching my six."

Dani thought if Sara could light up any brighter she'd create a small protostar. " _Didi_ (little brother), yer gonna give 'er an ego, you keep talkin' like that."

Keith chuckled, rising from his seat as he drained his cup. "Can't help it if it's the truth. Same as I trust Jess to watch your back, why she's going with you."

Jess gave him a playful swat on his rear. "You just want to get into trouble while I'm not around."

Smirking, Keith walked over to the kitchen to wash his mug out. "Get into plenty of trouble with you around as it is, hon."

"So," Dani said, looking around the table, "sounds like we're gonna take the job. Any objections?"

Everyone looked back at Dani expectantly. Kelly, sitting over in the nook under the observation dome, raised her hand. "Do you need someone to wait with Maribelle in case you need her?"

Dani raised her eyebrows. "You armed, Kelly?"

"'Course I am," Kelly scoffed. "What kinda girl goes around the 'Verse nowadays without a gun? I have a nice little Astra 200, keeps me safe."

Dani glanced at Keith, who shrugged his shoulders imperceptibly. _Okay then, up to me I guess_. "Yeah, that's fine then, thanks, Kelly. Hopefully, won't need y'all. Anythin' else, from anybody? No?" She stood up, resolutely. "Alright then, I'll Wave 'em back and let 'em know. We'll head into the Motherlode as soon as we drop our current cargo off."

* * *

Motherlode asteroid belt. Red Sun.

"Whelp," Dani murmured, "there she is."

"It's... _Ta ma de_ (fuck me blind), we c'n see it at this distance?" Rain whispered, awed. "It must be huge!"

The light from the distant star of Red Sun reflected dully off of the surface of the _Ishimura_. It was just barely outside the Motherlode as if it had just drifted out maybe a day ago.

Keith was in the nav seat, examining the scanners. "Still too far away to check on the ship itself, but it looks clear."

"Alright," Dani said. "I'll move in."

The bridge was tensely quiet as Dani slowly closed with the massive mining ship. Before long it loomed large in their viewport, and Keith could start reporting on his findings.

"Areas I can scan seem to have atmo. Lot of parts of the ship are blocked." He gave a grunt. "I expect that's all the machinery, blocking scans. Comms might be a problem."

Dani gave an almost identical grunt back. "Let's hope not..."

As they slowed, looking for a likely docking spot, Dani's sensor suddenly showed a bloom of heat, and a proximity alarm started blaring. " _Wang ba_ (son of a bitch), we gots company!" she shouted, and yanked the controls over, banking hard. A small ship was almost upon them, having lain in wait against the irregularly-shaped hull of the _Ishimura_.

She fumbled the comm with one hand while twisting the control frantically with the other. "All hands, brace brace brace!" she barked, then simply dropped the mike and spun the control back again wildly.

The _Favour_ suddenly reversed their trajectory, throwing off the pursuer. Unfortunately, the cutter was nimble enough to come right back up on their tail.

" _Kaasan_!" Rain yelled, "They're running without core containment!"

" _Go tsao de_ (dog fucking) Reavers!" Dani growled. " _W'rin bu lai_ (things never go smooth)..."

She sent their ship spinning in a corkscrew pattern, looping around the hull of the mining ship. A brilliant beam of blue energy lanced out from behind them and traced a line against the _Ishimura_ before cutting off.

"What in the rutting hell was that?" Rain shrieked.

"Ion beam! Those _bun tyen-shung duh ee-dway-ro_ (stupid inbred sack of meat)!" Dani responded, tensely. "Short out our engines we get hit with it!"

She twisted the controls again, lurching the ship sideways almost, and bounced them off of a protruding engine strut on the giant vessel they were circling with a blast of her thrusters. Then she spun them almost upside down and headed into the asteroid belt.

" _Piyan_ (asshole) needs to learn not to _ta ma de gen women_ (fuck with us)," she growled irritably and started on a wild looping course through the spinning asteroids.

Fortunately, the Motherlode, like most very large asteroid belts, was made up of rocks that spun in a fairly consistent route, unlike the chaotic mess that was around the last field they went through. A competent pilot could, with some degree of difficulty, maneuver through the pathways without damage.

Also fortunately, the pilot of the Reaver ship was not a competent pilot.

"He's hit!" Rain shouted excitedly. "Spinning out of control... _niubi_ (fucking awesome)! Just plowed directly into an asteroid, he's scrap metal!"

"Shiny," Dani said, blowing out a breath and slowing their speed. She gradually started moving their ship back towards the _Ishimura._ Picking the mike up from where it was dangling ( _gorram good thing it didn't hit me in the face_ ), she opened up the channel to the rest of the ship. "Maribelle, Cory, gimme a damage report when you can."

"Engine room," Cory came back soon thereafter. "No damage, got a bump on my head but nothing serious."

After a few minutes, Maribelle came over the line. "Mostly cuts and bruises, except for Mike. He was on the stairwell and fell to the cargo bay deck. Broken leg."

" _W'rin bu lai_ (things never go smooth)," Dani groaned again. She glanced back at Keith. "Who d'ya want as a replacement, Cali or Cory?"

Keith thought for a moment. "Cory might have a bigger injury than he realizes. Also, not as comfortable with his shooting. I know Cali can hit what she aims for, even if she is a little more excitable. Rather have her along."

Dani closed her eyes briefly. _She'll have both Keith and Sara looking after her_. Then she clicked the comm open again. "Cali, to the bridge please."

"Hey," Keith said suddenly, "listen to this. Coming over the emergency beacon channel."

He flipped a switch, and a man's panicked voice sounded. "Reavers, _ta ma de_ (fuck me blind), we've got Reavers on board, God help us all... stay away, stay away from this ship if you-"

His voice was cut off in a sharp scream. Then it started to loop again, but Keith flipped the switch back off. "So," he rumbled, "at least it's not a plague ship."

"Just a Reaver-infested one," Rain grumbled.

"Maybe not, still showing no life forms, even though it's blocked somewhat. Might all have gotten back aboard the cutter in search of more food."

"Hmm," Dani mused. "I hope yer right, Keith..."

A loud clanking announced Cali's arrival, and she bounced onto the bridge, panda hat askew and tools rattling in her belt. "Yes, _Kaasan_?"

Dani looked at her over her shoulder as the _Favour_ held position back where they were before being set upon by the Reaver cutter. "Yer up, peanut. You go with Sara and your Uncle Keith."

"Shiny!" she replied eyes, glowing. Then her brow creased. "Wait, do I get to bring Roseheart?"

"Roseheart?" Dani asked.

"My gun!" she responded impatiently.

"Yes, absolutely, we're all goin' in armed," Dani replied.

Cali grinned, and squealed long and loud, running off the bridge. The shrill 'eeeeeeee' could still be heard as she jumped down to her bunk.

Keith sighed, rubbing his temples. "I think I've made a terrible mistake," he grumbled.

"No take-backs!" Dani smirked.

* * *

 _Ishimura._ Motherlode. Red Sun.

"Didya name your gun yet?" Cali was whispering to Sara.

"Well," Sara snickered back. "I gots so many to choose from, haven' settled on one yet. Wanna help me pick?"

"Not now, please Sara," Dani commented, grinning. "I don' need to hear Cali complaining the rest of the time about yer choices. Keith, how's it look?"

They were standing in the large airlock of the _Ishimura_. Took awhile to find one that was operational, as it seemed that the giant vessel had sustained some asteroid damage. Surprisingly enough, there were no Reaver traps on it. It was also fairly large like it was used for cargo transfers, and she was able to latch on with the front cargo bay door. Keith was poking his head around just outside the airlock.

"Looks clear," Keith murmured over the comm. "No signs of life yet. Let's break off. Home, you stand by and keep it sealed up, alright?"

"Alright _huoban_ (buddy), we'll be waiting for ya," an irritable Mike responded. Maribelle had set him up comfortably in the cargo bay where he insisted he wait, Callahan in hand, by the airlock controls. "Sorry again 'bout missin' out on the fun."

Dani laughed. "I should be the one t'apologize for spillin' ya on the ground, Mike. Keep the fires burnin', we'll be in touch."

And with that, the six broke into two groups of three. Before they parted, Sara came over to give Dani a hug. "I'll watch over her, _Kaasan_ ," she whispered in her ear.

"I know you will, _baobei_ (treasured one)," she whispered back. "You watch yer _pigu_ (ass) as well, _dong ma_ (understand)?" Dani gave her a peck on the cheek, and then they were off into the bowels of the ship, in separate directions.

* * *

 _Ishimura_ aft _._ Motherlode. Red Sun.

"I just don' get why I'm Six," Cali complained.

"It's 'cause yer the sixth member. I'm Four, Uncle Keith is One. Yer Six," Sara patiently explained.

They had started moving down the corridor into the bowels of the ship, towards what they were hoping was the core room. Keith was in front with his _da pigu_ (bigass) assault rifle, Cali in the middle, and Sara in the rear, watching her sister's back as she promised. Cali had kept up a running commentary the whole way so far, but Keith didn't seem inclined to ask her to be quiet. So Sara humored her.

"If I'd picked my codename, it'd be Panda," Cali continued to grouse.

"What, you?" Sara commented sarcastically. "No way."

"Way! That or maybe somethin' really _huaidan_ (badass)... Pandas c'n be _huaidan_ though, they're big bears... eat bamboo, though, that's not so _huaidan_..." she trailed off thoughtfully.

Instead of her usual toolbelt, Cali had wrapped her tools up in a fabric and stuffed them into a bag which was now slung across her shoulders. She had her little peashooter stuck in her very scary panda-head buckled gunbelt. Sara thought she looked as ferocious as a kitten, but couldn't begrudge her a single bit. She'd been with her through that lab on Ariel, and they both came out alive. Girl was tougher than she looked.

For her part, Sara was as loaded down with knives and shivs as she could get. And she had her gun strapped to her waist. She was getting used to carrying it, but her first instinct still was to reach for her shivs before her gun. Still, was nice to have it.

 _Love Rocket? No, maybe Pleasure Pistol_. Sara giggled to herself quietly. It was her favorite way to pass the time, thinking up dirty names for her sidearm.

She was still paying attention to her surroundings, even over Cali's constant running commentary. The walls were starting to show more signs of rust as they moved further down the corridor. Sara stopped suddenly. "One, are we movin' downward?"

"We are, Four, good catch," Keith answered from ahead, murmuring in his quiet baritone. "Slight downslope, maybe five degrees or so, but we're winding our way down."

"Huh," Sara grunted and started moving again. "Why didn' they just use a gorram elevator?"

Keith barked a quiet laugh. "No clue, Four."

They kept walking down the seemingly endless corridor, without coming across any doorways or branches, just one long, curving path. There were several hatches up towards the beginning, but the walls had remained seamless for some time now.

Sara kept her ears open for any unusual noise. Cali had finally stopped chattering, perhaps becoming a bit spooked with her surroundings. Their footsteps echoed down the passageway, and the dim, flickering lights illuminated a slick wetness on the ceiling, running down the walls. After awhile their footsteps were accompanied by the constant drip of condensation and the air became warmer, thicker, more humid.

"Hey, Sara," Cali whispered.

"Yes, Six?" she answered, smirking.

"Right, sorry, um Four. Hey, Four."

Sara sighed, smiling to herself. "Yes, Six?" she repeated calmly.

"This place is startin' to give me the creeps."

* * *

 _Ishimura_ fore _._ Motherlode. Red Sun.

"How do you read, One?" Dani asked as they cautiously walked down the corridor ahead. Their steps echoed dully, bouncing around the walls but not reaching far.

"So far so good, Two," Keith answered over a little bit of static.

"Know what we need, One?" Lori asked from behind, where she was walking backwards half the time. Dani could tell she was a little bit spooked by the long, deserted and dimly lit hallways.

"What, Five?"

"Motion trackers. Y'know, like they use to track critters on the plains? They have 'em for big game, too. Could mebbe tell when some _hun dan_ (bastard) is sneakin' up on us."

Keith waited a beat or two before answering. "That's a gorram good idea, Five. I'll remember that when we shop for body armor."

Dani grinned over her shoulder, past where Jess was holding her Callahan up in high ready position. "Suck-up."

" _Wen wo de pìgu_ (kiss my ass)," Lori snickered back.

"Tease," Dani smirked.

"The two of you are worse than Keith and I," Jess murmured humorously.

Lori had left the scope on her rifle, but it was currently configured as an assault rifle with short bursts of three. A flick of the switch would calibrate it back into sniper configuration if needed. Jess had kept hers in assault mode as well, but she could also switch it to full auto. Granted, it would burn through a full magazine in under ten seconds, but she had five extras in her combat vest pockets.

Dani had her Ares holstered for a change, and instead cradled her SPAS 22 auto shotgun. Only held ten rounds, but at close range each hit was devastating. She would rely on the others to engage at a distance. Part of her was irritated that Keith practically forced her to bring it, but the realistic part knew she was just being obstinate about the whole thing now.

They came to an intersection, and Dani peeked around both corners. The hallways stretched off in all three directions, dimly lit under the flickering lights. "Looks clear," she whispered.

They kept forward, as that seemed to be where the crew quarters would be. Suddenly Lori hissed, "Wait!", holding her hand up and listening intently. She crept back a few steps back to the intersection, peering warily around the corners again, and then coming to stand in the middle. Jess covered her while Dani watched their front.

After a minute, Lori shook her head and started back towards them. "Sorry, thought I heard-"

She cut herself off as an echoing _clank_ came from the intersection, seemingly from the left though it was hard to tell. All three raised their guns, Lori on her knee with Dani and Jess overhead. Then there seemed to be an answering _clank_ that came from the direction they had been heading in, only further away. Dani whirled back around, eyes straining. Suddenly feeling like a gorram idiot, she reached forward on her gun and switched on the light that was attached to the fore end grip. She could see maybe another twenty or so meters ahead, but the air was hazy and it cut down on visibility.

"I gots a really, really bad feelin' about this..." Lori whispered.

"Me too, babe. Me too," Dani whispered back over her shoulder. Then she clicked her comm open. "One, anythin' on yer end?" she murmured.

"Nothing, Two."

"Keep yer eyes open," she muttered. "We're hearin' some sounds, no visuals. Proceedin'."

"Roger that, Two."

"Okay," she breathed. "Let's keep movin'."

" _Qiang bao hou-zi de, qing wa kao de liu mang_ (monkey raping, frog humping son of a bitch)," Lori growled quietly, walking backwards as they started moving again.

* * *

 _Ishimura_ aft _._ Motherlode. Red Sun.

The air was now sticky and humid. Cali decided that this was certainly not what they advertised for adventures. But she was here, she had Roseheart, and she was ready for anything. Even aliens.

She peered around curiously. There seemed to be water dripping from the walls, but no slime or green goo. She sighed almost forlornly. She had trained all her life for this, for this very moment, when she could fight the alien hordes come to enslave civilization. _How am I gonna shoot the alien scum if they don' show their ugly, scaly-green faces?_

She let out a little squawk as she almost ran into Keith's back. _How did he get so big, anyways, did he eat whole horses when he was a kid? Bet he did, have to ask_ Kaasan _about that when we get back._ Keith was holding one hand up. _What did that mean, was he wavin'? Oh, no that's right, means stay here an' don' talk. Good thing I've been havin' conversations with myself, then._

She was about to turn and tell Sara how well she'd been being quiet, but caught herself. _Right, quiet. Means no talkin'._ See, she could do this.

Cali wondered how _Kaasan_ and Lori ( _she was really nice, and made_ Kaasan _happy too, which was good, smelled like flowers too when she got out of the shower, but not when she an'_ Kaasan _came back from their bunk in the middle of the day from a nap, then were both kinda stinky, but they smelled the same which was kinda sweet too_ ) and her Aunt Jess ( _always got the prettiest hair, can't do that with mine, too long an' tangly, wonder if I should cut it sometime?_ ) were doing.

She did hear her _Kaasan_ warn over the comm about noises. Maybe that's what Uncle Keith was listening for? She tried straining her ears but could only hear herself breathing. She tried to hold her breath and strain to hear, but then she saw stars and had to let out a loud huff of air. _Gorramit, quiet Cali, gotta be quiet, sneaky stealthy like Sara taught me while we were stalking the puppy-man._

Then she noticed Keith give a little wave of his hand, and they started moving forward again. She hitched her toolbag strap up and crept after Keith in her very best ninja-like imitation. She turned to give a grin at Sara, who winked back at her. _Imma mouse, Imma mouse, Imma quiet, sneaky lil'_ _mouse..._

* * *

 _Ishimura_ fore _._ Motherlode. Red Sun.

The three girls kept creeping cautiously down their passageway, Dani still in the lead. There were a few stretches where the lights had gone out completely, and those were extremely tense moments. Still, nothing jumped out at them, nothing came hurtling out of the shadows, even though Dani kept expecting something of the sort to happen at any moment. The tension was thick enough it'd need a lasercutter to slice through.

Finally, they started coming to some hatchways. The first few were simply gaping open, and each one Dani had poked her shotgun around the corner cautiously, only to find an empty storeroom. But eventually, they came across a closed one.

"Okaaayyyy," Dani breathed. "We ready for this?"

"No," Lori replied immediately.

Dani smirked in her direction, and her lover relented with an eye roll. "Okay, fine, let's do this. I'll cover from the doorway."

"I'll go left, you go right?" Jess asked quietly.

"Sounds good," Dani replied, putting her hand on the handle. "Three, two, one..."

She slowly pulled down on the handle and the hatchway eased open until it gave a loud screech of sound.

All three of them froze.

" _Tai-kong suo-yo duh shing-chiou sai-jin wuh duh pee-goo_ (shove all the planets in the universe up my ass)!" Lori squeaked out breathlessly.

" _Jian gui_ (to hell with it)," Dani grunted, and gave the hatch a firm push, swinging to the right as Jess entered to the left. Both of their long guns were out and searching for targets.

"Two, clear," Dani whispered.

"Three, clear," Jess responded.

The room appeared to be the galley for the crew, and it would seem that their last meal had been quickly, and violently, interrupted. Trays and food were spilled everywhere across the tables and room. A buffet-style table had been set up along one end, still containing the remnants of food.

Dani and Jess moved cautiously and quietly through the room. Dani paused at the buffet. "Hey," she mused.

"What do you see, Two?" Lori asked from her position still by the door.

"Food here is pretty spoiled," Dani continued thoughtfully. "Means it's been here longer than we were lead to believe."

Jess gave a grunt very much like her husband. "Add another mystery to the pile."

"Right," Dani sighed. "Kitchen clear?"

"Yep," Jess answered from the back. "No other exits. This is the weirdest gorram layout for a ship."

"That it is, girls, that it is..." Dani stood in the middle, looking around thoughtfully. "Alright, I make out maybe 25 or so crew on board, figger this was a full complement here 'cept for a few on the bridge an' in the engine room."

"Well," Lori said softly, "let's go find out what happened to 'em all."

* * *

 _Ishimura_ aft _._ Motherlode. Red Sun.

They had finally come to an intersection, but the lights only continued straight ahead. Keith was of the opinion that was they way they needed anyway, as it kept going down, and Sara was inclined to go with that.

On each side of this stretch of corridor, at maybe a 45-degree angle, were air vents, top and bottom. It gave the passageway the look of a giant octagonal tube, two and a half meters wide and tall. The vents were spaced out somewhat, so every few meters there would be a pair of them up top, and then a few meters more there would be a pair on the bottom, and then it would repeat. Sara tried peering down one, but couldn't see a thing. The air was still oppressively hot and humid, but at least the moisture had retreated, likely into the vents.

They had gone maybe another five minutes when a sound echoed through the corridor, unlike that of their footsteps. Keith held up his hand again, and Sara peered behind them into the gloom. Cali, by this point, had her revolver out, pointing it upwards. Sara could hear her muttering " _cao_ (fuck)" repeatedly under her breath.

And then, several things happened at once.

The lights went out in their stretch of the passageway, plunging them into gloom, illuminated by only the lights maybe thirty meters ahead and behind.

And then, right above Keith's head, both wall panels crashed open, and a screaming figure dropped from each.

Cali let out a shriek, jumping back, which likely saved her life as the figure on the left was swinging some type of sword about with wild abandon. The one on the right received a burst of automatic fire as soon as he fell out of the vent, opening his torso up from groin to neck.

Keith didn't have time to bring his rifle around towards the other, but he managed to duck the swinging sword. He was immediately on his back, pushing against the struggling mass of flesh as it let out animalistic snarls, trying to bite and scratch at the spec forces trooper.

Cali was still shrieking but now opened fire at the figure above Keith. Sara noted with some detachment that as freaked out as she was, Cali was still putting every bullet into her target.

Sara stood there dumbly, realizing that she had filled each hand with a shiv instead of pulling her pistol out, which would have been the most helpful from where she stood. And then she didn't worry about it anymore as two grates fell to the deck from behind them.

Silhouetted in the dim light, there was now no mistaking the beastly forms as those of Reavers. They glinted in the illumination available with their grotesque piercings, and both of them had oozing sores and partially-closed wounds.

" _Ta ma de gen women_ (fuck with us), willya?" Sara snarled. She figured she might as well use what worked for her, and threw herself at the advancing Reavers, shivs out and slashing.

She ducked under the first Reaver's lunge with a spear of some sort to bring both shivs up into the second one's abdomen, as he was wielding a spiked pistol. _Wonder what the point of that was, do you shoot or club someone with it?_ She quickly pulled both hands outward, feeling the warm rush of blood gush over her legs. Instinctually knowing the Reaver could shrug off even that fatal a wound, she spun and whisked her left shiv deeply across his throat, slicing right up to the backbone.

As her target fell, she continued her spin and launched herself at the first Reaver's back. It had zoned in on Cali, who was trying to reload with shaking fingers. Sara lunged with one shiv and pierced his back, then jumping up and plunged the other down into his shoulder, effectively halting his progress.

Unfortunately, he stumbled to the side, directly over an air vent, and the two of them hurtled down into the darkness.

* * *

 _Ishimura_ fore _._ Motherlode. Red Sun.

Dani and the others had come across several crew quarters. They experienced more tense moments as they cleared each room, still expecting something to jump out at them.

And then Dani got the call from Keith.

"Say again, One?" she asked through numb lips.

Over the crackle of static, Keith repeated himself. "Ambushed by Reavers. Six is fine. Four went down an airshaft, cannot contact. We're proceeding on, will try to reach."

Dani stood as if in a trance, mind whirling. Her sister-in-law laid a hand on her shoulder in reassurance. "Roger that, One, keep us posted. Three out," Jess murmured into her comm.

"Hey, Dani."

She looked up into the warm light brown eyes that always reassured her. "I'm here, sorry. I'm good." She drew in a shuddering breath. If anyone could take care of herself it was Sara. Cali still had Keith to protect her, it would be okay.

Lori gave her a wink and a quick peck on the lips. "You know it, beautiful," she smirked quietly.

They were standing in front of what seemed to be the last crew quarters. As had been usual, Dani went to open the door first, crouched on her knees while the other two girls stood over her, providing cover. It seemed to be jammed somewhat, so Dani gave it her shoulder and stumbled forward slightly as the hatch swung open.

The first thing to hit them was the smell, a rancid odor that coated the back of the throat and watered their eyes. The next thing they noticed was the pile of objects in the middle of the bunk. Sometimes the brain takes awhile to catch up with what the eyes are presenting, especially if it is too terrible to grasp. All three of the women seemed to comprehend at the same time that what they were seeing was a bloody pile of body parts.

And all three threw up the contents of their stomachs, violently.

* * *

 _Ishimura_ aft _._ Motherlode. Red Sun.

Cali was worried about her sister Sara. She knew, really, that the girl could take care of herself better than anyone else she knew, even Rain, and that was sayin' something, but she still worried.

"You really think she'll be okay, Uncle Keith? Um, I mean, One?"

"It's fine, sweetie. Yes, she'll be okay. You know how tough she is."

He was walking just ahead of her. She was trying really hard not to crowd him and kept looking over her shoulder, but really she'd be just as happy riding on his back.

"Okay, well I know I'm s'posed to be quiet and all, but if I keep thinkin' the thoughts that're chasin' around in my head, I start gettin' _fang li_ (crazy) and nobody wants that, well maybe it could be fun if we weren't really deep inside a creepy ship with creepy halls and where d'ya suppose Reavers come from, anyways?"

Keith gave a chuckle ahead of her. "Can't say for sure, little Cali. All I know is, they're not human anymore."

Cali thought on that for a few more paces. "So, then, what are they?"

Keith sighed. "Monsters."

"Hmmm..." Cali mused. "I c'n work with that. Monsters are big an' bad an' evil, Reavers c'n fit in that category. Means it's okay to kill every one of 'em we come across, right?"

"Most definitely," Keith answered, amused.

"D'ya think there are girl Reavers? Or baby Reavers? I mean, how do they..."

Cali trailed off, and Keith was spared a response, as they finally reached their destination. The large doors at the end of the passageway stood open, revealing a large, cavernous room filled with all manner and sizes of machinery. Some of the objects in the room towered overhead to the ceiling, maybe four stories above them, and some were squat and round, while others looked like giant mechanical spiders, and some resembled nothing more than giant fabricator units.

"Wow," Cali whispered, temporarily speechless, which was a momentous feat in itself.

"Yep," was all Keith could manage himself. It was a pretty impressive sight, made all the more eerie by the silence of the powered-down machinery.

Cali could imagine the deafening sounds that the room would make if it were all activated.

They walked together down the rows of machinery, standing as silent guardians to obverse their passage. Cali thought maybe her mind was starting to play tricks on her, as a few of the giant sentinels looming overhead almost seemed aware of her presence. It made her feel like shrinking down inside her own body.

"Hey," Keith said quietly, stopping.

Cali peered around her uncle and saw the corpse of a man who must have been the chief engineer, or someone high up, based on his fancy ship coveralls. He was sitting on the floor, slumped against a squat machine that looked like a large box with wires and pipes sticking out. He had a pistol in one hand, a voice recorder in the other.

And the top of his head was missing.

"Ewwww..." Cali complained quietly.

Keith walked over and retrieved the recorder. Glancing around, he sighed. "No help for it, hopefully, this won't attract attention." And he pushed the play button.

"If you are listening to this," the voice began, hoarse and strained, "I pray to Buddha you aren't beset by those gorram Reavers. They're monsters, they're... no, don't have time for that, I gotta leave somethin', some word about what we found." He breathes heavily for a few seconds, then continues.

"The core sample we took was... extraordinary. Gotta get it back to Blue Sun Corp. Someone's gotta. Not goin' to be me. I can't activate the machines, power plant is off, c'n only turn it on from the engine room, and the rutting monsters have that... So it's trapped, right here behind me, an' I can't get to it to even try to make it to a lifeboat... oh _ta ma de_ (fuck me blind)..." His voice drops to a whisper. "I think I hear a group of 'em comin'... I saw what they did to Riley and Jacobson, I'm not gonna let 'em eat me alive..." And then the recording cuts off.

Keith gave a sigh. "So," he rumbled, "engine room."

"Um, Uncle Keith," Cali began, looking intently at the machinery in front of her. It was already coming apart in her head, _this part went here, this would come out here_... She realized she had gotten lost momentarily when Keith called her name again. "Cali, what?"

"Oh, sorry. If'n we turn on the machine, won't that make all the Reavers come at us?"

"Possibly, yes. But we have to get to that sample and bring it back."

"Oh, I got that, Uncle Keith," Cali grinned, slipping her toolkit off of her shoulder. "Lemme just get to work, an' I'll have it out fer ya in a jiff."

Keith barked out a quiet laugh. "Alright, little Cali, I've got your back, you go to work."

* * *

 _Ishimura_ aft _._ Motherlode. Red Sun.

Sara had fallen maybe three or so stories down the airshaft, locked in an embrace with the wounded Reaver. Fortunately, she managed to twist around by the end so that the Reaver broke her fall. She landed on the Reaver corpse with a wet thud, the wind knocked out of her but otherwise relatively unharmed.

She lay on her back, looking up at the rust-streaked ceiling, the room she was in dimly illuminated by lights coming down from the airshafts. After a minute or so, when she regained the ability to breathe, she tried her comm.

"This is Four," she whispered. "Can anyone read me?"

Only static answered her.

" _Cao_ (fuck)," she murmured, slowly standing up and stretching her sore limbs. She froze with her arms over her head, hearing the faint shuffling and scraping that was coming from somewhere. Looking around the chamber, she could make out a corridor leading off in each direction. Silently moving into the shadows, she tried to get her bearings. _If'n I fell down that shaft, and it was on the left, then this should be the direction we were originally travellin'_. Nodding to herself, she crept down the side of the wall towards the entrance, narrowly avoiding the Reaver that jumped out at her from an airshaft directly above.

She spun almost unconsciously, shivs already in hand. First sweep took out its legs before it hit the ground, next one gutted it cleanly. Just for good measure, she dug a shiv into its throat, ripping it out with a spray of blood.

She stood, panting over the fresh Reaver corpse, while the animal inside her, the darker side she let out to play every so often, stretched and purred in anticipation of more to come.

 _You think yer the hunters here?_ she thought to herself darkly. _Lemme show you how it feels to be prey_...

She set out again, keeping her shivs in hand, listening for any movement, any breathing whatsoever. She came to an intersection and paused before entering.

 _I see you... do you see me?_ The predator in her gave a deadly giggle.

She launched herself around the corner to her right while swinging both shivs in a wide arc. One Reaver, taken completely by surprise, had a shiv enter it's eye socket, lancing into the brain and killing it instantly. The second one snarled, bringing its arm up to stab with its own blade, but instead found her second shiv ripping into the length of it, tearing through muscle and tissue, rendering the arm completely useless.

Sara brought her other arm back around, ripping out of the first Reaver's eye and right into the second's throat. She left it there, bringing that arm down to pull out a throwing knife which she sent flying through the darkness behind her. She was rewarded with a meaty _thunk_ and a howl as another Reaver closed in, one arm now dragging behind.

She grinned, the very visage of death herself, grabbing her shiv back out and darted forward to meet the third Reaver. At the last minute, she tucked into a roll and took out both of it's Achilles tendons, causing it to topple forward. She quickly reversed her roll, springing back to her feet and digging her blades right into the lower back of her prey. She was quickly covered with a gush of blood.

She stepped back again, looking around. Only silence greeted her.

Smirking at the corpses, she continued on through her original passageway. After another twenty meters or so, she found an actual sign, pointing to the 'Coring Room'. _Jackpot_ , she smiled to herself.

Blinking rapidly, she gave herself a shake as if coming out of a dream. She thought she had moved only a few more meters, but a set of Reaver corpses lay at her feet in a bloody mess. She rubbed her jaw, it felt sore like she'd been punched. _That was weird_ , she thought. _Has that happened before...?_ She shook herself again, _can't worry about that now, gotta get to Cali and Keith_.

* * *

 _Ishimura_ fore _._ Motherlode. Red Sun.

Dani, Lori, and Jess finally made it to the bridge. It was as deserted as the rest of the ship so far for them, though the emergency generators kept enough power running to run the computers.

The only light on the bridge was from the flickering computer displays. Dani thought it was eerie as hell.

While both Lori and Jess covered her, she moved towards what she assumed to be the Captain's chair. It was dark and sticky, so she avoided sitting down. Instead, she called up the log to see where they had been.

"Let's see... two months ago, normal operations... six weeks ago, there it is, found the unusual core... Okay, I have the coordinates. They're in my handheld, I think that's all we..." Dani trailed off.

"What's up, sweetie?" Lori whispered from her position at the doorway.

"It... they recorded the Reaver attack on here. It was a month ago, little over. Didn' just happen. Why did they take so long to get somebody out here?" Dani murmured in wonder.

Jess shrugged. "I don't think that's of a concern right now, let's just hightail it back to the ship, okay Two?"

Dani nodded firmly. "Right." She opened the channel on her comm, curious why she hadn't heard from the others in a while. "One, this is Two. We gots what we need. Any progress?"

There was only static answering her.

"Home? You copy?" Dani whispered timidly.

"I copy, Two," Rain's voice came back, faint but audible. "Haven't heard from One in some time. Maybe they went too far into the ship?"

Even over the distance, she could hear the worry in her eldest daughter's voice. "I'm sure yer sisters are fine, honey," she responded, trying to be reassuring when that was the last thing she felt herself. "We're headin' back, hopefully, we'll link up with them. Two out."

* * *

 _Ishimura_ aft _._ Motherlode. Red Sun.

Keith was pacing nearby, he'd been frustrated at being unable to reach anyone since they neared the room. All they could get was static.

Her head inside the machine, Cali was in her element, almost able to forget where they were, and how Sara was still missing, and how she couldn't hear her _Kaasan_ , but she still had Uncle Keith to protect her, he was the best _sharen bu zhayan_ (stone cold killer) around, would keep her safe, well maybe Sara was better at that, _wonder what would happen if'n they ever really fought..._

With a small squeal of triumph, Cali gave a yank on the last cable. She crawled out from underneath, brushed her pants off, and smirked at Keith. "All set!" she said cheerfully.

Keith just raised his eyebrows.

"Oh, right," she giggled, reached back and pulled on a large lever. The side of the machine slid open with a dull _thump_ and there was the core sample. It was already in a container of sorts, mostly just a carrying strap around the oblong lump of silvery metal. Cali reached over to give it a tug, and it immediately slipped out of the machine with a much louder _thump_.

"Whoa!" Cali exclaimed. "It's light! I can carry it!"

Keith exhaled. "That's good, if you can lug it then we can get out of here while I keep us covered."

"An' look for Sara, right?"

"Cali, we should really be getting back, get this onto the ship, contact the others..."

He trailed off as Cali put the core down, stood over it with her arms crossed, and glared at him.

Keith shook his head, smiling. "Alright, alright, you win, we'll go look for her first."

Cali was about to give her uncle a huge hug, when they heard a hatch creak open nearby, and she gave a jump.

She stayed crouched over the core sample, gun out and searching, panting. She was keyed up and ready for a fight, just let one of those gorram Reavers-

"One, this is Four, you read me? I'm in the Core Room." Cali almost squealed with joy, that was Sara's voice! She could just barely hear it over the static on the comms.

"Four, did you just enter? Heard a door open," Keith murmured.

" _Deng yi miao_ (hold on a sec), One," Sara whispered back, a little clearer now. Then they saw her grinning face poke around the corner. "I believe we've established contact," she smirked.

As Sara walked over to them, Cali noticed she had a lot of blood stains on her shirt, on her pants... well, everywhere really. "You okay there _jie-jie_ (older sister)?" she inquired.

"Oh, yeah, none of it's mine," she replied nonchalantly. "Back the way we came?"

Keith leaned over and gave her head an affectionate rub. "You got it. I'll lead the way again."

They headed out, back in their original formation with Cali in the middle and carrying the surprisingly light core sample. Except that she kept turning her head every few meters to grin at Sara in relief.

Eventually, they got to the passageway again, and up to the last intersection they passed... except that the way they had taken previously was now blocked.

"Um, that weren't there before..." Cali murmured, looking at the steel wall that had descended from the ceiling since they had last passed through.

"I don' think this ship likes us very much," Sara murmured back.

"I know, right?" Cali giggled.

Keith abandoned his efforts at trying to find a way to retract the wall and tried the comms again. As before, all they received was static. "Wonder if the care sample is responsible for the jamming?"

"Could be," Cali mused, "or could just be all the machines and stuff. Dunno."

"Alright then," Keith murmured in his quiet baritone. "Which creepy passageway do you girls prefer?"

Cali peered down each branch. The one to the left was darker but maybe cleaner. The one to the right had a little better lighting, but she could tell it would be moldy and damp going.

She sighed despondently. "Left?"

Sara matched her sigh. "Yeah, left."

Keith nodded and they set off that way.

* * *

 _Ishimura_ fore _._ Motherlode. Red Sun.

The other group was heading carefully back the way they had come, checking each doorway and intersection. The air seemed to almost be getting more humid, and the lights flickering more, but that could have just been Dani's imagination.

They were almost to the original intersection near the ship when they heard a screech of metal from behind.

Lori, in the rear, went to one knee, rifle at the ready. Jess stood behind her, also peering down the passageway.

And then the lights went out down the way they had come.

"Ooohhh I do not like this," Jess murmured.

"You an' me both," Dani whispered. She tried her comm again in case that was the other group but got no response.

"Alright, lemme head back with my light, we don' wanna get snuck up on," she said nervously.

Dani eased past Jess and Lori, who stood back up to cover the other side of her. Dani got maybe a few steps before a screaming form hurtled out of the darkness.

She was surprised, but fortunately, her reaction was to tighten her trigger finger, and a shotgun blast took the Reaver right in the chest, staggering it. Dani dropped to one knee, and her next shot took out the Reavers throat, dropping it to the deck.

A couple more forms came lurching out of the shadows, one of them wielding some sort of speargun and another a rifle. The girls behind her both opened fire, dropping both Reavers, but not before a shaft of metal came whistling past her face.

" _Shenme ta ma de_ (what the fuck) was that a harpoon or somethin'? Where do these _hun dans_ (bastards) get all their-" Dani broke off her irritable rant as she stood and turned around.

"Dani...?" she heard in a choked whisper.

She looked back in horror to see Lori, eyes wide, blood trailing out of the corner of her mouth, and swaying on her feet with a shaft of metal through her upper chest.

"No... no no no no this can't... Jess!" she shrieked. "How close are we?" She tried to hold her girlfriend up without jarring the rod but Lori was leaking blood everywhere...

Lori whimpered, "Hurts..."

"Not too far, but we gotta move!" Jess answered, rifle still at the ready. They could hear, far off in the distance from where they came, rhythmic clanking sounds as if a pipe were being beat upon.

"C'n you walk, honey?" Dani whispered, desperately.

Lori looked dazedly into Dani's eyes. "Dani... I..." Her eyes rolled up in her head, and she slid to the ground.

Dani started to panic. "Oh shit, god... Maribelle!" she screamed into her comm. "I need you! Lori's hurt bad! I can't move her! I can't... " _Why can't Keith hear me, where is he_...

She broke off in sobs. _The ship is so close, just another twenty meters to the bend where the airlock is_. But she couldn't move, she couldn't take the rod out or Lori might bleed to death, she didn't know what to do...

Suddenly there was a rush of people around her. Maribelle was there, her Nova pistol strapped to her side, pushing past Dani with her medkit. "It's okay, I got this, we'll get the object out and then compress, then we can move her back to ship..." she said briskly as she unpacked her medkit and got to work.

Dani stood up, tears rolling down her face, trembling. _Maribelle was here, she can save her_. She gave herself a shake, looking around, and saw that Kelly had come as well, holding her pistol with determination, and... "Rain?" she whispered incredulously.

Rain, gripping her little Beretta pistol tightly, stared out into the darkness with intent eyes. "We got yer back, _Kaasan_. Just worry 'bout Lori."

* * *

 _Ishimura_ aft _._ Motherlode. Red Sun.

Finally, they had reached where they should be. This passageway should link back up with their original one, and lead them right back up to the ship.

Only the very end of it was blocked by a hatch, with no turnable wheel on this side.

" _Cao ni zuzong shiba dai_ (fuck your ancestors to the eighteenth generation)!" Cali screamed at the ship, finally losing her temper. "You let us through here right now, I'm sick and tired of your _gou se_ (shit/crap)!"

As Sara and Keith watched her warily, never having seen her really get this angry before, Cali dropped the core and pulled her biggest wrench out of her toolkit. She swung it repeatedly at the hatch in a fury.

"Stupid _lun dong shi_ (piece of crap)! Gorram _yikuai lese_ (piece of junk)! I want out of this _diyu ban di difang_ (hellhole)! Let... me... out!"

She stopped her assault on the door, standing there with her wrench in hand, breathing heavily.

Suddenly, they heard the hatch wheel on the other side spin and it opened. There was Dani, poking a tear-streaked but grinning face through. "You guys comin', or what?"

Cali and Sara excitedly pounced on their _Kaasan_ , while Keith picked up the core sample with a grin. "Let's get the rutting hell out of here," he grunted.

They followed Dani on out, chattering excitedly, seeing other members of the crew covering side passageways leading up to the ship. All conversation broke off and they came to a halt when they saw Rain covering one of the corridors with her pistol out.

Rain just rolled her eyes irritably. "I know, don' say a gorram word or you'll jinx it, just ruttin' go!"

* * *

 _Fortune's Favour_ infirmary _._ En route to Ariel.

Dani was pacing neurotically, she knew she was. But if she sat still she would surely go mad.

Maribelle was at Lori's side checking vitals, switching blood bags. She'd lost three units of blood from what her sister-in-law said. _Merciful Buddha_...

Keith entered and rumbled quietly, "How's she doing?"

Dani whirled around, staring at her brother. "Keith, I... I can't..." She grabbed hold of his shirt, wailing suddenly. "I can't lose her, Keith, I can't lose her too, I'm not strong enough, I just can't..."

She broke down in tears again, sobbing onto his chest. Keith carefully eased her into the nearby chair.

"You are far stronger than you know, _jie-jie_ (older sister)," Keith said in his quiet baritone. "Strongest gorram woman I ever met, even stronger than Jess, though if you tell her I said that I'll rutting deny it."

Dani just shook her head miserably. "I can't even be a decent Captain, more concerned with my girlfriend, fallin' apart like this..."

" _FANGPI_ (bullshit)!" Keith barked.

Dani jumped in her chair, hiccuping slightly.

"When they took Lori back to the infirmary, did you go with them? Ignore the other crew? No, you went after me, and Cali, and Sara. Made sure we were all safe." Keith was shouting furiously by this point. "You're my rutting sister and the head of this whole family. We follow you, not just out of love, but because we all rutting respect the hell out of you. We follow you because you're the rutting Captain."

Keith crouched down in front of Dani, dropping his voice to a rumble. "Don't you _ever_ say you don't deserve to be Captain. You feel like kicking in the gates of _Diyu_ (Hell) I'll rutting be there to back you up. We all will."

Keith reached over to cradle Dani's wide-eyed face in his left hand. "You're the best gorram leader I've ever served under, because of your love, because you DON'T just depend on yourself for all the answers. Yes, you're rutting fallible, we all are. But you're our Captain."

Dani blinked several times, then smiled slightly. "I wish I had a recordin' of that, you admittin' yer fallible."

Keith snorted and stood back up with a grin. " _Biao zi_ (bitch)."

Dani grinned back at him. " _Pigu_ (ass)."

Then there was a faint voice that came from the other side of the infirmary. "Why's... ev'ryone yellin'...?"

Dani jumped out of the chair and rushed to Lori's side. Maribelle looked up with a smile.

"Hey, gorgeous, gave me a scare back there," Dani murmured.

Lori looked up at her, red hair a halo against the pillow. "Did I? I'm sorry, beautiful. I don' wanna add to yer troubles..."

Dani smiled gently and pressed a kiss to her lips. "No trouble at all, _wo de ai_ (my love)..."

* * *

 _Fortune's Favour._ En route to Ariel.

Kelly gave a deep sigh as she climbed into her bunk. Today had been rather draining, all told. She was happy that Lori would be alright, and that everyone made it back to the ship alive.

Sitting on her bed, she pulled out her handheld tech, staring at it for almost a full minute. _Might as well get this over with..._ She entered the unlock code and pressed her thumb to the proper spot. Once it powered on, she hesitantly punched in the number to connect.

The stark-looking man in the black suit answered again, immediately as usual. _Does he ever sleep?_

"Report," he said emotionlessly.

Kelly straightened her back unconsciously. "Package and intel were successfully retrieved. One injury on the op, no casualties. Opposition was indeed the Broken Ones."

"As expected," the man replied without inflection. "The mission was a success in your opinion." It was more a statement and less of a question, but Kelly nodded anyway.

"Then it was fortunate you recommended this crew for the assignment. We are pleased with the results." _Not that anyone could tell, you rutting automaton_...

The man in black continued. "Your assignment has changed. The subject is now secondary. You will stay with this crew and become their handler."

Kelly blinked in surprise. "Am I to remain undercover?"

"Affirmative. Report any deviations." The man paused for a beat. "Have you noticed any abnormalities?"

Kelly didn't even twitch. "Negative."

"Very well. Report again in five days, Agent Thirty." He reached his blue latex-clad hand up and ended the connection.

Kelly shut down and put her handheld unit away, then placed her head in her hands.

"What am I gonna do?" she moaned softly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whew, that was a long one! Shout-out to my inspirations for this venture, both the video game _Dead Space_ and the immortal work of Ridley Scott, the 1979 (God I feel old) movie _Alien_. Seriously, I remember having the pee scared outta me, literally, watching that movie as a little kid when my parents didn't know about it. Still the best of the series, IMHO.
> 
> Intro track _Sweet Candy_ by AC/DC.


	37. Episode 29: Paralyzer

_Fortune's Favour._ En route to Ariel. White Sun.

Dani woke early before her alarm went off. Wasn't too surprising to her as she hadn't been sleeping all that well in the past week since her girlfriend was wounded.

She smiled softly as her arm tightened around the waist of said girlfriend. She nuzzled the gorgeous redhead's freckled neck, smelling the floral fragrance of her hair. _Sweet Buddha, I love this woman so much._ Dani tried very hard not to dwell on the fact that she almost lost Lori. The bandages were still in place, but Maribelle assured her they would be coming off today.

Lori stirred, smiling without opening her eyes. "Mmmm I love this feelin', wakin' up with yer arms around me."

Dani laughed softly in her hair. "Me too, gorgeous."

Lori opened her eyes and looked up at Dani. "How long were ya starin' at me?"

"Awhile," Dani answered with a smile.

Lori leaned up and kissed her softly. "And what were ya thinkin' about?"

Dani sighed. _She already knows me too well_. "Losin' you."

Looking at her with eyes that melted her insides every time, Lori answered quietly, "It's always a risk. But you know I'd never leave yer side if'n I c'n help it."

"I know, _wo de ai_ (my love). Me neither."

Lori just stared at her for awhile, their noses practically touching.

Eventually, Lori whispered, "Every time you look at me with those bright green eyes of yers, I feel like I'm fallin' in love all over again."

"I was just thinkin' the same thing about yer beautiful brown ones," Dani snickered.

"We're a sappy couple, ain't we?"

"The sappiest. I love you, Red."

Lori smiled gently again. "I love you too, beautiful. Let's get changed so's I can watch yer sexy ass do _tai chi_."

* * *

En route to Ariel. White Sun.

Dani was toweling her hair dry as she walked onto the bridge. She was just in time to hear Keith sign off from a conversation on the Cortex. Her brother leaned back in the pilot's seat, sighing thoughtfully.

"What's up?" Dani asked as she entered and sat in her seat. She busied herself at the console, switching on some of the scanners and reflexively checking over the condition of her ship.

"Got another job offer from Iskellian Technology," Keith began, still staring off into the Black. "They want us to stop some gun runners who are undercutting their profits with cheap guns into Santo. They've got a monopoly out there. Did you know Iskellian makes the Ares models sidearms?"

"Huh," Dani answered. "Nope, didn' know that. I love my Ares, good quality."

Keith grunted. "Yeah, I'll agree with that." He ran his hand over his shaved scalp, then said in a musing voice, "Don't mind doing corp work like this too much. The details of it are pretty sketchy still, but it could be fun."

Dani laughed and leaned back in her seat, crossing her legs. "Okay, if this falls under yer definition of 'fun' then I'm absolutely in."

Keith barked a laugh back at her. "I figured you would be, especially after I give you the details." He laced his fingers behind his head. "So Iskellian knows the leader of this group is called Victor Varga, but he's never been seen. They have no idea who he is. Only lead is a go-between called David Park who organizes illegal aircar races through the city."

Dani perked up at that. "Aircar races?"

With a smirk, Keith continued. "Thought that would get your attention. Yep, aircar races. Winners are suspected of getting to work in Varga's crew, flying shuttles through the Alliance blockade around Santo to stop any non-Iskellian weapons shipments."

Keith leaned forward, elbows on his knees. "Here's the hitch. Unfortunately, we already have a small cargo to deliver to Ariel, but the Iskellian job is time sensitive."

"Hmm," Dani mused. "Okay, how 'bout this. The _Favour_ enters high orbit an' we drop a shuttle off with the cargo, come back by after the job to pick up again. Save us at least two days."

With another grunt, Keith got up out of the seat. "Could work. Let's talk with the others over breakfast."

Another couple of hours later most of the crew were assembled around the table in the galley, save Rain and Cali who were most definitely not morning people, and Julie who had come down with a cold. The two small boys were quietly eating their oatmeal, enjoying the time off from school work.

Keith explained to those assembled about the potential job from Iskellian, and the obstacle of their current cargo run to Ariel.

"Kelly, lemme ask you somethin'," Dani said after Keith finished. "You gots an appointment on Ariel, right?"

"That's right," Kelly answered cheerily.

"Would you mind, then, if'n we dropped you in a shuttle in high atmo, an' you make the delivery for us when you can?" Dani asked. "We'd swing back by to pick you up in a couple weeks at the most."

"Yeah, absolutely, I'd be happy to help out!" Kelly beamed. "And that will work with my plans anyway, I can check in with the home office, renew some contracts, that sort of thing. You can just Wave me when you're ready to come back by."

"Hey girl, you want some company?" Maribelle asked. "I wouldn't mind a bit of a vacation."

"Well, much as I'd love that," Kelly smiled, "this crew does get into a lot of trouble, including injuries, on their jobs.."

Dani quirked an eyebrow. "Are you sayin' I have a tendency to get my crew shot?"

"Saying, no. Implying, yes," Kelly smirked.

"Maybe y'all just need t'learn how to duck," Dani replied loftily.

Lori gave her a playful swat behind her head. "Just wait til she has to patch you up next time, missy."

Dani laughed. "Never happen, I'm too pretty to get shot."

"You know you're setting yourself up, right?" Maribelle said, amused. "There will come a day when you're injured again, and I will take my sweet time fixing you up, so the entire crew can file on through the infirmary to make fun of you."

The crew had a good laugh at Dani's expense, and Maribelle agreed she should stick around for the job. Kelly would head to Ariel alone.

* * *

Ariel outer orbit. White Sun.

"We're about to enter high orbit for Ariel," Dani said into the ship-wide intercom. "Kelly, head for the shuttle, you'll be deployin' in ten minutes."

Keith was sitting in the pilot's seat again, as Rain decided she'd take a little time off and watch some mid-day vids with her sisters. "So, we're going to have to get an aircar, do some modifications to make it a street racer."

"Yep," Dani replied, putting the mike away. "Can't wait to race, this should be fun."

"I think you're mistaken," Keith rumbled mildly. "I'm obviously the one better qualified to race."

" _Ni zai jiang shen me pi hua_ (what the fuck are you saying)," Dani scoffed. "Yer a better driver than me?"

"That's what I said, yes."

" _Fang pi_ (bullshit)."

" _Fang pi_?"

"S'what I said, _fang pi._ No way are you better than me."

Keith barked out a loud laugh. "Is that right?"

"You gettin' hard of hearin', old man?"

"Oh, now you're just asking for it."

Dani snickered. "Truth hurts!"

"I was racing ground and aircars around Bernadette while you were in the Academy," Keith rumbled loudly.

"An' I was flyin' shuttles 'fore you had yer permit!" Dani answered, her voice also raised.

"So?" Keith grunted.

"So just admit it, I'm one _niubi_ (fucking awesome) driver and flier," Dani smirked.

"Don't matter any, this is an op and I'm in charge. I'm the one driving," Keith smirked back, arms crossed.

"Oh, now that is a pile of _fang pi_ (bullshit). I'm still the captain, and I say I drive."

"Forget it," Keith growled.

"You wanna growl at me, huh?" Dani was out of her chair now, shouting. "Are you just too gorram proud to admit there's somethin' I might be better at than you?"

"What kind of _feng li_ (crazy) talk is that?" Keith was also out of his chair, shouting. The two siblings were practically nose to nose by this point.

"I'm sayin' you can't admit I'm the better driver!"

"That's because you're not!"

"Then mebbe we should just both try out, huh?" Dani shouted. "See who's the better driver?"

"Alright then! Maybe we should!"

"Fine!"

"Fine!"

Keith stormed off the bridge, muttering a stream of curses in Mandarin. Dani sat down at her chair in a huff.

Kelly's voice came over the comm. "Ready to depart, Dani."

"Alright, girl, you be safe, we'll give you a Wave later," Dani replied, trying to ease the irritation out of her voice.

"You kick his _pigu_ (ass), alright?" Kelly said cheerfully.

"What, you heard that?"

"Girl, the whole ship heard that," Kelly giggled. "They might even have caught some of it on Ariel as well."

* * *

Nuevo Angeles, Santo. Qin Shi Huang.

They landed on Santo with less than a week until the next race. Jess, Lori, and Sara left the _Favour_ to seek out David Park and put the money down to ensure both siblings would be entered. First, though, they needed some aircars.

Over a tense dinner the previous night, where Dani and Keith refused to talk directly to each other, Cory agreed to work on Keith's car while Mike was excited to get up to his elbows in grease with whichever car Dani found.

That morning, as Keith and Cory headed out (they both agreed the Mule would stay in the overhead braces to leave room for an aircar in the bay), Dani pulled Cali aside.

"Hey there, _baobei_ (treasured one)," Dani smiled at her youngest daughter. "C'n I ask you a favor?"

"Sure _Kaasan_ , whatcha need?" Cali piped.

Dani lowered her voice to a whisper. "C'n I get you to work on my car only, and not yer Uncle Keith's?"

Cali's face fell almost comically. "Oh, no..."

"What sweetie?" Dani asked, perplexed.

"Uncle Keith already promised me a great big panda patch for my coveralls if'n I only help him!" she wailed.

"Why that... _ching-wah tsao duh liou mahng_ (frog-humping son of a bitch)," Dani gritted out furiously.

" _Duibuqi_ (I'm sorry)," Cali said in a pitifully small voice.

"No, it's okay _nu'er_ (daughter)," Dani reassured her, ruffling her hair under the ever-present panda hat. "I'm not mad at you. That's a worthy bribe, you help out yer Uncle Keith." She paused a beat. "Though mebbe you could make the steering a little touchy for 'im?"

" _Kaasan_!" Cali said in outrage.

"Okay, okay, just kidding sweetie," Dani backpedaled. She stalked off down the ramp to where Mike was waiting. "Well no, not so much, that woulda been nice..." she muttered under her breath.

Mike had done a little research and found a decent aircar lot nearby, wouldn't even need to use public transportation to reach it. Granted, in the heat, they were both sweating and panting by the time they got there. But it was worth it, as they spent not even fifteen minutes before Mike found a nice open-topped older model Meteor in chrome, good body and suspension but an underpowered engine. It was a flashy two-seat coupe, and Dani knew it was just what she needed.

They drove the Meteor off the lot and right to another spot Mike had found when talking to some of his shady friends. This shop catered to the racing scene, ground car dragsters and aircar speed junkies. Mike's eyes lit up when they walked in, and Dani let out an appreciative whistle.

A lean, muscular man in a green tank-top and with tanned skin, head shaved and pierced around the nose, ears, and eyebrows, came around the counter. "Welcome to Diego's Garage!" he exclaimed. "You guys new around here?"

Dani smiled at the grease-monkey. "Visitin'. Got word of a race end of this week, and my usual ride is off-planet. Thought mebbe you could help us out with this junker we picked up, give it some power?"

Diego smirked. "An' what kinda ride you got back home, huh?"

Mike broke in with a grin. "Gotta nice little Mercatur, older'n me but runs like a dream. Got the over-suspension tweaked, heavy-duty thrusters, an' a nitro-fueled jet engine."

" _Nigeiwogun_ (get out of my sight)," Diego exclaimed appreciatively. "A Mercatur? Haven't seen one of those babies in years. What did you do about..."

Dani tuned their engine-talk out as she wandered the store, looking at the myriad of choices available for racing enthusiasts. She was pretty sure there'd be more available in the back, that wasn't exactly street-legal, but Mike knew how to butter anybody up to get what they needed.

Half an hour later they were heading back towards the _Favour_. They had a few of the smaller items in the small trunk, and the rest would be delivered by the end of the day, including a new engine with plenty of power. Mike even got Diego to throw in a turbo system at half-price. The turbo gave a short spurt of extra power, perfect for finishing a race on a straightaway.

As they approached the ship, Dani saw from the driver's seat that there was already an aircar inside the bay, suspended up on chains in the middle, hogging all of the available space. Keith and Cory had beaten them back.

" _Liou coe shway duh biao-tze huh hoe-tze duh ur-tze_ (stupid son of a drooling whore and a monkey)," she growled. Mike looked at her askance.

Sighing, Dani pulled up just outside of the ramp. "Guess we'll put it up on blocks out here."

Mike was looking at the aircar inside the bay. It was a worn and battered red-colored car of a make Dani didn't recognize. "What'd he get?" she asked curiously.

Mike turned to her and grimaced. "Fairly new model Viper. We're gonna have our work cut out for us."

Dani laughed to herself. _Oh yeah, the game was on_.

They spent the next few days removing the engine and replacing it with the shiny new one from Diego. It had more power for the straight lines and would allow the Meteor to hug the curves smoothly. The turbo system was installed, with a switch on the hand controls. Mike explained how it worked, and when to engage it.

"Not too soon," he cautioned. "Guarantee the other racers will have 'em, and if you run out early ya get passed before the finish line."

Sara helped, crawling under the aircar and wiggling into tight spaces. And Lori assisted as well, buffering the chrome panels until they gleamed and repairing the tears in the upholstery. Neither girl was mechanically inclined, but their assistance was invaluable in getting the car ready for the race.

On the day of the race, Dani was in their bunk, changing out of her sweaty clothes, when Lori dropped down.

"I had a thought," Lori began.

"Hmm?" Dani prompted distractedly, fishing for one of her long-sleeved shirts that was still clean. _Need to do laundry soon..._

"How 'bout you wear a tank-top for the race?"

Dani froze. She slowly swiveled her head around to look at Lori. _She knows how I feel about_...

Lori was holding up her hands pleadingly. "Just hear me out, okay? Yer tryin' to look like a _huaidan_ (badass) street racer, right? You need to intimidate. I'm sayin', use what you got. How d'ya think it'd look if'n you showed up, proudly displaying the scars on yer arms? And showin' off that _niubi_ (fucking awesome) tattoo of yours?"

Dani opened her mouth to retort, but then closed it and sat on the bed with only her bra on. _Okay, stop an' think for a sec. She knows me, she knows how I feel, so give it serious consideration_.

And she did, for all of fifteen seconds before realizing it was _jingcai_ (brilliant) really, and it was only her own inhibitions getting in the way.

Dani sighed slightly and gave Lori a bright smile. "How didya get so wise, huh?"

Lori grinned and sat in her lap, knees on the bed on either side of her. "'Cause I know you so well, that's how."

Dani wrapped her arms around her beautiful redheaded lover, marveling at the wonderful mass of freckles that covered her like a map of the 'Verse itself. "We don' have all that much time t'fool around," she murmured.

Grinning, Lori lowered her mouth to Dani's. "We have enuff," she murmured back against her lips.

An hour later and they came striding down the cargo ramp to where the aircars were parked. Lori was grinning at her side proudly, and Dani thought that maybe, just maybe, she really did look like a _huaidan_ (badass).

Her hair was braided tight back against her head, tied off behind her neck, the first time she'd been out in public without her hair loose around her face to conceal the facial marks. She wore a white tank-top, displaying the scars crisscrossing her arms as well as the mythical skull tattoo on her upper left arm. Lori had put some black mascara on her, making her bright green eyes pop, and also painted her nails a shiny chrome to match her car. She completed the outfit with her baggy tan cargoes and a pair of combat boots.

"Damn, girl," Mike said appreciatively from next to her car. "Lookin' _huaidan_ (badass)!"

Lori beamed at him. "Exactly, right?"

Keith was standing by his car, arms crossed, wearing his usual outfit of a tight black tee shirt and grey camo fatigues. He gave a small smirk when she reached him.

"Looking good, _jie-jie_ (older sister)."

Dani smirked back. "Ready to race, _didi_ (little brother)?"

"Oh yeah," he drawled lazily.

He hopped into his open-topped cherry-red Viper and she got in her shiny chrome Meteor, and they took off towards downtown.

* * *

Downtown Nuevo Angeles, Santo.

They arrived at an abandoned lot which was already teeming with racers and followers. It had the air of a festival, some cars had their engines opened up for the admiration of passerbys and many were blaring music of all types.

Dani set down next to Keith in a space between a bright pink modern Astrolite coupe, surrounded by giggling teenaged girls, and a dark blue Montenegro that had seen better days but had a nice paint job of flames spreading from the front bumper.

They walked together, disregarding the catcalls and jeers from other racers. Dani studiously ignored many offers of physical intimacy from quite a few male racers, though she smirked at one girl who looked like her bosom would cause her to fall over, who wanted some time with both siblings at the same time.

"Unbelievable," Keith muttered.

"Gettin' a fan club already, eh?" Dani grinned.

Eventually, they made it to the middle of the lot where a man they assumed was David Park was holding court. They approached him as he finished talking to a skinny guy in a bright fluorescent green tracksuit.

"David Park?" Keith grunted.

"Ah!" the smiling man said as he turned towards them. "The last two racers, I hope?"

Park had Asian features and scrolling black tattoos around his arms. His hair was cut neatly, but he was dressed casually in a blue tee shirt and jeans.

Dani nodded. "Angel," she said curtly, unsmiling. She was hoping the use of her handle from the war might give her a little extra boost of confidence.

Keith grunted next to her. " _Emo_ (demon)."

Dani barked out a laugh, while David shook his head, smiling.

"Quite the pair, you two. Alright, the others are getting lined up, head over towards the end of the street, I'll give final instructions there."

Dani and Keith turned and walked back to their cars.

"Really, _didi_ (little brother)? _Emo_?"

"I actually didn't know you'd use Angel again," Keith rumbled.

"Pretty damn funny, though."

"Yep," Keith smirked.

They avoided the buxom blonde this time around and made it back to the cars, quickly getting them into place at the line. Six other aircars were lined up, in varying colors of midnight blue to neon orange to another cherry-red aircar that might have been the twin of Keith's Viper had it not been a closed-top coupe.

Dani cruised to a stop and sat up on the back of her seat, looking over the top of the windshield at David Park who was striding up to the line.

"Alright racers," he shouted. "Here's the course, for the newbies. Straight down this road, Aleph, and right on Main. Left on Francisco. Loop around the Alliance Tower building, and back. Only rules are, you stick to the course and stay within the lower traffic lane."

"What about the traffic, man?" asked a swarthy teen with a peach-fuzz mustache, standing outside a dark red Chevelle. "Who's closing these streets?"

David laughed. "Streets don't get closed, that's the point."

"Now then," David continued. "You all know why you're here. Good drivers are a dime a dozen. That's not what Varga has got me looking for. Varga wants someone that drives their _gou se_ (shit/crap) to push it and make it through places no one else would take it. Real drivers."

He looked around at the assembled racers. "Are you real drivers?" he shouted.

He was answered by yells and screams, and he stepped back, arms raised. "Drivers, ready?"

All the drivers were back in their aircars, engines running hot, drifting slightly just centimeters above the ground. Dani grinned at Keith in the next car over, as he smirked back. They had left their comms in their pockets, mutually agreeing that talking during the race would be an unwelcome distraction.

 _You're goin' down,_ didi _(little brother)..._

David dropped his hands, and the eight aircars roared off of the line and hurtled into oncoming traffic.

Dani joined the lead group early on, only Keith and the neon orange aircar directly ahead of her. The dark red Chevelle was vying for space, trying to get the inside for the first turn, but Dani side-slipped up and above him to take the corner at a speed she'd never done before. It was incredibly exhilerating.

Right up until a commercial hovertruck loomed in her windshield.

" _Cao_ (fuck)!" she screamed and hauled up on the controls. The engine Mike put in responded like a dream and she sailed over the truck and raced on. The Chevelle was not so lucky and plowed into the back of the truck in a sickening crunch of metal and debris.

Dani swerved around several more cars, closing the distance on Keith and the orange aircar until she came up behind them. _I think I got more power in the straight lines, but he's got more in the turns. Gotta make some room before the next turn comes up..._

Only the two cars in front of her were doing an admirable job of blocking her progress. She couldn't go any further up to go above them without leaving the traffic lane, and below was now cluttered with gridlocked ground cars.

" _Jian gui_ (to hell with it)," she muttered and swung out into the opposing traffic lane.

The left turn was about a kilometer away still, but she managed to dodge the oncoming traffic (ignoring the honks and screams of the other drivers) and pull slightly ahead of the other two. Then the left turn on Francisco was upon her, and she slipped neatly back into the original lane, cutting across traffic as well as Keith and the orange car. She grinned madly, gunning her engine, but squawked as a lumbering passenger bus pulled into her way.

She swerved violently and overcorrected for her maneuver. It gave Keith the opportunity to cut back in front of her, but the orange car slid the wrong way and clipped another aircar. It spun out of control until it landed in a flaming heap down below.

Dani gave a snarl and closed in on Keith's bumper again. But before she could try to pass, they were at the tall Alliance Tower, standing in the middle of an intersection of six streets.

Dani and Keith both tilted sideways so their tops were facing the building, skimming as close as possible around the circumference. If she had a hand free, Dani could have reached up and brushed the windows facing the street. They both made it around, but Keith had pulled slightly ahead again.

Hurtling back down Francisco the way they came, they soon came across another pair of cars still in the race. It was unclear what happened to the others, but Dani assumed they were forced to drop out one way or another.

Keith swerved to the right, but one of the cars swerved in the same direction and clipped him. He lost enough speed that Dani was able to shoot ahead between traffic and take the lead.

They swung around the next turn onto Main again. She pushed as hard as she could, trying to lengthen her lead until the turn onto Aleph and towards the finish line. Dani had to dodge a few more cars but the turn came up soon enough and she was still in the lead.

As she went to make her turn, she saw a flash of red on the left and realized belatedly that Keith had pulled the same move she did earlier, weaving through incoming traffic to get the inside track on the last turn. "Gorramit!" she yelled.

Pulling onto Aleph, Keith stayed on the left, half a car length ahead of Dani. She punched her turbo at the same time as Keith did. There wasn't enough street left for her to accelerate ahead of him. _How about this then_ , she grinned to herself darkly.

She brought her aircar careening to the left as if to sideswipe Keith. He veered off, directly into the path of a streetlight. It shattered on impact, slowing the cherry-red aircar enough that she shot over the finish line just ahead of him.

She whirled her aircar around, showing off a bit before slowing. She could hear the thunderous cheers from the crowd and felt the energy coming off of them. "This is kinda _niubi_ (fucking awesome)," she said to herself, grinning widely. As her chrome Meteor settled to the ground she stretched and then hopped out.

David Park was waiting for her, slowly clapping his hands and smiling widely. Keith, however, seemed less pleased as he stalked over from where his aircar had halted.

"Is that how you win, cheating?" Keith snarled.

Dani smirked at him. "I win any way I c'n, _didi_ (little brother)."

David laughed and stopped his applause to open his arms wide, encompassing the two of them. "So, siblings, eh? I can work with that, you're both on the team. Meet me at this address tomorrow." He handed a slip of flimsi to Dani and clapped her on the back before moving off again.

Keith looked at Dani with a dark expression before storming off. "We're still gonna have words, girl."

Dani called after him, smirk still firmly in place. "Bring it, _didi_ (little brother)!"

They arrived back at the ship, settling their aircars down right outside the _Favour_. Keith hopped out and stomped past the crew that had assembled to hear the news, grunting about heading for his bunk.

Dani followed him up, stopping in the cargo bay to receive a hug from Lori.

"Um, so how did it go?" Lori asked hesitantly.

Dani gave another smirk. _Seemed to be a permanent fixture tonight_. "We're both in."

"Then why's he so grumpy?" Lori asked.

Dani's smirk turned into a full-on grin. "'Cause I won."

"Huh," Lori remarked. "Didn't take him for that poor a sport."

"Well, sweetie," Dani replied nonchalantly, heading up the steps with her arm wrapped around her girlfriend, "might be 'cause I also cheated."

* * *

Club Corredor. Nuevo Angeles, Santo.

Keith and Dani traveled together to the club to meet David Park the next night. Keith got over his funk and admitted, begrudgingly, that she ran a good race. As a concession, she allowed him to drive them in his Viper.

They entered the teeming club through the private entrance, their names already on a list (though Dani still felt funny going by 'Angel' again). There was a live band playing, and Dani thought they were actually pretty good. It was some fusion of the Hispanic cultural tunes from Santo merged with a hard and heavy rock sound. She found herself bouncing on her toes as they walked, enjoying the ambiance immensely.

At the back of the club, David waved them over to a small high table where two other men sat. He reached behind him and handed full glasses to the two siblings. "Here, my new _pengyous_ (friends)," he shouted over the music. "Let me set you up with good New Canaan whiskey, and introduce you to the other pilots! This," he indicated a stocky man with chocolate-colored skin and a stylishly thin goatee, "is Darius and, and this," next indicating a lean man with a mop of blond hair on his head, "is Leo! Get acquainted, I'll be back in just a minute, you can meet Zeke. He's Vargas' main man here on Santos." He then moved off with a wave.

Keith took an appreciative sip from his glass. "You still got any of this good stuff left onboard?" he asked in a loud baritone.

Dani nodded. "Still gots a bottle I'm saving for somethin' special."

Darius gave Keith a friendly nod and then smiled widely at Dani. "Damn girl, where you been all my life? And a hotshot pilot, too? Please baby girl, you gotta lemme buy you a drink."

Dani snorted. "Not interested," she shouted back over the din.

Leo snickered loudly. "Damn, shot down already!"

Darius laughed as well, good-naturedly. "Hey now, don' be like that. Gimme a chance!"

Dani took a sip from her drink. "Nope."

Leo laughed even harder. "And yer number two engine is out!"

Keith just smiled while he drank down his whiskey.

Darius rolled his eyes at Leo and directed his attention to Dani again. "And what do I not got that you need in a man, huh baby girl?"

"It's what you got that I don' want," Dani smirked.

"What, too much attitude?" Darius asked.

"Nope," Dani replied. "A dick."

Keith actually spat out his drink on the table in front of them, and Leo collapsed on the floor he laughed so hard. Darius shook his head smiling ruefully while Dani gave him a cheeky wink.

David walked back then with another man, this one in a casual Border-style suit, worn but well-made. He had some tattoos peeking out from under his cuffs, an earring glittering from each lobe, and had a neat crew cut.

"This is Zeke," David announced. "He'll be handling you from here on out. He runs the local gang here for Mr. Varga. You take care my _pengyous_ (friends), and I hope to see you again soon!" He then left with a cheery wave, melting into the crowd.

Zeke firmly shook the hands of each driver, looking into their eyes as if assessing them each in turn. Dani noted that his hands were calloused but well-groomed.

After the introductions, Keith spoke up. "So, what's Varga about?"

Zeke gave a toothy smile. "You know, he's just one of us. Came up from the streets. Did some time in the slam. Now he's a shot-caller. The boss of bosses. See all these cats in here? Any one of them would die for Varga."

Dani grunted. "Including you?"

"Especially me," Zeke answered, smile still in place.

"So what are the details for this job?" Keith asked.

"And what's the pay?" Dani interjected on his heels.

Zeke laughed, a big booming sound that welcomed all to join in with his humor. "You got a big payday comin' at the end of this, I promise you that. Here," he said, passing out datasticks to each driver. "Here's the run. You show up at those coords, spaceport docking bay on Osiris, at the indicated time, and you get to fly a sweet shuttle from upper atmo down to the coords programmed into the flight comp. "

Keith raised his eyebrows. "You got something special to get us past the blockade?"

Zeke smiling knowingly. "Hell yeah. These babies are tricked out, modded to be even better than the military versions, even faster, an' they got a highly illegal cloak paint job to keep you off the radar."

Dani smiled back. "Very nice."

"And expensive as hell," Zeke laughed again, "so don' go crashing 'em."

He stood up from the bar chair he'd been perched on, smiling. "Enjoy the party, people. See you at the landing zone in two days."

He turned to walk away, but stopped and turned back again. "Oh, and my personal Cortex number is on that datastick as well. You got any problems making the time slot on Osiris you let me know, alright?"

* * *

Docking bay 28. Osiris. White Sun.

The _Fortune's Favour_ traveled to Osiris to drop off Dani and Keith the day of the rendezvous. The two modded aircars were stuffed into the cargo hold in case they were needed later. Rain immediately took off again to head back to Santo where the crew would be available to back them up on the ground. Jess and Lori walked the siblings to the airlock, giving them hugs.

"You watch yer _pigu_ (ass), alright beautiful?" Lori whispered in her ear.

Dani smirked at her. "Always, love."

Dani and Keith walked down several corridors till they arrived at the correct gangway leading to their ride. Darius and Leo had already arrived and were in their shuttles. From what the burly guard told them, Vargas had left instructions for the pilots to be locked inside the shuttles until released in Santo's outer orbit.

Dani made her way to the airlock for her shuttle, where she was escorted inside and sealed in. The shuttles were cramped, what little cargo space there was taken up by a stack of large rectangular crates, four-high. Rest of the aft section was taken up by the engine. Dani had a very small cockpit area to occupy.

Fortunately, they brought their comms with them this time, so they could at least communicate with each other while locked into the freighter. She felt the freighter disengage from the dock and move out.

Dani opened her channel to Keith. "You comfy in there _didi_ (little brother)?"

Keith snorted in reply. "Best as I can be. We're all just along for the ride now."

"Got that right," Dani laughed. "Gonna take a nap, wake me if anythin' interestin' happens."

"Lori keep you up last night?"

"No more than Jess kept you up," she laughed in response. Then she settled into her seat as well as possible, leaving the comm channel open.

After a few seconds, Keith spoke up again. "Hey, _jie-jie_ (older sister)?"

"Hmm?"

Keith gave a little laugh. "'Least you don't have to deal with the other pilots hitting on you."

Dani snorted humorously. "Could say the same for you, 'sweet-cheeks'."

Keith barked out a laugh. "Yeah we still gotta visit them again. Long overdue."

Dani laughed as well. "That it is. Now _bi zui_ (shut up) and lemme catch some sleep."

Inbound to Santo. Qin Shi Huang.

Dani woke with a start as the console in front of her beeped loudly.

"Prepare for drop, T minus ten minutes," the melodic female voice informed her.

Dani gave a grunt and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. "You awake there, _didi_ (little brother)?"

She heard a giant yawn over the comm. "Hard to sleep through that beeping. Guess it's almost game time, huh?"

She gave herself a shake and settled in, securing the restraints and powering up the engines. "First one down, waits for t'other, right? No wandering off."

Keith snorted. "First one down gets your bottle of New Canaan."

Dani laughed. " _Ai ya, huai le_ (shit on my head), no way, that's my bottle, an' I told you, savin' it for somethin' special."

"Special like what?" Keith rumbled quietly.

"Special like somethin' special. Not tellin'. Now _bi zui_ (shut up), let's get ready, huh?"

Keith grunted in response. "Alright then, first one down gets a day's leave with their other."

"Their 'other'?" Dani snickered. "Is that code or somethin'?"

"Thought we were supposed to be getting ready."

"Well yeah, but now I'm makin' fun of you, so's I gots the time."

" _Ni ta ma de_ (fuck you)," Keith laughed.

" _Piyan_ (asshole)," Dani grinned.

" _Biao zi_ (bitch)," Keith teased back.

"Prepare for drop, T minus five minutes," the melodic female voice interjected.

"So you going to accept, one day's leave?"

"Okay fine," Dani rolled her eyes. "God, you can be such a _nao huo cuo huai dan_ (annoying little bastard)."

"Learned that from you."

"Ha. Ha ha. _Qu nide_ (fuck off)," she snickered back, flicking switches and priming the thrusters. All lights on the board showed green except for the ones indicating that she had nowhere to go just yet, being all secured in the belly of another ship still.

"Prepare for drop, T minus one minute."

"Luck, _didi_ (little brother)."

"Luck, _jie-jie_ (older sister). See you on the ground."

"Drop in ten, nine, eight..."

Dani took a deep breath and tightened her hands on the controls. Her heart was racing. _Here we go again, just like old times, once more through the mouth of hell_...

"...three, two, one, deploy."

With a lurch, her shuttle dropped straight down. She immediately twisted the controls to point her nose down, lining up with the planet visually before accelerating hard and then checking the instrumentation to verify her course.

After only a short while, still outside Santo's atmo, her console started beeping an alarm. She'd already been made by the Alliance blockade. "Cloaking mod my _pigu_ (ass)," she muttered and poured more into the engines. She was pressed back in her seat as she streaked towards the planet.

* * *

Santo. Qin Shi Huang.

Dani was actually pretty impressed by the performance of her shuttle. She had immediately picked up a few ASREVs on her tail and lost contact with the other three shuttles as she dove straight into the atmo. The entire craft shook when it hit the outer layer but it kept on going, pulling her away from the pursuit.

One particularly persistent little _hun dan_ (bastard) stuck with her, and even managed to get a target lock on her, but she shook that easily enough in the few mountain ranges on Santo. Once she looped through the high rocks she skimmed just meters above the ground, streaking away to race towards the landing zone.

When she did finally reach it, her tail was well and truly lost, but the other three shuttles were on the ground already. _Gorramit, and I really wanted to spend that day off with Lori in port somewhere with a beach_ , she sighed ruefully to herself.

Landing in a tight group with the other shuttles, she powered down and stretched languorously before climbing out of the hatch.

Keith was standing outside his shuttle, smirking. "See, I can beat you when you don't cheat," he called out to Dani.

Dani gave him a little laugh. "Oh _wen wo de pìgu_ (kiss my ass)." She looked around and saw the other two pilots, Darius and Leo, standing together conversing. They were likely discussing their flight in as they were using their hands animatedly.

After a short while a convoy approached, several hovercars and one large hovertruck. It pulled to a halt and several guards hopped out, armed with submachine guns and pistols. Zeke also emerged from the lead hovercar, smiling grandly at the pilots.

"Well done," he shouted over the noise of the convoy. "Let us get you unloaded, and then we can see about payment!"

Some of the guards broke off into pairs to each shuttle to grab the crates and pile them onto the hovertruck, while the others stood around. Dani noticed that they seemed more interested in the pilots than they did about guarding from an external threat.

Keith wandered over to Dani's side and murmured, "It seem odd to you, they meet us here instead of a warehouse?"

"I'd call you paranoid again, but yer right," Dani murmured back. "They're gonna kill us here, huh?"

"Yep," Keith grunted.

Dani sighed. "I gots this idea, one I've been workin' on. How 'bout we try an' kill 'em first?"

Keith barked a quiet laugh. "Like the way you think, _jie-jie_ (older sister). In fact, I already left a little surprise in my shuttle."

Dani gave him a smirk, and they meandered together around the hovertruck. They watched how the guards followed them with their eyes, tensely.

Zeke waited until all the weapon crates were loaded up and onto the hovertruck and then gave a subtle nod to the guards.

He then turned towards the shuttles and called out to the four pilots. "Time for your payment. But it's not what you expected, I'm afraid."

"Wouldn't bet on it, _piyan_ (asshole)," Keith smirked darkly.

He pressed a trigger concealed in his hand, and his shuttle blew up violently, setting off a chain reaction as the other shuttles caught fire, volatile engines blowing up as well in rapid succession. Keith and Dani drew their sidearms smoothly, shooting at the guards while taking cover. The other two pilots, Darius and Leo, drew their pistols as well and fought back as best as they could, but stuck out in the open they were quickly gunned down by the guards.

Zeke made his escape during the confusion, hopping into a hovercar with some guards. They moved off into the darkness, leaving the remaining two pilots to the rest of the guards.

Keith ran out from cover around the front of the hovertruck, killing the driver and hopping in the front seat. He started up the engine and started moving, turning to provide some cover for Dani who was still pinned down.

Keith leaned over to pop open the other door, roaring, "Get your _pigu_ (ass) in here!"

Dani vaulted into the passenger seat, and Keith gunned the hovertruck's engine. They sailed off into the night, leaving a large funeral pyre behind, lighting up the night sky.

* * *

Nuevo Angeles, Santo. Qin Shi Huang.

The next morning on the _Fortune's Favour_ , Dani flipped on the Cortex unit on the bridge and dialed in Zeke's personal number. He picked up fairly quickly but didn't say anything, just eyeing her warily.

Dani gave a snort. "Was that how Varga inspires loyalty? Killin' his pilots?"

Zeke sighed and answered, "One can always find more pilots. It's just good business."

"I wanna trade," Dani grunted after a pause.

Laughing quietly, Zeke responded, "Varga doesn't negotiate."

"Fine," Dani scoffed. "You explain to him how all of a sudden his entire arms shipment disappears. I know that can't be good for business."

Zeke stared at her for a beat, his expression unreadable. "What do you want?"

Dani grinned widely. "Sixty thousand, hard coin, delivered by Varga himself."

Zeke just laughed, not bothering to answer.

"I don' like bein' shot at," Dani retorted. "Ain't gonna put my neck out again unless he's got something to lose, too."

Shaking his head, Zeke said, "He'll never go for it."

"Either I deal with Varga, or you do."

Zeke paused a few more seconds, then sighed. "When and where?"

* * *

Nuevo Angeles warehouse, Santo. Qin Shi Huang.

Inside a large abandoned warehouse near the landing field where the _Favour_ sat, Dani and Keith leaned against the rear of the hovertruck. They both had their sidearms but no other weaponry present so as not to spook the gunrunners. It was daytime, and the cavernous area was well-lit by the sun shining in from the high windows, illuminating various dusty crates and equipment lying about.

"Think he'll show?" Dani mused.

"Sure," Keith grunted. "Got a lot riding on this, got to make delivery to folk on time. He'll show."

Dani paused a beat. "Think he'll try to kill us again?"

Keith smirked at his sister. "Oh, without a doubt."

They fell silent as another convoy of vehicles pulled into the warehouse through the large open entrance. Four hovercars drifted in and settled to the ground. Zeke got out of the first one, and several guards also emerged, spreading out with guns at the ready.

Zeke strode up confidently to the two siblings. "Where's my stuff?"

Dani rolled up the back of hovertruck, revealing an empty bay. "It's nearby," she answered with a smirk. "You get it when we see Varga."

Zeke turned back to the vehicles and nodded to one of them. An old man in a fancy Core suit emerged slowly, carrying a briefcase. He strode over to them, shaking first Keith then Dani's hands. She quickly noticed that he had no tattoos and soft hands.

"Ten thousand in this case," the old man announced. He laid it down and opened it to reveal shiny credits inside. "The rest when I get my property."

Dani looked at the man. "Awfully Core-boy to have broken out of slam, there."

The man who they presumed to be Varga just looked back at them nervously.

Keith glanced at Dani. "You're thinking what I'm thinking, right?"

"Yep," Dani smirked again. "He ain't Varga."

She looked up past the old man. "Zeke is."

Suddenly a shot rang out, and Zeke fell backwards, a bloody hole in his forehead. Dani and Keith dove for cover behind the hovertruck as the guards started to shoot at them. Their fire was quickly cut off as a series of explosions rang out, grenades sailing overhead to ignite the cars in the convoy. After a few minutes, the explosions and rifle fire cut off.

"Five, all clear," Lori's voice came over the comm.

"Three, all clear," Jess reported as well, moving out of the shadows and cradling her Callahan assault rifle, grenade launcher attached.

"Four, lookouts disposed of," Sara called in from the perimeter around the warehouse.

Dani looked over at Keith, grinning. "Love it when a plan comes together."

Keith gave a grunt and picked himself up off the floor. "Ten thousand in coin doesn't hurt either."

Dani smiled as he helped her to her feet. "No _didi_ (little brother), it surely doesn't."

* * *

Nuevo Angeles, Santo. Qin Shi Huang.

Sara brought her hand up numbly to close the comm channel after reporting in. She stared at the bloody, hacked-up corpse at her feet. _I remember eliminating the other two lookouts, but I was just starting to stalk this one_...

Her thoughts trailed off. She couldn't remember. It worried her a little. _Shouldn't I remember killing a person?_

With a sigh, Sara headed off towards the fire escape ladder to get off of the roof. She needed to meet up with the others, mulling this over could wait. Absentmindedly, she wiped some blood off her cheek with her thumb and was startled to feel pain on her cheekbone. _Did I get hit? I'm gonna have a bruise there_...

* * *

Nuevo Angeles Landing Field, Santo. Qin Shi Huang.

Dani and Lori strolled out together from the cargo bay of the _Favour_. "So, no problems getting the weapons shipment to Iskellian?" Dani asked.

"Nope," Lori answered. "They were very happy and gave Jess and I the agreed-upon payment. Said we 'achieved phenomenal success', I think his exact words were."

" _Wo kao_ (well fuck me / holy shit)," Dani laughed. "That bodes well fer future employment!" She paused at the bottom of the ramp, looking fondly at her shiny chrome Meteor.

"Almost a shame to let the girl go," Dani mused.

Keith meandered over from his cherry-red Viper. "I can think of a good way to send them off."

"Oh?" Dani asked curiously.

"One more race," Keith rumbled. "Same course, but starting and ending from here. No cheating."

Dani barked a laugh. "You're on _didi_ (little brother)."

Cali got them to agree to her starting the race off, and she excitedly held up her panda hat as the two aircars moved into position.

Lori leaned over into the Meteor to give Dani a kiss. "Still gonna cheat, right?" she murmured.

Dani smirked at her. "Oh hell yes."

"Ready?" Cali yelled, and upon getting confirmation she swung her hat down.

And they were off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was another fun one, obviously influenced by the _Fast & Furious_ franchise. I'm not much into automotive movies, but I really enjoy that series for some reason. Title track _Paralyzer_ by Finger Eleven. Thanks for reading, and please review!


	38. Episode 30: Empire

_Fortune's Favour_. En route to Persephone.

Dani leaned back in her captain's seat on the bridge, Lori reclining in her lap. She softly stroked her lover's short red hair, trailing her hand down her freckled neck and shoulder. The scar from her wound a month ago was pretty well healed now, one round puckered bit of pink flesh below her left collarbone and a matching one in the back behind her shoulder blade. "It's a gorram shame, really," Dani murmured.

"Hmmm?" Lori purred, snuggling against her while running her hand along Dani's other arm.

"Well, yer scars," Dani explained, smiling. "Means you lost some freckles."

Lori snickered. "Really? That's what yer concerned with?"

"Oh absolutely," Dani whispered as she nuzzled the neck in front of her. "I kept a very accurate count, now I hafta start all over again."

"Oh, darn," Lori breathed dreamily. "Wanna get started on that now?"

Dani's response was interrupted by footsteps on the stairs leading up to the bridge. The two women straightened themselves in case it was one of Dani's girls, as they tried not to embarrass them overly.

Instead, Jess and Keith entered, hand in hand.

Dani smirked at the couple. "You two look 'specially glowin' today."

Jess smirked right back at her. "Tried something a little new last night." Keith just rolled his eyes good-naturedly.

Lori, though, jumped up excitedly, grabbing Jess by the shoulders. "Was it my suggestion? Did I inspire you?"

"Um, yes? I suppose so?" Jess actually blushed a little.

Lori jumped back and did a little twirling dance. "I'm helpful, I'm helpful..." she sang as she skipped off the bridge.

Keith grunted. " _Jie-jie_ (older sister), your girlfriend is a dork."

Dani smiled fondly after her beautiful redheaded lover. "I know."

* * *

Inbound to Persephone. Lux.

That evening as she was heading to bed (and a pair of sultry freckled arms), Dani got a call from Rain on the bridge. She plopped herself in her chair to answer the Wave.

Of course, since she was disheveled and ready for bed, it was Ms. Harrison from Blue Sun.

The corporate drone quirked an eyebrow, the most expressive Dani had seen her. "Did I catch you at a bad time?"

"No, no," Dani tried to reassure her, vainly attempting to pull her hair back in some semblance of order. "Just gettin' ready for bed with... um, yes, bed... gettin' ready... What can I do for you, Ms. Harrison?"

"We were very pleased with your crew's performance on the last job," the corporate drone started without further preamble, "and we'd like to extend another offer to you. It has potential to meet with your crew's... unique qualifications."

 _Hmmm, that got my attention_. "Yes?" Dani prompted.

A half hour later and she was at the galley table with several disgruntled and disheveled crewmembers who had been roused out of bed. Dani had to force Lori to return to the bunk and put on more clothes than just the skimpy robe she was wearing, else she'd not be able to concentrate on her briefing one whit. Lori gave her a wicked little smirk on the way out, making her blush slightly. _How does she still manage to do that to me?_

"Alright, folks," she began once everyone was assembled. Julie and Kelly were nice enough to rouse out of bed as well to pass out coffee and tea and were in the alcove playing cards while Cali watched them with interest.

"We have another job offer from Blue Sun. This one's a doozy, and I apologize ahead of time, but I already accepted. And I'll explain my reasonin' in a sec."

Keith gave a sleepy grunt. "I think we all trust you, _jie-jie_ (big sister)."

His assertion was met with nods from around the table. Dani just sighed, smiling. "I really don' deserve you guys none," she said softly.

She cleared her throat and continued. "So, here's the deal. Blue Sun is trackin' an ex-Independent terrorist who they believe is plannin' on releasing a bioweapon on Ariel."

She let that sit for a spell, as there were shocked gasps from around the table. Even the women in the alcove sat up straight when they heard.

Jess laid her hand on Dani's arm. "And you thought of the _Copperline_ job, right? Yes, absolutely, I think we're all with you on this."

"Great," Dani smiled, "now for the details. It's gonna be a little diff'rent from our other jobs, but I think we c'n pull it off."

She continued to explain how Blue Sun knew the identity of the terrorist, a man called Alex Sebastian, and the details of how he stole the bioweapon. A scientist by name of Dr. Vladimir Nekhorvich was defecting from Biocyte Pharmaceuticals to Blue Sun with a copy of the bioweapon, as well as the only existing copies of the antidote. The scientist was on a passenger liner from Persephone to the Blue Sun system when Sebastian, who was posing as a crewman, gassed the crew and passengers, stole the biologicals, and set the engine to self-destruct. The entire ship was lost with all hands, but a recording of the event survived, hence the intelligence.

Blue Sun was able to detail the weapon, a new virus called Chimera and its cure, Bellerophontes. Chimera was as highly virulent as the one from Copperline; however unless it was injected, it is only infectious when the victim expires, when it is released into the air.

"And this Sebastian is on Persephone right now?" Lori asked in a hushed voice. "That's a pretty populous planet in itself."

"Yep," Dani nodded, "which is why Blue Sun hasn't asked the Alliance military to bomb the place. Even though they know how it gets transmitted, still pretty dangerous, yeah?"

The crew agreed unanimously that this was definitely worth their while, especially as Blue Sun was paying handsomely to avert disaster. While the company wouldn't mind if they were able to retrieve the virus itself, they were far more interested in obtaining the cure, Bellerophontes. In any case, it was imperative that Alex Sebastian be stopped.

* * *

Persephone. Lux.

The _Favour_ had traveled to Persephone, where Sebastian maintained his hideout. The ground team set out to do a basic recon without being spotted.

"One here," Keith murmured over the comm where he lay with Jess on a hilltop nearby the complex. "You guys seeing this?"

"Roger that, One," Dani whispered back. She and Lori were set up on a large rock on the opposite side, concealed by the shadows of a mountain range. "Five and I have eyes on target." While Lori had her scoped sniper rifle, Dani had borrowed a pair of binoculars from her brother.

"Four here," Sara chimed in from the Mule concealed well down the road. "No traffic so far. What do y'all see?"

Keith gave a grunt. "It's a gorram fortress, lots of troops. Pity Blue Sun needs this done cleanly. If I were running this op back in spec forces, I'd recommend orbital bombardment."

Dani sighed. "One, I genuinely wish we'd taken the time to see Mikki and Dev. Those body armors could've come in real handy 'bout now."

"I know, Two," Keith rumbled quietly. "Nothing to do about it now."

"Nope," Dani replied darkly. _What I get for puttin' it off till we had full coffers again, shoulda made smaller trips... ah well, like he said. Work with what we gots_.

"Hey, Two," Keith mused, "got an idea. What about Badger?"

Dani laughed. "What, that _xiao pianzi_ (petty crook)?"

Keith barked a laugh back. "Yep, but he's the only one we know here. Might have something for us, either info or where to get it. We need intel, no way we can handle a frontal assault."

"You're right," Dani sighed again. "Not like that drug dealer's hideout, is it?"

* * *

Badger's Den. Persephone.

"Well now, if it ain't the good Capt'n an' her big gorram _hun dan_ (bastard) of a brother," Badger drawled as Dani and Keith entered his office, escorted in by a few gun-wielding goons. "An' what c'n I do fer ya on this fine day?"

"Evenin', Badger," Dani smirked, sitting down, "you wouldn't have any of that very fine tea you served us last time, wouldya?"

Badger barked a laugh, showing his bad teeth. "Sorry luv, not that partic'lar brand, but I gots somethin' else ya might 'preciate." He gestured to the side, and a thin waif of a girl brought in a tray with three tea cups. Dani raised her eyebrows in her direction, and Badger waved away her concern. "No, luv, not like tha', she's me daughter, learnin' the trade, as it were. Than' ya, luv," he smiled at the girl as she left.

Keith and Dani shared a look. _Badger procreated?_ She repressed a shudder.

Taking a sip of the tea, she could not, however, conceal her reaction this time. " _Wo kao_ (well fuck me / holy shit)!" she exclaimed. "Is that... didya put gorram sake in the tea?"

"Tha' I did, luv," Badger gave her a wink. "Ya like?"

" _Ji du_ (Christ), yeah," she grinned. Turning to her brother, she gave him a nudge. "Okay, _now_ I gots my new fav'rite way to drink tea."

"No rutting way am I letting you drink sake in your tea before you pilot a ship," Keith grunted. He was, however, greatly enjoying his own cup as well.

"Now then, business, luv," Badger continued after taking a healthy slurp of his tea.

"Right," Dani cleared her throat. _I drink this whole cup an' Keith's carrying me back to the ship_.

Keith started in with the explanation of what they needed and were willing to pay for. They requested both information and a nice landing pad that might be set aside for less-than-legal activities, where they could conceal the _Favour_ for awhile. Eavesdown Docks was just too exposed if they were engaging in covert activity.

"Well, then," Badger grinned, leaning back in his chair and lacing his hands behind his crumpled, dirty bowler hat. "I c'n help ya on both accounts. It'll cost ya, one o' two ways as I see it."

Keith gave a grunt. "Go ahead, what do you have in mind?"

"Well," Badger explained, "I 'ave this here cargo tha' needs moved, see, an' my reg'lar crew ain't been seen in awhile now. You move it fer me, out ta Space Bazaar, an' we c'n call it even."

Dani coughed lightly. "I don' think we're gettin' out to Space Bazaar anytime soon, Badger. Much as I'd like to help ya out, I think we'd better just pay you in hard coin."

Badger shrugged carelessly, putting his hands on the table in front of him. "Up to you, luv. Now, 'ere's what I got for ya. Landing pad, coords I c'n give ya, good place ta hide out fer a week until I need it again. And for the intel you need on this fella, I c'n give ya a name. Only cost ya a grand, but that's 'cause I like the two of ya."

Dani smirked. "Pleasure doin' business, Badger."

The siblings were on their way a little bit later, Dani perhaps swaying slightly on her feet though she'd deny it if called out. She transmitted the coords and passwords to the _Favour_ for Rain to move the ship on over.

Meanwhile, they had a gentleman by the name of Luther Stickell to meet with.

* * *

Southdown Abbey. Persephone.

The two siblings were sitting in the lobby of the Abbey patiently. They had requested an audience with one of their Shepherds, who had at one time worked with Sebastian before seeing things in a different light.

Soon enough a burly, dark-skinned man walked through. His barrel chest strained the Shepherd's vestments he wore, and the collar of his order was tight around his burly neck. His head was shaved, and a face that likely could have intimidated the toughest of criminals wore a broad, welcoming smile.

"Hello my friends, I understand you wished to see me?" Luther asked. "Although you will pardon me if I don't recall having met you before."

"Mr. Stickell," Dani smiled, shaking the proffered hand, "my name's Captain Dani Grant, this's my brother and First Officer, Keith Grant. Would you mind helping us out by answerin' a few questions?"

"Certainly!" he boomed, shaking Keith's hand next. "But please, call me Luther. Now, what is it you wish to know?"

"We're tryin' to stop a very bad man," Dani began, lowering her voice, "that I understan' you were acquainted with. Alex Sebastian."

Luther's eyes drew down and his face lost it's civil veneer. "Yes, I knew the _hun dan gou niang yang de_ (bastard son of a bitch). You say you want to stop him?"

Keith nodded. "He's got a bioweapon."

" _Ta ma de di yu_ (fucking hell)!" Luther exclaimed, then lowered his voice again, looking about sheepishly. "Er, I mean, yes certainly I will help anyway I can. What do you need?"

"What c'n you tell us about 'im, his weaknesses?" Dani asked hopefully.

Luther gave a heavy sigh, and sat down on a bench against the wall. "I used to run with his gang before I saw the light. The things he's capable of... You have to understand, he's one seriously _sharen bu zhayan_ (stone cold killer). Going up against him? Well, you're gonna be in _shui shen huo re_ (deep water and scorching fire / abyss of suffering), no two ways about it."

He leaned back with a trace of a smirk. "As far as his weakness goes? I only know of one, really.

"Redheads."

* * *

 _Fortune's Favour_. Smuggler's docks. Persephone.

"No. No ruttin' way."

Dani was pacing around the galley furiously. _They can't seriously be askin' me to be okay with this._

"Dani," Keith began again, "I know you feel deeply about this, but for the love of Buddha, will you at least try to listen?"

"I'm not listenin' because there's nothin' to listen to. Already said it. No. Ruttin'. Way." She continued to pace, head down, not wanting to look anyone in the face, especially not...

She had to come to a halt at a pair of bare feet. It was obvious who they belonged to by the freckles on the tops, running up the legs and disappearing under the short skirt her girlfriend always wore. _Gorramit she's wearin' my favorite green one, too,_ she thought miserably, tears blurring her vision.

"Dani," her redheaded lover said gently, "we hafta do this."

"No, we ruttin' well don't hafta, we c'n find another way, some other... we c'n talk to..." she trailed off, hiccuping, tears now flowing freely down her face as she wrapped her arms around her own middle.

Lori whispered something to the rest of the crew, and then gently led Dani towards their bunk, easing her down the ladder and closing it behind them.

"Lori I... I don' want you to do this, please please don' do this..." Dani trailed off.

"Why not, _lian ren_ (sweetheart)?" Lori asked quietly, as she stepped forward and enveloped her in an embrace.

"Because I can't stand the thought of you bein' with a man, of bein' with someone other than me," Dani wailed, her voice muffled in Lori's shoulder.

"An' it won't mean a gorram thing, _bang jiar_ (lover/partner)," Lori answered quietly. "Yer the only one fer me."

Dani looked up at her, still hiccuping. She ran her thumb across Lori's freckled cheek lovingly. "I wanna marry you," she whispered.

Lori's eyes got wide. "Now?"

"No, not now you _lan ren_ (loon)," she choked out, "but I do wanna marry you. Yer my _zhi'ai_ (most beloved), and nothin' in the 'Verse will change that. You've met my whole family and they love you. I wanna meet yer family. And then I wanna marry you."

She slipped out of the embrace and faced the wall, sobbing quietly. "So you jus'... you just 'member that. I can't tell you not to, you're right, we hafta at this point. But I don' hafta like it."

"Okay, _wo de ai_ (my love)," Lori whispered. She laid her hand on Dani's shoulder, and then started up the ladder to talk with the others, closing the hatch behind her.

Dani flung herself on the bunk, feeling like a gorram idiotic teenager, and even though she hated herself for it, she wailed into her pillow anyways.

* * *

Skylight Lounge. Persephone.

Lori couldn't blame her lover for her misgivings. Truthfully, she had some of her own. Oh, not that being with this man would mean anything to her, quite the opposite. She didn't know how good an actor she could be to pretend to enjoy it when all she would be seeing in her mind were a brilliant pair of green eyes staring at her with love and compassion

She was easily able to slip into her role of a waitress again. Fortunately, the Skylight Lounge, where Sebastian frequented the most, happened to be hiring, and she was easily the most qualified. Even if it had been a long gorram time since she waited tables.

 _Some things_ , she mused, _come right on back to you_.

"Here you go," she said cheerfully as she delivered the table's food order. "Anything else I can get ya?"

"Nothin' just yet, darlin'," the beefy redneck drawled, patting her behind familiarly, "but mebbe some dessert later?" His buddy at the table leered at her suggestively.

"Now boys," she demurred, easily maneuvering out of his grasp, "eat yer food 'fore it gets cold. I'll be back with the check in a jiff."

She walked back to the waitress station, putting a little extra wiggle in her walk. _Always racks up the tips_ , she smirked to herself. _Yep, comin' right on back to me_...

"Lori, hon, you sure you've been outta the business for awhile?" one of the other waitresses, Darlene, asked.

"Sure enuff," Lori smiled, "guess it's in my blood, huh?"

They turned as a party of four men came in. "Oh no, it's that Mr. Sebastian," Darlene hissed. "He's a _gou se_ (shit/crap) tipper and grabby as well."

Lori smiled again. _Perfect._ "It's no problem, hon, I gots them. Close to your break time anyways, yeah?"

"Oh thank you, sweetie," Darlene gushed, scurrying out into the kitchen.

Lori took a deep breath, squared her shoulders and put on her best professional smile before walking over to where they had seated themselves.

She walked up to the table and got her first good look at Alex Sebastian. Problem was, he didn't look like a murdering terrorist. _Looks more like a vid star_ , she thought wryly. _Dani's gonna give me hell once she sees what he looks like_...

"Hi there," she chirped. "My name's Lori, and I'll be your server today. Can I start y'all with some drinks?"

"Well, well boys," Sebastian drawled. _Gorramit he's got a nice voice too. I am madly in love, I am, and I do not need to be remindin' myself of that fact_. "What have we here? Where have you been all my life, gorgeous?"

 _Only one person gets to call me that_ , she snarled to herself. _Okay, maybe it won't be so hard to resist his advances_... Outwardly, she tried her best to look abashed. "That's awfully nice of you, mister, but I'm just the new help. Can I get somethin' for ya?"

The four men ordered drinks and appetizers, and Lori flounced off to get them, taking extra care to give them a good view as she left. _C'mon little man, take the bait_...

She really wished there was some way to keep in contact with the crew. In fact, that was the only point of this whole op that she had reservations about. She felt very isolated, but there was nothing she could do. She had her handheld in her purse, currently stored in a locker, so she could get information out, but there was no way to keep her comm on or to bug her in any way that Sebastian wouldn't detect.

So she was on her own.

When she brought the food and drinks back, Sebastian was staring at her with an intensity that almost took her aback. It was full of lustful need, but she was pleased to note that all it did was repulse her.

"So, darlin'" Sebastian began as she set the drinks down, "what time do you get off?"

 _An' the trap is set_ , she thought to herself, as she smiled prettily and looked as coy as possible from under her eyelashes.

An hour later, she was leaving the lounge on Sebastian's arm towards his hovercar. From the shadows across the street, Sara whispered in her comm, "This is Four. Target is on the move with Five."

* * *

 _Fortune's Favour_. Smuggler's docks. Persephone.

Dani was back to pacing the galley again, this time in irritation. She was snapping at everyone, even her daughters. She knew she was acting like a _biao zi_ (bitch), but she really couldn't care right now. The thoughts and images that kept swirling around her head were driving her to _shen jing bing_ (insanity).

"Dani," a quiet voice intruded on her brooding. She stopped and looked up to see Maribelle and Kelly sitting at the table, watching her warily.

"What," she asked irritably.

"Sit," Maribelle commanded, pointing to a chair in between her two friends. She gave an aggrieved sigh but did so. They both immediately latched on to her, giving her comforting hugs.

"This sucks so much _gou se_ (shit/crap)," Dani whispered angrily.

"Yep, it does," Kelly answered. "It's _go tsao de fang pi_ (dog fucking bullshit), and you've got every right to be _shengqi_ (pissed) at the situation, but you've got to stop taking it out on everyone else."

"That's 'cause I can't take it out on who I wanna take it out on," Dani growled.

Maribelle looked at her in surprise. "Who, Lori?"

"No, of course not!" Dani shouted, leaping to her feet again and continuing to pace. "It's that _qiang bao hou-zi de, qing wa kao de liu mang_ (monkey raping, frog humping son of a bitch) Sebastian, and I wanna take a pair of pliers to his balls!"

" _Shenme ta ma de_ (what the fuck)," Keith rumbled as he walked in the room. "Tell me how you really feel, _jie-jie_ (older sister)."

Dani whirled around and stalked towards her brother. "You! You let her do this, you, you... _bun tyen-shung duh ee-dway-ro_ (stupid inbred sack of meat)!" she screamed.

"I know, Dani," he said calmly, planting himself in front of her. "Just let it out, okay?"

"Aarrggh!" she screamed again, incoherently, and started hammering away at his chest with her fists. She wasn't really trying to hurt him, but she imagined he would have some bruises come morning. After a few minutes, she had spent her aggression, and slumped against his chest, sobbing angrily.

"I know, _jie-jie_ (older sister)," he rumbled in his quiet baritone, wrapping his arms around her. "I know."

Dani just whimpered one last time, and then let out a sigh of frustration.

"Better?" he asked mildly.

"Strangely enough, yes," she smirked wearily. She looked around at Maribelle and Kelly. "Sorry guys."

"It's okay, sweetie," Maribelle smiled at her.

"What about me?" Keith asked.

Dani barked out a laugh. "Oh, you deserve it one way or t'other. I'll just thank you instead."

Keith chuckled and gave her a squeeze before releasing her. "I'll take it. Now, if we're all calmed down, I got a transmit from Lori."

Dani used the hem of her shirt to wipe her face and nodded. "Alright, let's hear it."

They sat down at the table, and Keith placed both hands in front of him, splayed out. "It was a short-burst transmission. She confirmed she's in his complex, and actually got some useful intel right away from an overheard conversation about Chimera. Something we didn't know about."

Dani sat back in her chair. _I am not going to think about what's goin' on in the_ hun dan's _(bastard's) bedroom. Focus on the mission._ "Okay, _didi_ (little brother). What did we get."

"The Chimera virus has a 20-hour dormant period before it causes death through mass destruction of the victim's red blood cells," Keith read from the handheld he pulled out from his thigh pocket. "Bellerophontes can only save the victim if used within the 20-hour window."

" _Wo kao_ (well fuck me / holy shit)," Dani whispered.

* * *

Skylight Lounge. Persephone.

Dani knew it was a bad idea, but she had to see Lori again. If nothing else, just to make sure she was really alright. And yes, she was using the excuse of debriefing her for more intel. Didn't stop her from getting her gorram way for a change.

She strode into the Skylight Lounge in the middle of Lori's shift. According to Sara, who was posted outside the building again, Lori had been dropped off by Sebastian right before her shift began, so she hadn't had the time to contact the ship.

Noting the sign indicating patrons should seat themselves, she picked a small booth at the back of the lounge, near the employee area. They didn't seem terribly busy. Fortunately, Lori had seen her walk in, and her only reaction was a brief widening of the eyes before she murmured something to another waitress and headed over to her table.

"What're you doing here?" Lori hissed through her smile.

"Relax," Dani smiled up at her, keeping her face pleasantly blank. "Nobody's close enough to hear you, and nobody's watching." She looked down at her menu as if trying to decide what to order. "I hadta see you, see how you were doin'," she whispered. " _Duibuqi_ (I'm sorry), I'm jus' not strong enough for this _wo de ai_ (my love)."

Lori sighed softly. "I missed you last night," she whispered back.

Dani buried her face into her menu to hide her brilliant smile. "I'm glad. I missed you too."

" _Deng yi miao_ (hold on a sec)," Lori murmured, "Be right back."

She was back maybe a minute later with a cup of tea, done just the way Dani liked it. After placing it in front of her, Lori smiled and sat down on the bench across the table from her. "I told them you were a close friend who came to see where I worked," she smiled. "I'm due for a break anyways."

"How are you doin'?" Dani whispered.

"My feet hurt," Lori complained softly. "An' I forgot how much I hated random guys grabbin' my ass. An' I wanna drive a steak knife into Sebastian's neck."

"Oh good," Dani murmured under her breath.

Lori giggled softly. "I heard that."

Dani rolled her eyes. "Well, I'm sorry, I jus'..." She sighed again. "This sucks."

Lori reached out her hand to lay it on top of Dani's, but then stopped herself at the last minute and returned it to her lap. "I know."

"No, you don't," Dani hissed. "I'm sitting here across from you, I'm _shengqi_ (pissed) as _diyu_ (hell) about this whole situation, and all I c'n think about is tearing yer clothes off!"

Lori flushed a light pink. "Exactly."

Dani's eyes widened slightly, and Lori gave her a smirk.

"What d'ya think I've been imaginin' doing since I saw you walk through the door?" her redheaded lover asked quietly.

They sat there for a couple of beats, staring at each other. "It's a _sou zhu yi_ (rotten idea)," Dani murmured desperately.

"It is," Lori agreed. "Employee bathroom is through those doors. It locks."

"I'll be right behind you," Dani whispered.

They locked themselves in the employee bathroom, and immediately shared a fierce, passionate kiss, grinding their bodies together desperately.

"Dani," her love panted, breaking contact with her lips. "I gotta... listen, I gotta tell you..."

"I'm listenin'" Dani murmured against her skin, nipping at her neck.

" _Ai ya, huai le_ (shit on my head)... " Lori sighed breathlessly. "Okay, yeah... so Sebastian, he's not at all anxious to... oh, god Dani... he's not in a hurry to get to Ariel... but he's been talkin' to... Merciful Buddha will you let me finish..."

"Not stoppin' ya," Dani smirked as she ran her hands over Lori's body.

"Mmmm, okay, so he's been talkin' to a local Blue Sun rep here, top guy, don' know the name... _Ta ma de_ (fuck me blind)," she ended with a whimper.

"You done talkin'?" Dani murmured.

" _Cao_ (fuck) yeah, yes I'm done..." Lori moaned.

"Good," Dani growled heatedly.

Dani pushed her lover up against the wall, pulling Lori's skirt up and plunging her hand down her soaking wet panties. They both gasped as her finger slipped right in with no resistance, even at that angle.

Lori seemed to have the same idea and used both hands to undo the front of Dani's pants enough to slip her own finger down into Dani's equally wet clitoris. They shuddered, mashing their lips together again. Neither one was inclined to be gentle, working their fingers in and out of each other furiously, juices flowing down their wrists and onto the floor.

She needed her, needed this. She desperately craved the contact, the connection with her _bang jiar_ (lover/partner). One finger was joined by another, simultaneously as if they were synchronized. Their fingers moved in rhythm together, their bodies squirming in unison. Dani moaned into Lori's mouth, their undulations were sending her into a frenzy.

Panting desperately, Dani broke away and cried out Lori's name as she started to crest quickly, her body aching with need. Her explosion still took her by surprise and was enough to send Lori over the edge as well. They trembled in each others supporting arms, sighing as they caressed their partner's clits soothingly, bringing each other down from their high.

Dani gave Lori another passionate kiss as she withdrew her hand gently, and Lori did the same.

"I love you," Dani murmured. _I will not cry, I will not cry_...

"I love you too, beautiful," Lori murmured back. "And yeah, in case it wasn't obvious, I wanna marry you too. You're my _zhi yin_ (soulmate) an' I wanna spend forever with you. Okay?"

"Okay," Dani whispered, and cried anyway.

* * *

Blue Sun Local Branch. Persephone.

Later that evening, the ground team (minus Lori) were in position to gather more intelligence on the situation.

Keith and Jess were watching from a rooftop across the street from the local Blue Sun building. "One, target on the move," Keith rumbled into his comm.

"Two, roger that," Dani whispered back.

The head of the Blue Sun Corporation branch on Persephone, T.R. Devlin, was walking out of the front doors of the building, on his way to dinner. As usual, his ground car was waiting at the curb for him. He stepped inside, and ordered briskly, "To the restaurant please, Agatha." Then he looked up in surprise. "Wait, who are you?"

Dani smiled into the rear-view mirror. "Agatha came down with the flu. I'm her replacement for this evenin'."

"What?" Devlin huffed. "This is most irregular, I'd like to see some- Wait, now who in the rutting hell are you?"

Sara had nimbly slipped into the back with Devlin through the other door. "All part of the package, sir!" Sara chirped, as she quickly injected him with a knockout serum. The Blue Sun rep slumped over wordlessly, and Dani sped away to the rendezvous.

A few kilometers away, Maribelle was waiting for them outside a local doctor's office which had already closed for the day. They got Devlin out of the car as Keith pulled up in a hovercar. He'd left Jess behind to observe the Blue Sun building for any sort of reaction to Devlin's abduction.

Keith quickly defeated the lock and they hustled Devlin into one of the examination rooms. The team quickly stripped the room bare of any posters or medical implements and Keith strapped their victim securely to the examination table. Then they got out the pair of spacesuits they had stored in the back of the hovercar. Unfortunately, they didn't have access to hazmat suits, so this would have to do.

"You really think he'll buy this?" Sara asked doubtfully.

"No worries, sweetie," Maribelle smirked. She held up a vial and tapped the bubbles out, cleaning a patch on his arm before injecting Devlin. "This will wake him up, but it's also got a mild hallucinogen in it. He'll buy it."

They all left the room, Dani listening at the door while Maribelle and Keith got their suits on. Soon Dani heard moans coming from the room, and shortly thereafter a series of panicked shouts for help. She turned and nodded to her crewmates, and they stepped past her into the room.

"Who... who are you people?" Devlin asked in a trembling voice. The man was neatly groomed but somewhat heavyset, and his face was sweating furiously. Of course, that was likely due to Sara having cranked up the heat for that room.

"Hello Mr. Devlin," Keith answered gravely. "Who we are is not important. There is only one thing you need concern yourself with now."

"What? What's that" the strapped-down man asked tremulously.

"We have injected you with the Chimera virus," Maribelle answered offhandedly. "You are eighteen hours into your twenty-hour window. That gives you another two hours to live."

As the man's eyes widened in horror, Dani giggled to herself quietly. _Maribelle is pretty good at this, gotta 'member that the next time some subterfuge comes up_.

"But, but... oh sweet Buddha, no... _ni zai jiang shen me pi hua_ (what the fuck are you saying)? What do you want? Please, do you have a dose of Bellerophontes?" Devlin was fairly close to tears already, obviously not thinking clearly as his eyes bugged out of his head, looking around the room frantically.

Maribelle kept the overhead swinging light directly in his face, as Keith leaned over menacingly. "What we need to know, Mr. Devlin, is everything _you_ know about Chimera and Bellerophontes, and what you've been talking to Mr. Sebastian about."

"Yes, yes alright, I'll tell you everything, alright!" he babbled anxiously.

And Devlin proceeded to spill the beans, as it were, in a spectacular fashion. Nekhorvich had actually injected himself with Chimera, the only way he could smuggle the virus from Biocyte, and had all the known samples of Bellerophontes, now presently in Sebastian's hands. And the terrorist seemed to be more of a criminal than the mass-murdering type. He was in talks with Devlin, wanting money to not infect Ariel and for the copies of Bellerophontes.

After returning Devlin in his groundcar, passed out again in the back seat, to the original destination of a fancy restaurant, Dani and Sara hopped into another rental hovercar parked nearby, while Keith and Maribelle picked up Jess.

Something was bugging Dani, and she couldn't quite put her finger on...

"One," she said thoughtfully into the comm, "we gots full vid of Sebastian on the liner, right? And his grabbin' the case?"

"That's correct Two. What are you thinking?"

Dani suddenly stepped on the brakes, swerving to the curb. She stared at Sara in shock.

"He never took any blood from Nekhorvich," she whispered into the comm. "Sebastian doesn't have a copy of Chimera."

* * *

 _Fortune's Favour_. Smuggler's docks. Persephone.

This time Dani was joined in her pacing around the galley by Keith. The others had to grin at the obvious similarities between the two siblings as they moved about, arms crossed, but they themselves were oblivious to it.

"But how c'n we use this?" Dani pondered. "We can't tell Blue Sun, they'll just call in an orbital strike, and Lori's in there still. Plus, then they don' get Bellerophontes."

"And it does us no good yet..." Keith mused with an identical expression on his face.

Then the intercom crackled to life. " _Kaasan_ ," Rain said, "we got 'nother flash transmission from Lori!"

Dani strode over to the speaker quickly. She could just as easily head to the bridge, but it'd be easier if everyone present got the news at once. "Can you read it for us, sweetie?"

"Yeah, um, lemme see... okay, so Sebastian is goin' out tomorrow night, to raid a lab... yeah, it says he's gonna hit the Biocyte lab here on Persephone."

Dani looked up at Keith, grinning. "That's it!" she crowed. "He must be frustrated with Devlin's draggin' of his feet. He's gonna go get a copy of the virus itself!"

"Then they must have copies still in that lab," Keith rumbled.

"And we're gonna get to them first and destroy 'em. Sara," Dani whirled to her middle daughter. "Stake out the lounge as usual tomorrow. When you see Lori, pull her out right away. We'll plan to raid the Biocyte lab right at dusk, Keith and I, 'fore Sebastian gets there."

She then turned to Jess. "While Sebastian has all his men out on the raid, you and Sara and Lori will raid the house. Lori will know where stuff is, you c'n grab the Bellerophontes for Blue Sun. Sebastian is foiled, and Blue Sun c'n have the Alliance navy blow the gorram place into a crater fer all I care."

Keith leaned against the wall, smirking. "Sounds like a plan, _jie-jie_ (older sister). Let's start organizing some raids."

* * *

Biocyte Pharmaceuticals. Persephone.

The plan had seemed flawless at first, but as such things often do, fell apart quickly.

The first problem was that Lori never showed up at the Lounge for work. She didn't transmit any more either, so she was either a prisoner or Sebastian decided to keep her around. Dani refused to consider other, more permanent, possibilities.

So instead of a three-person raid to steal Bellerophontes, it was now a two-person rescue as well as a theft. They would be going in fairly blind, but Dani had faith in both her sister-in-law and daughter to pull it off. _Please, god, let them pull it off_...

The other problem was that they had no blueprints of the Biocyte lab. Fortunately, that was quickly rectified by Dani calling up Badger again. They were delivered within the hour for a fair price, for Badger anyways.

And so Dani found herself on the roof of the nine-story Biocyte laboratory building, with only a very narrow window of opportunity to get in. They assumed Sebastian would simply barge in the front, as it was the easiest path. They had to be more circumspect so as not to tip the terrorist off to their presence there.

Keith, who had dropped Dani off on the roof, would stand by on the comm and in the car on the next roof over. He'd keep an eye on the building front. "If they come in through the underground garage, though, I won't be able to give you any warning," he had warned her.

_Alright, Dani, here we go. Ready to be the big damn hero?_

She stood at the entrance to the airshaft and adjusted her Ares pistol in her holster. There would be a fifteen second time period when the air recyclers would be shut off every hour, to reset the breakers. They were of an older design which necessitated such measures, fortunately. During that time, the fans would be off, but more importantly, the alarms to the grates (which were tied into the power to the fans) would be off as well. Keith didn't think they were aware of this deficiency in their security system.

She watched the seconds tick down on her wrist display, holding her power tool in a tense grip. _Five... Four... Three... Two... One_... With an audible _thump_ , the fans in the roof unit came to a halt, and Dani quickly started to undo the bolts around the grate. Keith counted the seconds in her ear.

"Three seconds... Five, six, seven, Dani move your _pigu_ (ass), ten seconds, eleven, Dani, Dani! DANI!"

" _Ta ma de_ (fuck me blind)!" she screamed as she ripped the last bolt away, threw the grate and tool aside, and dove through the fan blades. Her foot had barely passed through before the fan started up again.

" _Wo kao_ (well fuck me / holy shit) that was close!" she panted.

"Had me worried there, Two. Get moving, keep me informed."

"You got it, One." She sighed, and started crawling through the ventilation ducts.

She got about fifteen meters before the ducts started sloping downward at a 45-degree angle. And what Dani had not taken into consideration, the moisture inside the ducts that had been sucked out of the humidity-free rooms, quickly made her descent an uncontrolled one.

"Oh, shi-" Dani squeaked as she hurtled downward at a speed she felt should be reserved for spacecraft, not people. Fortunately, her descent was halted when the airshaft leveled out again, and her rear bumped against the bottom of the duct, hard.

"Oof," she exclaimed, rubbing her butt. "Gonna have a bruise on my _pigu_ (ass)..." she trailed off in horror, realizing that she could very easily have landed right overhead from security guards. She strained to listen, but couldn't hear any reaction.

"I'm such a _bendan_ (idiot)," she muttered irritably. She adjusted her comm in her ear, as it was jarred in the fall, and opened the channel to Keith.

"One, this is Two, sit check," she murmured. She tried several times with no response other than static. _Must be too deep inside the building for comms_.

" _Jingcai_ (brilliant)," she muttered, starting forward again.

According to her handheld, which somehow survived the fall, she was actually right around the fifth floor where the lab should be. At least, that's where they hoped it would be. Dani wished they had the time to get ahold of a Biocyte employee to find out more, but they had no idea who would have access to the lab, or who would go unnoticed if missing. Plus, they didn't want to tip their hand too early. _Alright, alright, so it's just wishful thinkin', get yer head back in the game_...

With any luck, the air vents would not be alarmed. She would be able to tell from this end if they were, and so far none had been. The labs themselves were too cluttered for a decent alarm system other than on the doors and windows.

And then, after a few turns, she was above the lab. The first vent didn't give a very good view, but it wasn't alarmed. The second one afforded a better view and was also not alarmed. She was able to peer around and found a medical storage cabinet against the wall. _Bingo_. Now, if the gods of thieves and criminals would just be with her a little longer...

Sure enough, she couldn't spot a camera anywhere. _Must be too sensitive an area, can't make recordings of what goes on_ , she thought.

Dani pulled out her unpowered tool and slowly began to unscrew the bolts. It was a laborious and clumsy process from this side, but eventually she got all free and, holding onto it, twisted the grate around so she could bring it back up rather than let it fall to the floor.

She tried reaching Keith one more time before heading down into the lab, but she could barely make him out through all the static. Dani shrugged her shoulders, hoping the reception would be better outside the ducts.

Gripping the edge of the vent, she slowly lowered herself into the room so as to avoid detection. She got about halfway before slipping and falling straight down in a heap.

" _Tai-kong suo-yo duh shing-chiou sai-jin wuh duh pee-goo_ (shove all the planets in the universe up my ass)," Dani muttered angrily, rubbing new sore spots on her body. "They make this look so ruttin' easy on the vids!"

"That's because they can fake it on the vids," came a quiet baritone voice over the comm.

Dani jumped up and did a little dance. "Hey there, One! Missed ya!"

"And I got eyes on you right now. Stop dancing."

"What? Why?" Dani spun around, trying to get her bearings and spot where Keith was watching from.

"Because it's unprofessional, _bendan_ (idiot)," Keith grunted back. "Get to work."

Dani blew a loud raspberry into the comm and started moving over to the medical cabinet.

"You are so lucky we have the same mother," Keith grumbled irritably.

"Oh _wen wo de pìgu_ (kiss my ass), dork," Dani answered with a smirk. She stood in front of the cabinet, examining it thoughtfully. "Don't see no alarms. Looks like a normal cabinet. Didn't think they'd just keep it in the open like this."

"They wouldn't," Keith said grimly.

"Well, thanks, sunshine, that's reassurin'," Dani snorted. She grabbed the handle and pulled it open, to be confronted by another door, this one a combination safe. "Okay, that's more like it. Keypad combo on a heavy reinforced door. Do I use the doohickey now?"

"Doohickey?" Keith mocked. "You mean the Ruxcon Combo Cracker?"

"Right, the doohickey!" Dani grinned, pleased to be getting under his skin so easily tonight.

Keith just sighed tragically. "Yes, Two, by all means, use the doohickey."

"Alright!" Dani cheered quietly. "Deploying the doohickey!"

She hooked the device up to the combo lock as Keith had demonstrated earlier, and hit the keys. Nothing happened. "Um, sorry One, no lights on the doohickey."

"Did you turn it on?"

"Um, sure I did..." she trailed off, finding the switch on the side. She then was able to get the keys to work. "Oh, hey, yeah it's workin' now!"

Keith just sighed over the comm again. If Dani didn't know better, she could have sworn she heard him counting to ten quietly to himself. Then he murmured back, "So I suppose Cali doesn't fall too far from the tree, eh?"

"Now what's that supposed to mean?" Dani snarked back, watching the lights spin by as the combination lock was slowly cracked. Suddenly it lit up green, and the door popped open. "Right, we're in," she reported tensely.

Opening the door, she could see several different shelves of liquid ampules. Unfortunately, they were marked by number, not name. "One, I need the specification number for Chimera."

"Right, I have that... Okay, Alpha Foxtrot Charlie Five Four One Niner."

Dani searched the shelves until she came across four ampules with the corresponding identifier. "Alright, we're in business, One. Movin' to the decom cabinet."

For high-risk biologicals such as Chimera, there was a separate chamber to use for working with them. The sample would be put into one end of the large transparent plasteel box and sealed in. Then the scientist would use the integrated gloves on the other side to work with them. The chamber in this room also had a high-UV light to destroy samples, and that was what Dani was preparing to use. She loaded all of the ampules, plus an injector, into the chamber and then walked around to turn on the UV light and thrust her arms into the rubber gloves that stretched inside. Loading up one ampule into the injector, she pressed the lever to disperse it into the box.

"One, got the first done."

"Roger that, Two," Keith answered. "Still no activity."

She was starting to dare that they might be able to pull this off without incident. Dani got the second and third ampules loaded and dispersed safely, but as she loaded the last one, her luck predictably ran out.

The door to the lab burst open, and gunmen entered. On seeing Dani standing at the cabinet, they immediately opened fire.

" _Wang ba_ (son of a bitch)!" she screamed, lunging towards the safety of heavier lab equipment behind her. The cabinet behind her was shattered by the high-velocity shells from the gunmen's assault rifles, and glass rained down on her head. Her comm unit went skittering off into the back of the room as she clumsily shoulder-rolled into cover.

Dani wasted little time in pulling out her Ares sidearm and returning fire. She dropped two in quick succession, then darted towards new cover as her old position came under fire again. She repeated the process, only to see several more henchmen enter the room, firing at her.

She could only squeeze one shot off before she was forced to scramble back towards better cover, finally lunging behind a heavy-duty steel counter. Dani checked herself frantically, finding no bullet wounds but plenty of scrapes. Also, just within reach was her comm unit. She waited for a brief lull in the gunfire before darting out to grab it, and then quickly returning. For her efforts, she took a small graze to her forehead. Nothing serious, but she had to pause and grab a bandage out of her kit before blood started to block her vision.

As she was bandaging herself, she noticed the rate of fire drop off, and then cease at the shouted instruction of someone. She peeked around her cover, desperately searching for the last ampule... and immediately spotted it on the floor, just outside her reach and in between her and the gunmen. One of them was crawling towards it for retrieval, and she quickly dispatched him

Putting the comm unit back in her ear, she winced at Keith's panicked shouting. "One!" she hissed furiously. "I'm here! _Bi zui_ (shut up)!"

" _Ta ma de di yu_ (fucking hell), Two, what's going on?"

She poked her head back around cautiously, trying to see her opposition. "I think Sebastian just crashed the party," she murmured.

" _Ai ya, huai le_ (shit on my head), must have come up through the garage. I can see movement now, they've got the lobby sealed off... Gorramit Two, they've got a small army in there!"

Dani laughed mirthlessly. "Yeah, _dao xie_ (thank you), I c'n see that."

"Can you extract?" Keith asked worriedly.

Dani looked around the room. "I can't see any way out that's not in the line of fire. There's a window across from me, behind some more cover, that I could make it to... Looks like north side? Fourth window from... yeah, from your right corner."

"Alright," Keith murmured. "Fifth floor, north side, fourth window from right."

"Not yet, though," Dani warned. "I still gotta get the last ampule, can't let them get ahold of... _deng yi miao_ (hold on a sec)," she whispered. Someone had started clapping condescendingly. _Sebastian_.

"Well done, _pengyou_ (friend). You played a very good game. But I'm afraid I win now." Sure enough, that would be Sebastian. "There's no way out, and I hold all the cards now."

" _Shenme ta ma de_ (what the fuck), all the cards?" she muttered to herself, risking another peek around the corner.

Alex Sebastian was standing just behind a set of his goons, and next to him, restrained by two more henchmen, was Lori in a short dark blue dress. One of the men had a gun pointed at her head.

Clenching her jaw tightly, Dani ducked back around. "One. That _ching-wah tsao duh liou mahng_ (frog-humping son of a bitch) has Five hostage."

" _Ta ma de_ (fuck me blind)," Keith groaned. "I'll notify Three and Four to abort. Hang in there."

Sebastian had seen Dani, and he chuckled evilly. "Ah, it's you, of course."

Dani squirmed uncomfortably. _How does he know me?_

As if in answer to her unspoken question, Sebastian spoke up again. "I've suspected this little _chang fu_ (whore) for some time now, so I made sure to view the security footage from the Skylight Lounge. Oh yes," he laughed, "I should mention I do own the place. I saw the two of you in the employee bathroom, it made for very kinky viewing, my thanks for that."

Dani heard Sebastian move and looked around again to see him grab ahold of Lori, gripping her arm tightly and putting his own gun to her forehead. "Now then, please tell me, is that the last sample of Chimera there on the floor?"

Dani growled deep in her chest. " _Shi a_ (yes, affirmative)," she gritted out angrily.

"Excellent. Now then, my pretty little _biao zi_ (bitch)," he directed at Lori, thrusting her in front of him. "Go get the ampule. Get it for me, and both you an' your little friend c'n go free."

" _Fang pi_ (bullshit)," she growled under her breath. No way was Sebastian letting either one live tonight. "Keith, what do I do," she whispered desperately. _I can't save her, I can't get us both out alive, gorram useless once again_...

Lori walked slowly over to the vial, her sandaled feet crunching over broken glass. Peeking around the corner again, Dani could see she had a massive bruise on the side of her face, and a split bottom lip. She still thought Lori was the most beautiful person in the 'Verse right then, especially when she looked up at Dani with those light brown, fierce eyes.

She crouched down and picked up the ampule, still inside the injector, with trembling fingers. Standing up, she looked back over and gave Dani a sad smile. "I'm sorry, beautiful," she whispered.

And then injected herself.

Dani and Sebastian both screamed "No!" though Dani's was more from shock and fear, while Sebastian's was full of fury.

Dani looked at her lover numbly for a beat and then thinking quickly she tapped the keys on her wrist display, setting a countdown timer for twenty hours from now. She dimly heard Sebastian ordering his men to grab Lori and kill Dani. They opened fire again, but Dani hardly flinched, she just stared uncomprehendingly at Lori as two of Sebastian's henchmen dragged her backwards, the ampule falling from her fingers to shatter against the floor.

"Why...?" Dani whispered, panicked, though it couldn't be heard over the sounds of gunfire.

Lori must have understood, but all she could do was give her a small smile as she was pulled behind the other gunmen.

She was startled out of her stupor by Keith's voice barking in her ear. "Two, I'm outside the window! Extract!"

Eyes flashing, Dani turned her head back towards Lori, though she could no longer see her past the gunmen. "Lori!" she screamed. "You stay alive gorramit! I will find you and I will come to you, but you stay alive!" Tears filling her eyes, she shot out the window across from her and sprinted towards it, leaping out into the night air, trusting in her brother to be there to catch her.

* * *

 _Fortune's Favour_. Smuggler's docks. Persephone.

Dani slumped in her chair at the table, exhausted and drained. Maribelle was tending to her graze on her forehead, as well as another on her arm she hadn't noticed. _Must've picked it up flying out the window_ , she thought with detachment.

"We were able to get in pretty easily, there were few guards left," Jess was reporting to Keith. "Got a decent layout of the place, between Sara and I, if we're going in there again. But we got your signal before we could explore too far."

Sara was sitting at Jess' side, but looking at Dani worriedly. She gave herself a shake. _No time to fall apart right now. Lori needs me, my crew needs me. Get your_ gou se _(shit) together, girl_.

Dani straightened up in her seat and placed her hands on the table. All eyes turned towards her as she cleared her throat. Sara was looking at her with trust and confidence that empowered her immediately.

"So. We need to rescue Lori, and we need Bellerophontes. And we need to kill Sebastian. All within the next..." She looked at her wrist display, wincing. "Sixteen an' a half hours. Keith, gimme a plan."

Keith gave a grunt. "We need to make sure everything is in one place for us to hit. Let me check some things, I got a tap into the local Blue Sun network from when we pinched Devlin..." He tapped a few keys on his handheld. "Right. This will work. Next morning, twelve hours from now, Devlin is due to meet Sebastian at the fortress. Looks like he's bringing payment this time for the Bellerophontes."

He looked up from his display at Dani. "We use that as our entry time. Sebastian will have the Bellerophontes with him. Lori should be there as well, maybe as a demonstration of its effectiveness."

Dani nodded firmly. "Right. Full frontal assault?"

"Oh yes," Keith smirked. "Sebastian's going to realize he shouldn't _ta ma de gen women_ (fuck with us). Jess gets to use the grenade launcher again." His wife grinned a little at that announcement. "Jess, Dani, and I will go in the front, crash the aircar that I flew tonight into the front doors when Devlin pulls up. Gate guards will be occupied. Sara, you use the noise and distraction to sneak in through the back and find Lori."

Keith steepled his fingers in front of his face thoughtfully. Dani knew her brother was the best around at this sort of thing, and she had every confidence in him pulling this off. "Primary objectives," he rumbled, "are Bellerophontes and Lori. Secondary is killing Sebastian. _Dong ma_ (understand)?" He directed the latter at Dani.

Dani nodded again. _But no way is that_ go tsao de wang ba _(dog fucking son of a bitch) gettin' away from me if I have a shot._

* * *

Sebastian's Compound. Persephone.

Dani stared at her wrist display. Only four and a half hours left. They were cutting things so close. She couldn't sleep a wink last night, instead taking out her frustrations on the poor punching bag in the hold of the _Favour_. Every other available time was spent planning and equipping their raiding party. _I'm coming, Lori. Hang on_.

Their aircar had dropped Sara off well behind the large house, and now they were circling in, waiting for Devlin to pull up to the gate before they began their assault.

"There!" Jess cried. "I see him, moving down the road... about one minute out!"

"Four, you copy? One minute to insertion," Keith murmured into the comm.

"Roger that, One," Sara piped back.

They sat in their seats tensely, waiting for Devlin's car to approach the gate... and then it was time. Keith hauled the controls over, and they sailed down towards the front doors of Sebastian's compound.

Dani clenched her arms around her harness tightly, bracing for impact. _This is gonna hurt_...

With a loud crash and a screech of metal, they were down. Dani was thrown against her restraints but they held. She fumbled with the buckle, releasing to tumble out onto the floor of the lobby. " _Wo kao_ (well fuck me / holy shit)!" she mumbled dazedly, looking around at the devastation. The bodies of several guards lay under the rubble, and Keith was already up and moving, assault rifle in his hands, and firing at several gunmen who raced into the destroyed room to see what happened.

Dani gave herself a slap upside her head to clear the fog. She looked around but couldn't see where her shotgun had fallen in the aircar. Shrugging, she pulled her Ares out and headed towards Keith. Jess was stationed by the front to delay any reinforcements.

The two siblings quickly made their way down the hallway to where Jess and Sara had indicated Sebastian's study lay. Several guards attempted to stop them, but surprise was on their side now, and the response was sporadic and, ultimately, ineffectual. Dani and Keith handily dealt with any guard in their path.

They crouched at the final intersection to the study. Several guards were inside, under good cover and firing back. "Gorramit," Keith shouted, then opened the channel on his comm. "Three, need you back here, stat."

After but a few seconds ( _Damn that girl is freaky fast_ , Dani thought with amusement) Jess arrived at their location, sliding into position next to her husband.

" _Lian ren_ (sweetheart)," Keith began with a smirk, "would you mind clearing that room for us?"

Jess grinned excitedly. " _Deng yi miao_ (hold on a sec)," she giggled, adjusting the controls on her grenade launcher and setting it for close range. She used the digital selector to choose a high-explosive payload and swung out into the hallway, quickly sending the grenade into the room ahead. She ducked back around just as quickly, avoiding the splinters of wood and furniture fragments that came flying towards them. The explosion was deafening in the close confines of the hallway.

" _Niubi_ (fucking awesome)!" Jess yelled exuberantly, and Dani had to agree. The doors to the study were still intact, though barely. They looked about to be blown in by a stiff breeze.

Keith gave his wife a wink and moved quickly ahead to secure the study. Dani moved up right behind him. She heard the barking of Keith's rifle, and a few shots shattered the wall panel next to her. She ducked cautiously but immediately popped back up again as Keith reported "Clear!" into the comm.

Dani walked into the study to see a large metal case sitting on top of a massive wooden desk. The carpet in front of it was smoking slightly from Jess' grenade.

Keith was standing behind the desk, rifle pointing at something behind it. She walked around to see Sebastian, clutching his bloody abdomen.

Dani smirked, as she crouched down next to the terrorist. "Looks painful," she commented nonchalantly.

" _Qu si_ (go to hell)," he groaned, blood spilling from his mouth.

"You first," she grinned darkly. She stood back up and leveled her sidearm at his right eye.

"One, this is Four!" Sara broke in. "I can't find Five anywhere up on the second floor!"

"Gorramit," Dani snarled, shoving her pistol back in her holster furiously. She gave Sebastian a kick in his side, causing his to yelp in pain.

"Where is she?" Dani growled, bending over the bleeding terrorist.

Sebastian coughed weakly, blood dripping down his chin. "Why, I let her go, of course." He coughed again, a wad of blood spilling onto his chest.

"Where?" Dani screamed, grabbing the front of his shirt, heedless of the bloody mess.

Sebastian gave a bubbly laugh. "Eavesdown... Docks..." he wheezed in one last breath.

Dani dropped him and stood up. _He meant to release the virus into the population, let her die right there and infect all the ships coming in an' out of the port_... She looked at Keith with wide eyes.

He gave her a firm nod and barked into the comm as he grabbed the metal case, " _Favour_ , we need extract, now! Everyone, front lawn!"

They raced out towards the lobby again, meeting only very minor resistance. Sara dropped down in front of them as they entered the lobby, and they raced out into the yard.

Over the hill, they could see several guards moving up towards the house, but they were ignored. Rain was bringing the _Favour_ in to pick them up, maneuvering with deftness that made Dani proud. The ramp was already down, Cali clinging to the strut and waving them in frantically.

The four members of the ground crew jumped on, and Cali yelled into her comm "Go, Rain, go!"

As the _Favour_ smoothly headed skyward, Dani slumped against the ramp controls. "Rain," she shouted frantically into her headset, "we need to get to Eavesdown Docks, fast. Any open pad, don' care if'n someone's in a landin' pattern, find one fast and touch down quick enuff fer us to disembark. Dust off again and get into high orbit, wait fer our call. You copy that?"

" _Shi a_ (yes, affirmative) Captain," Rain answered tersely.

She felt the ship bank as Rain headed for the landing pads. Keith was handing out the four ampules of Bellerophontes, one to each ground team member. Dani accepted hers, staring hard at it.

"Sara," she called out, not looking up. "You stay on the ship."

"No."

Dani blinked, and looked up at her daughter, who had walked over to stand in front of her, arms crossed and a resolute look on her face.

"Am I on the ground team or not?" Sara demanded.

"But, _baobei_ (treasured one)," Dani whispered, tears filling her eyes.

"Forget it. I'm coming." Sara gave her a smirk, one that labeled her as more of a Grant than any blood tie ever could.

Dani sighed and smiled tearfully at her. She just gave her a nod. Sara turned to give Cali a tight hug, murmuring in her ear.

"Touch down in fifteen seconds, get ready to jump, I gots a big freighter about to land on our heads," Rain shouted over the intercom.

The four ground crew lined up at the ramp as Cali started to lower it again. Dani glanced at her wrist display. _Less than an hour left. God, please be there Lori_...

* * *

Eavesdown Docks. Persephone.

The four crew had jumped from the ramp rapidly enough, enabling Rain to fly the ship back off again. They split up, fanning out in the crowds to find where Lori had been left.

 _What if they just put her in a room somewhere instead of just dropping her off? What if the twenty-hour limit ain't exact?_ Her thoughts were whirling frantically in her head as she ran through the dense crowds shouting Lori's name.

She pushed past a stall of bright floral scarves and right into the path of a trio of Tong enforcers, who knocked her down without sparing her a glance. As she rebounded off of the pavement, she heard the sound of glass breaking.

Eyes wide in horror, Dani stumbled to her feet and looked down at her pocket where the Bellerophontes ampule had been. A wet stain was now spreading out from it, and she could feel shards of glass dig into her thigh. She glanced at her wrist display. Fifteen minutes left.

"LORI!" she screamed desperately into the crowd.

"Two, I have her!" Sara shouted over the comm. "Just gave her the serum, she's gonna be fine!"

Wiping the tears from her face, Dani sprinted in the direction to where Sara indicated they were. Approaching the square, she could see that Lori had gotten herself propped up against the statue in the middle of a fountain to give her as much visibility as possible before collapsing.

Heedless of the water, Dani splashed over to where Lori was sprawled next to Sara, who was helping her sit up. Dani threw herself at her lover and hugged her tightly. "You are such a _bendan_ (idiot), and I love you so much."

Lori smiled weakly. "Aww, I love you too, beautiful. Never had a doubt you'd find me in time."

Dimly Dani heard Keith call the _Favour_ back down to retrieve them, asking Rain to find an actual open pad at Eavesdown. Dani just kept hugging Lori tightly, sobbing.

* * *

 _Fortune's Favour._ Eavesdown Docks. Persephone.

Dani was lying naked on her stomach and on her bed. Lori, still a little wan but recovering quickly, was also naked but sitting cross-legged at the end of the bed, Dani's feet in her lap, massaging them.

"Oooohhh," Dani moaned ecstatically, "that feels soooo ruttin' good..."

Lori gave a giggle. "Well, I hear you had a rough day, my _xiong jiao_ (handsome hero). All sorts of thrillin' heroics."

"Gorram right I did," Dani murmured in reply. "Would you mind rubbin' my ankles as well?"

"Your ankles?" Lori repeated curiously, moving her strong fingers up.

"Yeah, mmmm you got it," Dani moaned again. "Ever since that _hun dan gou niang yang de_ (bastard son of a bitch) broke them, they're sore after I hafta run. Not durin', jus' after."

Lori gave a sigh as she kept her attention on her lover's legs.

"Hey," Dani said, twisting her head around. "Now why are ya gettin' all mopey on me? Not 'cause I brought that up, is it?"

"Well, not really, it's jus'..." Lori gave a sigh again. "Are you mad at me?" she asked in a little voice.

" _Ni zai jiang shen me pi hua_ (what the fuck are you saying)?" Dani laughed, turning around and sitting up. She took Lori's hands in her own, staring intently into her lover's warm brown eyes.

" _Mi you ling_ (listen closely)," she began earnestly. "Yeah I was _shengqi_ (pissed) at first over the whole op, at you, at him, at Keith, at everyone. But that was just 'cause of my own selfishness, my insecurity. But what you did in that lab? I was... well, I was awed."

Lori snickered, but Dani shook her head. "No, I mean it, I know it's sounds _feng li_ (crazy), but I've never loved you more, seeing how brave you were. And how much trust you put in me to come to yer rescue."

Lori leaned in and gave her a tender kiss. "You know I'd have done the same in yer position, right?"

"Absolutely, _wo de ai_ (my love)," Dani murmured, kissing her again.

They pulled back, still clasping each other's hands, and somehow their nakedness didn't even register. This was the most natural thing in the world, sitting across from each other and staring into the eyes of their _bang jiar_ (lover/partner), one set a bright green and the other a light brown.

"You really wanna come meet my family?" Lori whispered.

Dani nodded at her. "Jess already picked up a shipment bound for Kalidasa, we lift in the mornin'."

"And marry me?"

Dani grinned and nodded more firmly. "Nothin' in the 'Verse I want more, love."

Lori sighed again. "It ain't gonna be easy," she mused.

"What yer family, or marryin' me?" Dani teased.

Lori wrinkled her freckled nose. "My family, you loveable _lan ren_ (loon). I haven't seen 'em since I left fer the war."

"Well," Dani murmured against her lips as she moved in for another kiss, "you'll have me at yer side, no matter what."

* * *

 _Fortune's Favour._ Eavesdown Docks. Persephone.

Kelly paced restlessly in her bunk, muttering quietly to herself. "It's not my place to ask. I believe in something greater than myself. A better world. A world without sin. That's what I'm doing this for."

She sighed heavily and reached for her high-tech comm unit. After the appropriate unlocking is done and the connection entered, the visage of the gaunt, black suited man filled her screen again.

"I received your report," he began without preamble. "This crew is... unconventional."

Kelly nodded. "But effective."

"Certainly," the man in black responded emotionlessly. After a brief pause, he continued. "We are also very interested in two of the girls on board."

Kelly's mouth suddenly went dry. "Sir?"

He looked down at something on the desk in front of him. "Subjects... Rain Grant, and her sister, Sara Grant, formerly Jameson." He quickly looked back up. "She was adopted at a very late age," he stated.

Kelly nodded warily. "That is correct."

The stark-faced man leaned back in his chair, tapping thoughtfully on his chin with a blue latex finger. "On your next planetfall, we will require a fuller dossier on both subjects."

"Yes, sir," Kelly whispered. She could feel her heart sink towards her feet.

"Report again in five days, Agent Thirty," he finished, closing the connection.

Kelly switched off the screen numbly, putting it away again. She lay down on her back on top of her bunk.

"A better world... A better world..." she repeated softly to herself, like a mantra. She tried to ignore the one small tear that escaped to roll down the corner of her eye.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whew, this one was as long as Episode 10! So, as may be obvious, this is my tribute to _Mission Impossible 2_ , which in turn was inspired by the classic movie _Notorious_. Some consider MI:2 to be a terrible movie, but I always liked it, and the plot made for a nice episode. And honestly, I'll try to stop bad things from happening to Lori. She deserves a break, don't ya think? In fact, I think the next episode will have something very nice happen to her... eventually...
> 
> BTW I think this was the shortest Lemon section in history.
> 
> Title track _Empire_ by Queensryche.


	39. Episode 31: Welcome to the Family

Dani woke up slowly, blinking her eyes in the bright sunlight filtering in through the windows. She felt the warm, soft arm across her stomach, and lightly stroked it. Turning her head, she stared into Beth's brilliant green eyes, so much brighter than her own.

Beth gave her a soft, tender smile. "You know I'm okay with this, right?"

"Are you? Really?" Dani whispered.

Beth brushed Dani's hair over her ear in a gesture so familiar it brought a tear to her eye. "Of course I am, honey," she murmured. "All I've ever wanted was for you to be happy. You should wake up now, though."

"Okay," Dani whispered, brokenly.

She blinked her eyes again, adjusting to the dim lights in her bunk. Lori was snuggled into her side, arm draped over her stomach. She wiped the tear from her eye and then stroked the arm lovingly before twisting her head around to give her redheaded lover a kiss on the lips.

Lori stirred, and opened her light brown eyes. "Whazza... oh, time to get up?"

"Yeah, it is _lian ren_ (sweetheart)," Dani smiled, kissing her again, slow and sweet.

* * *

Inbound to Aberdeen. Kalidasa.

Dani sat on the bridge with Lori in her lap. Her lover had been especially clingy today, insisting on holding her hand or touching her in some way whenever possible.

"You feelin' nervous 'bout today?" Dani murmured against her cheek.

Lori sighed. "It's been ten years, little more, since I left. I dunno how he's gonna react. To me, to you, to... everythin'."

Dani gave her a squeeze. "I know, _wo de ai_ (my love), I'll be right there with you, okay?"

Turning her head, Lori gave her a fierce kiss. "I know that  _zhen'ai_ (true love)," she whispered when they separated. "And it's the only reason I'm goin' through with this."

"Well, if we're goin' through with this, I gotta land us." She gave her lover a peck on the nose before Lori got up to move over to the pilot's seat.

"Aberdeen Control, this is Firefly transport _Fortune's Favour_ , requesting landing clearance for Montrose Township field."

"Roger that Firefly transport, I don't have you on my schedule, are you here for one of the mining companies?"

"Negative, Control," Dani replied into the comm, "personal visit only."

"Affirmative Firefly transport. Clearance granted for pad six, follow the beacon on down."

"Thanks, Control. Have a good one." Dani replaced the mike back in its holder and set her course.

She could hear Lori sigh heavily next to her, a sound full of foreboding and dread.

* * *

Montrose Township. Aberdeen

Dani and Lori walked hand-in-hand up the small dusty street towards the middle of the town, where her family pub took prominence. Lori had explained it sometimes functioned as a town hall, though there really wasn't much of a government around here. The mine owners pretty much ran everything on the planet.

They stopped in front of the large double doors made of heavy wood. A carved wooden sign, in faded green paint, proclaimed it to be 'O'Toole's'. Lori looked around the large, two-story building. "Looks like they replaced the roofin'," she murmured. "Useta be green, not brown." She shrugged, and gave Dani's hand a tug. "Well, let's get this over with."

Lori opened one of the doors and pulled Dani inside. It took a few seconds for her eyes to adjust, but once they did she was entranced. It was a wide open room, with thick wooden pillars spaced out evenly and round tables scattered throughout. There were large booths with red leather seats lining the right side of the room, a huge bar of polished teak wood across the left, and in the center of the back was a stage, slightly raised and about fifteen meters or so each side. There were a few doors in the back, all marked for employees only. The pub was dimly lit, but it only served to enhance the cozy, warm feel. She imagined that the fireplace in the front of the room would make it even more so on cold nights.

This early in the day the place was pretty deserted. Only one tall, rail-thin man with a mop of black hair stood behind the counter, cleaning glasses. Looking up, his eyes widened, and he grinned. "Well I'll be a _wang ba_ (son of a bitch)!" he said excitedly.

Before Lori could answer she was tackled from the right by a mess of dark reddish brown hair. "Aunt Lori!" a voice squealed, then Lori was torn from her grasp as they both tumbled to the ground.

The two girls lay there laughing until Lori could extract herself. "Feather?" her girlfriend asked incredulously.

The grinning girl parted her hair from in front of her face, grinning and nodding. She looked like a more slender version of Lori in her barmaid's outfit, without the freckles, though. Her hair was curled slightly and fell past her shoulders.

Lori sat up, still laughing. " _Ta ma de_ (fuck me blind) you've grown!"

"I'm not ten anymore Aunt Lori! It's been ages since we got to see you!" the girl hopped to her feet and helped Lori up as the other man walked over. He extended his hand to Dani.

"Hey there, I'm Jeb O'Toole, Lori's brother." he said genially.

"Dani Grant," she replied, shaking his hand firmly. "Lori's girlfriend."

Jeb smiled widely. "Well then, welcome to the family!" And, laughing, he pulled her into a hug.

" _Bi zui_ (shut up), you guys are together?" Feather squealed excitedly, still hugging Lori tightly. "That is so _jingcai_ (brilliant)!"

"Did you guys just make it here?" Jeb asked after letting Dani go. He pushed Feather aside good-naturedly to give his sister a hug, while Feather took the opportunity to grab onto Dani and hug her next.

 _Apparently, they're a family of huggers_ , Dani thought with amusement.

"Yeah, just got in," Lori explained as she held on to Jeb tightly. "God it's so good to see you again Jeb."

"You too _meimei_ (little sister)." Jeb let go and held her at arm's length. "Life's been decent to ya, huh? Don't suppose you've gotten to see Dad yet?"

Lori shook her head hesitantly. "Not yet, no. How's he, um, still feel about me leavin'?"

Jeb barked out a laugh. "Oh, he's still got a good head of steam goin' about it. 'Spect you'll get an earful. Now, the one you gotta look out for is Bud."

Lori raised her eyebrows incredulously. "Bud Heyman? Don't tell me he's still pinin' for me?"

"Oh yeah," Feather nodded, grinning. "He's in here every night mopin' about you runnin' off. Sez you're the only girl for him, won't ever love 'nother, goes on and on for hours."

Lori rolled her eyes in irritation. " _Ai ya, huai le_ (shit on my head)." She looked at her niece again, smiling. "I still can't believe how much you grew up. What've you been up to, since you couldn't follow on my heels all day?"

Feather stuck her tongue out at Lori, then grinned. "Oh you know, still followin' in yer footsteps. Breakin' the hearts of boys an' girls all over Aberdeen."

Lori snorted and shook her head, but Jeb was laughing loudly. "She's tellin' the truth, _meimei_. Now that Betty's married off, she's the resident heartbreaker."

"And how about you," Lori asked Jeb, turning to him. "You ever marry Jules?"

"That I did," Jeb grinned, "after her daddy caught us in her room one night. Got three kids now, oldest is eight."

Lori snickered, and grasped Dani's hand again. "Good for you. I gotta meet ev'ryone, I've really missed you all..." She trailed off. "You know I hadda leave, right Jeb?"

Jeb smiled at her gently. "I know ya did, _meimei_ , and I understand yer reasonin'. I think most of the family is okay with it too, except for Dad. Ericka still thinks you shoulda married Bud, though, said somethin' about readin' it in the stars."

Lori rolled her eyes again. "That girl is such a hippie." She smirked at Feather. "Sorry, hon, I know she's yer mom, but she is."

Feather just giggled. "Oh, I know that, Aunt Lori. Shane's just as bad sometimes. He's my older brother," she explained to Dani. "Oh, he's married too! Girl named Rosie, an' he's a foreman like Zach, but in the mine that my dad owns."

Dani's head was swimming with the talk of all of Lori's relatives. It was getting hard to keep everyone's names straight. _And I thought my family was big?_ "And how many siblings do you gots again?" she asked Lori.

Her redheaded lover gave her hand a squeeze. "Eight," she replied, smiling. "But four are off-planet, far as I know."

"Aunt Evie came back to visit!" Feather piped in excitedly. "She's a _huaidan_ (badass) merc now!"

Lori laughed. " _Wo kao_ (well fuck me / holy shit), this I gotta see."

Before the conversation could continue, another man entered the pub from one of the back doors. Dani was pretty sure she was looking at Lori's father, Robert O'Toole. He was as tall as rail-thin as Jeb, but with shorter hair, iron-grey, and with a matching, neatly-trimmed beard. He stopped at the door's threshold, and then walked in a few more steps before halting again, arms crossed.

Lori gave an audible gulp. "Hi Daddy," she said weakly.

"Lorraine," he answered calmly. "Back to visit?"

"Um, yeah, been awhile, so..." Lori trailed off uncertainly.

"Give us a moment, please," he said in a very controlled voice. Both Jeb and Feather shot her apologetic looks before scurrying through a door behind the bar, presumably into the kitchen.

Dani remained at her lover's side, though Lori had withdrawn her hand and was hugging her own abdomen tightly.

"Who's this?" Robert asked, tipping his head towards Dani.

Lori cleared her throat, but Dani spoke up first. "Captain Danielle Grant of the _Fortune's Favour_. And Lori's girlfriend."

Robert stood there for a bit, arms still crossed, and now included Dani in his glare. Dani just looked back, unperturbed. _I have survived t_ _eenaged daughters, you don't phase me a bit, old man_.

"Well then, I suppose you can stay," Robert said darkly.

"Too kind of you," Dani murmured. Then, louder, she asked, "C'n we sit?"

Robert nodded curtly, and they moved over one of the round tables with five chairs around it. Lori sat across from her father, and Dani sat at her side, close by. She gripped Lori's leg under the table. _I'm here for you, babe_. Lori placed her hand over Dani's and squeezed back.

Her father cleared his throat. And still sat there silently for a full minute. Lori squeezed Dani's hand harder.

"I'm sorry, Daddy," Lori finally broke in. "I know I left you with only a letter, but I hadta get out, and I couldn't make you see reason. I hadta leave."

Robert sighed and deflated a bit. "I want to be so very mad at you, Lorraine. But you're so much like your mother." His stern face cracked a small smile. "She was a wild one too, suppose that's what attracted me. So, alright. I forgive you."

Lori gave a huge smile, but Robert forestalled her response with a raised hand. "It's not that easy, though. Did Jeb tell you about Bud?"

His daughter gave a snort. "Only that the gorram fool is still pinin' after me like a lovestruck _bendan_ (idiot). D'ya need me to talk to him?"

Robert shook his head slightly. "Like I said, it's not that-" He broke off as the front door slammed open, and a well-groomed blond man strode in. Peering around Lori, Dani could see that he was of a medium build, fairly fit and good-looking, she supposed. _If you were into the pretty-boy thing_ , Dani snorted to herself.

The man strode up to the table and stood there, hands on hips and legs apart, looking down his nose at Lori. "So, you finally returned. About gorram time, been ten years. Hope you got that nonsense out of your system now."

"Bud," Lori said calmly. "Nice to see you again. I've moved on, though, and I'm only passin' through, stopped by to see family."

Bud nodded his head firmly. "That's right, an' you're my family now."

Lori looked at her father incredulously, and Robert nodded, sighing. "What I was trying to tell you. I told him he could marry you whenever you came back."

Dani gave a snort of laughter, covering it up with her hand. Lori glared at her for a sec, but it was nothing compared to the intensity with the look she gave Bud. She stood up very slowly, adjusting her gunbelt (perhaps a little obviously, to give her next statement some credence), and gritted out, "No Bud, I am not marryin' you. I'm crew on a ship. I have a girlfriend, and I aim to marry her. Not you. Get over it."

Dani wisely kept quiet, just leaned back in her chair with a grin, arms crossed.

"You have a what?" Bud sputtered. "No matter. You're mine, you're the one who needs to 'get over it', and come back to reality. That Firefly transport you came in on? Already landlocked. You're not going anywhere."

At that, Dani put all four of her chair legs on the floor with a thump. "Excuse me, please," she murmured politely. Turning her comm back on, she spoke quietly into it. "Home, this is Two, are we landlocked?"

"Affirmative Two," Keith's baritone came back. "Couldn't reach you or Five, was about to walk over there myself. Need backup?"

"Not yet," she murmured, eyeing the man standing over her. Bud was smiling triumphantly like he'd already won. "But hold that thought."

Dani stood up as well next to Lori, who looked like she was ready to punch Bud in the face. _How do you deal reality to a person who cannot accept it? By forcing it in his face and makin' his pride an issue_.

"Alright then, Bud," Dani drawled. Lori tensed, but Dani just put a reassuring hand on her arm. "I think we c'n work somethin' out here."

"Oh really?" Bud sneered. "What would I need to work out, dyke?"

Dani snorted. "I'm gonna let that one pass, for now, 'cause I can tell you're jus' compensatin' for your tiny lil' _diao_ (cock)."

Lori snickered, and even Robert smiled a little. She heard laughter from behind the bar and assumed both Jeb and Feather had poked their heads out to observe the altercation.

While Bud was flapping his mouth in outrage, Dani barreled onwards. "So here's what I propose. You think you deserve her, I say you don' none. An' I challenge you to a contest to prove it."

Lori turned to her in surprise. "What?"

"What?" her father grunted, equally surprised.

Echoing shouts of "What?" were heard from behind the bar.

Dani kept her eyes on Bud, who was glowering at her furiously. _Gotta goad him a lil' bit more_. "Unless, of course, yer willin' to admit defeat here an' now to a dyke like me?"

Bud sputtered again, then shouted out "Fine!", his face turning purple.

"What... Dani, what in the ruttin' hell are you doin'?" Lori hissed.

Dani gave her a wink. "Fightin' for your honor and hand, gorgeous. Now then," she said turning to Robert who was looking up at her appraisingly, "Here's what I propose. Five contests, one each from me an' my family, one from the _pigu_ (ass) over here, one from his family, if they care. And then a final one from you, Robert."

Lori's father raised an eyebrow at Dani's familiarity but stood up slowly. "All right," he said solemnly. "And the conditions?"

Dani crossed her arms, smirk still firmly in place. "You arbitrate, decide on the winner for each contest. Both parties hafta agree on the contest. Winner is free to court Lori, other leaves 'er alone. An' one way or t'other, my ship gets the landlock removed after the last contest."

"Bud?" the senior O'Toole turned to Lori's ex-boyfriend, inquiringly. "You accept?"

"I do," Bud gritted out.

"Alright then, I'll make it random. Bud, your family gets the first one, then the young lady here. Your contest will be next, then Danielle's family, and finally mine. Agreed?"

Both Dani and Bud nodded, but Lori gave a squawk. "What? No! I do not agree to this _fang pi_ (bullshit)! I'm not some gorram prize to be fought over!"

"May we have a second?" Dani inquired politely, and Robert nodded in amusement. Dani took Lori gently by the arm and steered them over to a corner of the pub.

"What is this _shen jing bing_ (insanity)?" Lori started, but Dani placed her hand over her mouth lovingly.

"Please, _zhi'ai_ (most beloved), hear me out, 'kay?" Lori nodded mutely, so Dani continued. "He's never gonna give you up unless he feels like he was beaten fair an' square. I know the type. An' I know I can beat the _xiaobian_ (piss) outta whatever contests we have. An' one more thing."

Dani put both hands around Lori's face, looking into the wide eyes of her lover with her bright green ones. "You are so very worth fighting for, _wo de ai_ (my love)."

Lori snorted softly. "You're a _lan ren_ (loon). An' I love you. An' I think you're just gettin' me back for Persephone."

Dani smiled. "Could be right, at that." And she gave a slow, sweet kiss to her redheaded lover. "We good?" she asked once they parted.

"It's still _fang pi_ (bullshit), but fine, I trust you."

Grinning, Dani steered them back to the waiting men. Neither Jeb nor Feather were in sight, either hiding or spreading the news.

"Alright, fine," Lori grumped. "Don't mean I'm gonna marry you one way or t'other, but fine."

Robert clapped his hands, once. "Then we begin tonight. I'll close the pub early for a family event, we'll have dinner with all the O'Toole's. Danielle, please bring your crew along, and we'll begin the first contest immediately after. Bud, have your family's proposal ready."

With that, Bud stormed off wordlessly out the front door, Robert walked back into the kitchen, and Dani and Lori were left standing in the middle of the pub alone.

"What have you done?" Lori whispered.

"Oh y'know, just bein' the _xiong jiao_ (handsome hero)," Dani grinned.

Lori snorted. "I hope you know what yer doin', beautiful."

They started out the door when they heard running feet behind them. Turning, they spotted Feather racing up behind them. "Wait for me!" she gasped quietly.

When she reached them, Feather looked around furtively. "Can I come with ya, see your ship an' meet everyone on the crew?" Her eyes were sparkling with excitement. Turning to Dani, she added, "An' I wanna know more about you!"

Laughing, Dani and Lori agreed, and the three of them headed back to the ship arm-in-arm, chatting the whole way.

* * *

 _Fortune's Favour_. Aberdeen.

Dani and Lori had walked through the ship, Feather in tow, showing her around, from the cargo bay up through the rear crew quarters and then the engine room. Lori's niece was looking around with her mouth agape, having never been inside a transport before. It was towards the end of lunch by this point, and as they entered the galley they were able to introduce Feather to all the family present. Dani noted out of the corner of her eye that Rain's eyes widened at the sight of Feather.

When Dani finished going around the room, she made sure to mention that Rain was now the main pilot for the _Favour_. Feather's expressive blue eyes got even wider. "Yer the pilot for this ship?" she gushed towards Rain. Skipping over, she grabbed on to her arm. "C'n ya show me the bridge, please?"

Rain blushed slightly, and stammered out a "Sure," letting Feather drag her out of the seat. They walked towards the bridge, Lori's niece still clinging to her arm. Feather's voice drifted back to them. "This's so shiny! I'll bet you have all kinds of adventures with my Aunt Lori, doncha?"

"Um, yeah..." Rain's strained voice floated back in answer.

Lori snickered. "Oh, she's screwed. Once Feather latches on there's no gettin' away."

Dani leaned against the back of her chair, watching the two girls climb the stairs to the bridge. "She's not a lil' girl anymore, Lori. I'm not so sure her latchin' is all that innocent."

"Wha... really? Ya think?" Lori whispered incredulously. "Huh, I s'pose so, can't look at her like she's the same ten-year-old she was." She snickered again. "Well then, Rain's doubly screwed."

Dani gave her a look.

"Not like that!" Lori giggled, swatting her arm.

"Alright ladies," Keith rumbled from his seat. "Anyone want to tell us what the rutting hell is going on here?"

"Well," Dani started, sitting at her seat. "there's a bit of a tale to tell regardin' that..."

* * *

O'Toole's. Montrose Township. Aberdeen.

The entirety of the _Favour_ 's crew came to the pub that night for dinner, even Rain in her button hat and patched flight vest, who seemed to be dragged along by a very intense and huggy Feather. Dani made sure to lock the controls on the bridge and secure all the entrances to the ship before they left.

The pub was bustling with activity by the time they got there, and with the addition of Dani's friends and family it turned into a festival of sorts. Dani kept to Lori's side as she was introduced around to her immediate and extended family.

Besides Jeb, there were four other siblings present on Aberdeen. Dani met with the oldest, Zach, who looked to be a carbon copy of Robert but without the beard and walked with stooped shoulders. Years as a mining foreman had not been kind to him, and he was both divorced and childless.

Betty was there with her husband, Justin Rowley, and their baby. Dani also got to meet Jeb's wife Jules. They came with their shy little girl Jill, who clung to her mother, and their two small boys, Paul and Mickey, who immediately attached themselves to Maribelle and Cory's two little boys, Junior and LT. The four of them raced around the pub causing the mayhem that little boys are wont to do.

At one point, Lori was tackled from behind and lifted off her feet by a tall, statuesque blond. "Evie!" Lori squealed, returning the hug affectionately. " _Ai ya, huai le_ (shit on my head), look at you! I hear you're a merc now?"

"That's right," the blond replied. She was wearing skin-tight leathers and had an Ares Predator II, the same model as Dani's, slung at her waist. Her hair was long and luxurious, braided back loosely against her spine, and she lacked any freckles whatsoever; nonetheless she was obviously an O'Toole. Turning to Dani, Lori's sister smiled and extended her hand. "I understand you're the girlfriend? Name's Evienne. Call me Evie."

Smiling back at her, she responded with a firm shake, "Captain Danielle Grant, call me Dani. Nice sidearm, by the way."

Evie had already checked out Dani's gun and smiled even wider at her. "Alright _meimei_ (little sister), I approve," she snickered towards Lori. "Any girl who totes an Ares is okay in my book."

And eventually, Dani got to meet Ericka, who was right around her own age. Feather's mother was certainly an outlier from the rest of the family. She looked enough like the rest of the women in body shape and had the same map of freckles that Lori did, but her hair was a darker auburn and worn long and loose. She had the same easy-going manner as Jeb, but what set her apart was the very spiritual vibe she gave off, remarking how Dani had a 'good aura'. _Not sure what that is, but hey I'll take any allies in Lori's family that I c'n get_.

The Grant and O'Toole clans intermingled across the pub for dinner, which was served up by whatever family members were available. Julie, Kelly, and Rain helped out as well, though Dani suspected Feather had roped her eldest daughter into serving the food and drinks. Dani grinned widely at the crowd and leaned over to Lori. "I really like yer family," she shouted over the din.

Lori grinned back. "I'm glad! Seems they like you too, fer the most part! At least Bud's not here to spoil things yet!"

Eventually, the meal wound down, and the socializing continued for a bit more before Bud made his entrance. Surprisingly, he was alone but carried a letter from his parents. He stood nearby, smiling superiorly, as Robert read it, nodding.

Lori's father walked up to the stage and raised his hands for quiet. Once achieved, he spoke in a loud voice. "Hopefully you all have found out already what we're here for, so I won't go into that. What I will tell you all, is that the first contest between Dani and Bud has been determined. We're having a drinking contest!"

His announcement was met with some cheers that were drowned out by the groans from the crew from the _Favour_. "Hey!" Dani protested loudly.

"Sweetie," Lori whispered urgently, "we all know ya can't hold yer liquor!"

"Well, yeah," Dani replied, still affronted, "but that don't mean they hafta give up on me right off the bat!"

Lori just sighed and rolled her eyes, as her father and some other family members cleared a space around one table with two chairs facing each other. They set out a row of a dozen shot glasses, filling each with whiskey.

"Wow, they're pretty optimistic there, _jie-jie_ (older sister)," Keith rumbled at Dani's side.

"Oh _ni ta ma de_ (fuck you)," Dani grunted in reply. She squared her shoulders and took her seat.

"All right," she said calmly. "Let's do this."

* * *

 _Fortune's Favour_. Aberdeen.

Dani opened her eyes blearily. She was being prodded by some sort of branding iron that sent shocks of pain through her system, and a little dwarf had gotten into her head with a bass drum. He was beating it merrily whilst dancing around on her brain.

"Whaaathamrph," she said intelligently.

"An' good mornin' to you too, sunshine," Lori seemed to shout at her.

"Shhhhhh," Dani whispered. "No shoutin'. Quiet. Need quiet." And she pulled the pillow over her head, hoping to smother the gorram dwarf.

Lori giggled, the sound like breaking glass to Dani's ears. Mercifully, though, she brought her voice down to a level for mere mortals. _Or maybe those with extreme hangovers_. "We need to get movin', beautiful. Next contest is this mornin'. I think they did this on purpose, to give you a hangover so's you won't think clearly on choosin' yer battle."

Dani groaned. "How'd I do?" she whimpered miserably.

"Oh, honey," Lori sighed like a gale force wind. "You got to four shots, which really surprised ev'ryone. But then ya faceplanted. Bud walked off on 'is own. And ya missed the fun."

"Gorramit, always miss the fun," she whispered back. "Wha' happened?"

"Well," Lori giggled again, her voice vibrating against her eardrums like a jackhammer, "Bud had decided that I shouldn' be goin' home with ya, and you were passed out and couldn' argue. Rest of the crew were about to take him out, but then lil' Sara was there in front of 'im, that gorram smirk of yer family's on 'er face. An' she had a shiv in his crotch."

Dani snorted, which was a terrible idea. Suddenly the dwarf was joined by another.

"She told 'im, lemme see if I c'n get this right, 'Lori is my friend, my teammate, and my _Kaasan_ 's girlfriend. You ever touch her again an' I'll cut off yer _ji ba_ (dick).'"

Dani snorted again. The dwarves multiplied twofold.

Then Maribelle climbed down the ladder, wearing what must have been steel-shot boots. "Ssshhhhhhh," Dani protested weakly.

Her sister-in-law just held up a syringe, only filled a quarter of the way with an odd greenish liquid.

"It's a detoxifier," Maribelle explained gently with the voice of a banshee, "it'll set you straight, but you'll puke for five minutes after."

Dani sighed, struggling to sit up and dislodge the irritating dwarves. "Fine, prep the toilet unit and hit me."

Dani finally emerged from her bunk wearing clean clothes, supported by both Lori and Maribelle. _Could have sworn I saw my toenails come up, and five minutes sure seemed like an hour_. Keith was standing by her seat, holding aspirin and water, which she accepted gratefully.

Sitting down, Dani held her head up with both hands as Julie brought over a cup of tea. "It's Chamomile," she explained, smiling. "Help you settle some."

And then, most surprising of all, Kelly placed a plate of honest-to-Buddha eggs in front of her. "Got some from the local market this morning," she explained cheerily, "and the rest of the crew already ate. Saved some for you."

" _Dao xie_ (thank you), ev'ryone" Dani smiled around the table. She was already feeling more human again, the tea helped and getting the delicious eggs into her stomach was of tremendous benefit.

" _Lian ren_ (sweetheart)," Lori murmured worriedly, "are you gonna be up to the next challenge?"

"I gets to choose this one, 'member? Don't s'pose he knows howta fly?"

"No, there ain't really even any shuttles on-planet," Lori replied. "Most of what we gots are groundcars."

"Ugh, no I hate drivin' groundcars. Anythin' else?"

"Well, he would've learned to drive the ore hovertruck flatbeds, his daddy's big on learnin' the whole trade 'fore takin' over."

"Perfect," Dani grinned. "Gimme a map of the area."

* * *

O'Toole's. Montrose Township. Aberdeen.

Within a couple of hours, everyone was assembled inside the pub again. Dani endured some ribbing with good humor, though Feather expressed real concern for her. "You gotta win, Dani," she said, brow furrowed. "Yer so much better for her than Bud!"

Rain laughed next to her. "You don' know my _Kaasan_ ," she grinned. "She'll kick his _pigu_ (ass) in the end." Dani noted with some amusement to herself that the two had become relatively inseparable since they met.

"Noticed yer off the ship again," she murmured to her daughter out of everyone else's earshot.

" _Bi zui_ (shut up)," Rain hissed. "Don' jinx me!"

Smiling widely, Dani strode up to the stage where Robert and a very smug-looking Bud were waiting. _Don't get cocky, little man_ , she thought with humor.

The crowd hushed as she came to stand on the other side of Lori's father. She raised her voice to be heard. "So it's my turn to pick out a challenge. Normally I'd suggest a flyin' contest, but that'd be unfair as pretty-boy here can't fly." She grinned at the snickers that spread around her audience. "So I thought I'd give him a fair chance." She turned to Bud, who was starting to look a little nervous at her confidence, not at all the hung-over wreck he was expecting. "I hear ya know howta drive an ore hovertruck?"

Bud squinted suspiciously at Dani but nodded.

"Right then. Two trucks, we both inspect an' agree on. Found a nice canyon nearby, it's marked as the old Silver Spring bed. We race to the end of it. Four clicks total."

"That's it?" Bud asked, starting to grin again.

"Yep." _And that's all I need to bury you,_ piyan _(asshole)_.

* * *

Silver Spring Canyon. Aberdeen.

They had picked out two ore hauler hovertrucks from Bud's fleet and agreed on both of them. Both vehicles still bore scratched traces of their original dull grey coats of paint, and the ore beds were littered with dust and pebbles. They were both closed-cab models. Dani and Bud had flipped a platinum coin on who got to pick which one they were to drive. Bud won.

Now they were lined up behind one marker, a tall post with a bright red flag flying from it, and at the top of the slope down into the canyon. Four kilometers ahead was another post with a matching flag. The course was a meandering valley of varying widths and surfaces, all rock and hard dirt with some spots of softer dust.

They both wore commercial comm units tuned to the same frequency, and the audience was set up on top of the cliff, with another audio unit that would broadcast their progress. Dani was settled in, engine humming. "Comm check, you receivin'?"

"I read you," Keith answered from up on the cliff. "Also coming through the general audio."

"Pretty-boy?" she smirked.

Bud snorted in irritation. "Ready when you are, you old _biao zi_ (bitch)."

"Alright then, go," she said mildly, but there was nothing restrained in the way Dani kicked her ore hauler forward, roaring down the shallow slope as though she were flying in her Firefly.

Bud squawked but was only a split second behind her. Well before they reached the bottom of the slope, they had drawn almost even again. Bud hauled over on his controls with an audible growl, and side-slipped to the right into her.

Dani felt rather than heard the impact, but it didn't change her course in the slightest. Dani grinned to herself. Only the greenest of pilots would have failed to anticipate that little maneuver, and she easily compensated for it. She gunned the engines on her hauler, leaning into the leftward slide. The nose of her hovertruck was still a few meters out in front of his, and she was able to push him over towards the wall. She kept shoving until his hauler's left side began to scrape against the cliff face. The sudden friction slowed the other hovertruck to a crawl, and her hovertruck shot ahead.

"Keep tryin', pretty-boy," she smirked into her comm. "I'm old, I might be tirin' already."

His Mandarin curses lit up the comm unit.

They continued on for a bit, Bud's bow now right on Dani's stern. He'd try to sideslip to pass her, but she'd break in the direction each time to block his move. The richness and color of his nonstop Mandarin cursing were a testimony to her success.

The impasse obviously couldn't last. He slid to the right again, and she followed suit, only to discover a nest of boulders directly ahead. Their proximity kicked the bow of her hovertruck up into the air long enough to slow her momentum, and Bud slid around to the left, passing her up before she could reestablish contact with the canyon floor.

"Not bad, pretty-boy," Dani laughed. "Proved you c'n drive mebbe a lil' bit. Think you c'n keep the lead?"

" _Gun hoe-tze bee dio-se_ (have a shit-throwing contest with a monkey)," Bud growled back.

Ahead the canyon turned to the right. Near the inner right wall was a tumbled pile of stone. Between it and the wall itself the floor of the canyon curved slightly upward. Left of the pile was broad, open ground.

Bud headed, predictably enough, for the broadest open area. Dani slid over to the right, angling between the stone pile and the wall. There was just enough room for her to squeeze the ore hauler between them, and as she did so her hover drive kicked loose stones from the pile, raining them down on Bud's hauler and across his windshield. He slid leftward reflexively, shying away from the debris, and she managed to gain on him going around the curve. Bud barked another string of curses, while Dani just grinned, completely in her element.

The end of the canyon run was within sight. They could see in the distance the large red flag flapping in the wind. The canyon bottom was flat and smooth to the left of the straightaway, but grew stony and broken along the right where Bud was forcing Dani to travel. She kept drifting to the right, ignoring his efforts to side-slip into her. She was just behind him but saw Bud turn to look over, likely wondering why she was not even fighting for the speediest approach to the finish line.

He gained some more distance on her as they approached the rockiest portion of the old stream bed. But as they approached the point where the tumbled boulders were worst, she swiftly slid to the left so that the nose of her hovertruck crossed over the highest of them. The move kicked her up several meters.

And she came right down on top of Bud's ore hauler.

The weight of her vehicle forced his down, compressing the hover jets and slowing his hauler. Her own hover jets kicked her forward off of his vehicle, and she gritted her teeth as she held her course by virtue of brute strength alone. As her ore hauler came fully down off of his and onto the canyon floor she managed to straighten out, and maybe a second later she passed the flag. Bud's hauler was tucked in right behind her.

"You- you-" Bud sputtered over the comm.

"Yep," Dani smirked over the comm as she slowed her hauler to a halt. "That's right pretty-boy, I won."

"You _cheated!_ " he yelled indignantly.

Dani laughed. "I don't recall settin' up any rules. Robert, c'n I get an arbitration here?"

Lori's father came over the comm. If she didn't know better, she might have detected a faint trace of amusement in his voice. "Dani is correct, no rules were set up other than the selection of the vehicles and the distance. She wins this contest."

Dani grinned exuberantly. "Call _me_ old, willya," she snarked under her breath.

* * *

O'Toole's. Montrose Township. Aberdeen.

That afternoon a cheery Dani was sitting at a table at the family pub again, her feet propped up and hands laced behind her head. Keith assured her he'd put something together that would ensure her success, but they were waiting on Bud's announcement first.

The man in question strode into the pub (to a few raspberries that she suspected her daughters might have been responsible for) and up to the stage. Without preamble, he spoke. "I have a rifle range set up out on the edge of town. I heard that Lori's something of a marksman now, so her mate should be her equal." Then he hopped back off and exiting the building. The rest of the crowd, surprised at his brusqueness, headed after him slowly.

"Did he just call me his 'mate'?" Lori asked incredulously.

"Did he say 'rifle range'?" Dani asked, a sinking feeling in her gut.

Lori turned to her in surprise. "It can't be that bad _wo de ai_ (my love), I'm sure he's only been shootin' for fun..." She trailed off at the dejected look on Dani's face.

Dani just shook her head. "If'n there's anythin' I'm worse at than holdin' my liquor, it's shootin' a rifle. There's a reason none of y'all have seen me do it." She got up from her chair and joined the rest of the crowd, arm around Lori. "Might as well get it over with, it'll put the _hun dan_ (bastard) up one but we still gots two left."

"Is she really that bad?" she could hear Feather whisper behind her.

"I dunno, honestly, nobody's ever seen her pick up a rifle," Rain answered doubtfully.

* * *

Montrose Township Green. Aberdeen.

The crowd from the pub, along with some other curious folk from the township, were gathered behind the two contestants. They each had identical bolt-action rifles, unscoped. They were behind a rough line drawn in the grass, and maybe 100 meters away there were two targets. Dani sighed to herself. _Might as well be a kilometer_.

Bud was holding his rifle in the crook of his arm. He waited till he had Lori's attention before he gave her a confident leer. "Five shots," he said tersely and gestured for Dani to go first.

Dani sighted down the rifle, held her breath, and squeezed the trigger.

First shot went wide to the right, hitting a tree.

She grunted, working the bolt, and repeated the process.

Next shot actually hit Bud's target in the corner. The other three went so far off nobody could tell what she had hit. _'Least there ain't any buildings nearby_.

By this point, Bud had his overconfident swagger back and laughed at Dani's performance. Then he turned, rifle at the ready. He shot slowly but surely, working the bolt each time. Only one was in the center of the target, but all five hit.

Some polite applause followed his feat, and he bowed grandly. But before he could start on the gloating, Keith stepped up and made an announcement.

"The Grant family is prepared to issue their challenge," he said in a loud baritone that got everyone's attention. He strode up to the line, peering downrange. With a grunt, he turned back to the crowd. 'Same distance. Sidearms of their choice."

"What?" Bud scoffed. "That's impossible."

Dani shrugged nonchalantly. "Well pretty-boy, if'n you wanna forfeit..."

Bud growled a curse under his breath and placed his rifle down on the ground. Dani laid hers beside it and gestured him forward. "My challenge, so you first. Use my target, it's clean-like."

He sidled over in front of Dani, and she stepped back to give him room. Drawing his functional but common Moses Brother's revolver, he sighted down towards the target.

To his credit, he did hit the target once, clipping the bullseye. He crowed at his accomplishment and stepped back with a triumphant smile.

Dani just returned his smile calmly, simply saying "My turn," and stepped up to the line.

She held her breath, releasing it slowly as she drew her Ares and held it steady in two hands.

All five shots were clustered right around the one Bud made.

Her feat was followed by much more thunderous applause and cheers. Bud, scowling, picked up his rifles and stalked off, while other family members of both sides crowded around to offer congratulations.

Maybe a half hour later, Dani and Lori were walking slowly back to the pub where they were all meeting for dinner. "It's all still so ruttin' ridiculous," Lori complained.

"I know, love. But you gotta trust me, this's the only way he'll see himself as havin' lost you. Legitimately." Dani stopped and cradled Lori's face in her hands before they entered the building. "You're my _jue dai jia ren_ (prettiest girl ever) and my love. I will not lose."

Lori huffed but smiled up at her. _Those brown eyes just melt me into goo every time_. "Alright, beautiful. I do trust you." She leaned in and gave Dani a slow kiss, then turned to walk into the pub.

"Um, Captain? May I have a word?"

Dani looked over to see one of Lori's older sisters, Ericka, looking on from a short distance away. Lori gave her hand a squeeze as she entered the building, and Dani nodded, walking over to Ericka.

It was almost eerie having Ericka staring so intently into Dani's eyes. It was like an older version of Lori, with darker (and much longer) hair, but those light brown eyes were surrounded by the same freckles as her lover. Lori's sister stood there for almost a full minute, looking at her searchingly, but Dani waited patiently.

"You really love each other, don't you?" Ericka finally asked, softly.

Dani smiled, and she knew she looked slightly moonstruck. "Yeah, we do. She definitely captured my heart."

Ericka made a humming sound and cocked her head to the side. "Alright then. Tell me, what captured you the most?"

Dani looked towards the building that Lori had entered as if she could feel where she was through the walls. "Those eyes of hers, make me melt ev'ry time," she answered, repeating the thoughts she just had earlier.

Ericka frowned skeptically. "That's what you look for in a girl, the eyes?"

Dani nodded, still looking at the building and smiling. "All starts with the eyes. She's gotta have the kinda eyes that see right past the bullshit and to the good of someone. Down to earth. Not 'fraid to get her hands dirty." She turned her attention back to Ericka then. "That's my Lori."

Ericka smiled widely. "Oh yeah, yer in love."

Nodding to herself as if something had been decided, Ericka started walking around the pub, indicating Dani should accompany her. They slowly meandered along in companionable silence.

"Yer around my age, right? Early forties?"

Dani nodded. "Yep, almost forty-three myself."

"Age difference don't bother y'all none?"

Dani snorted in response. "Not to Lori."

"No, it wouldn't," Ericka mused. "Would it help to know that the last contest is a physical fight 'tween the two of you?"

"Might," Dani replied, unperturbed by the conversation's change in direction. "He any good?"

"Decent 'nough at boxing, from what I hear," Ericka replied conversationally.

"Hmm," Dani said thoughtfully. "I think if yer father wanted to make the end really spectacular, give ev'ryone a good show, it should be no-holds-barred. No weapons, but the only other rule is you can't go off the stage."

"Until the other party submits?" Ericka quirked an eyebrow.

"Or is unconscious," Dani smirked back.

"Fair enough," Ericka conceded, smiling slightly. "I might have a word with my father, see what he thinks." By this point, they were almost all the way around the building and back to the entrance. The sounds of merriment drifted out of the closed doors, indications that the dinner festivities were well underway.

Ericka stopped again, looking at the doors. "I like your family a lot. You can tell much 'bout a person by whom they surround themselves with, who they call family."

Dani smiled at her side, also looking at the entrance to the pub. "I could say the same. The O'Toole's are quite the clan, and I've enjoyed bein' here and meetin' ev'ryone."

Giving a sniff, Ericka smiled. "Dinner smells good. Oh, by the by," she added as she mounted the steps. "Noticed my Feather hangin' around your oldest. Rain, I think? Not a problem, I hope?"

Dani smiled at her. "None at all, or if it were Rain would tell me."

"Good enough," Ericka smiled again. "Thanks for the company on my walk, Dani."

"Anytime, Ericka," Dani smiled back as they entered the pub to the loud and boisterous sounds of family.

* * *

O'Toole's. Montrose Township. Aberdeen.

Over dinner, Dani noted that Ericka had situated herself next to her father at his table, and was making light conversation. Dani just grinned and squeezed Lori's leg affectionately. She glanced up at a light tap on her shoulder. "Here ya go, _Kaasan_ ," Sara said, her eyes glittering excitedly.

Dani had asked Sara to run back to the ship and grab a few things for her. She took the proffered bag with a hug and a kiss on top of Sara's head, heading back towards the bathrooms. She passed Bud sitting alone in a booth, glowering at everyone but especially Dani.

For her part, she just gave him a cheery wave as she passed.

Ten minutes later she was back at her table, stuffing the bag under her chair, just in time for Robert to stand up and make his way to the stage.

"My family, and honored guests," he started in a loud voice, then continued normally as conversation died off. "It's time for this evening's activity. The contestants sit at two apiece, so this is the tie-breaker, and one of my own devising. I have decided that they will have a contest of physical combat. No weapons, no leaving the stage, no other rules. Fight is over when one combatant concedes or is unable to continue."

A loud cheer went up, especially from her crew. She made her way to the back of the pub, having fortunately only eaten very lightly, and stood to one side of the stage. Bud walked up to the other end, sneering. "This will be over quick," he said loudly.

"No, I don' think so," Dani replied conversationally. _I'm gonna draw this out awhile, pretty-boy_.

Bud proceeded to strip off his shirt, shoes, and socks, leaving only his black trousers in place. A few catcalls and whistles sounded from the crowd as his rather impressive physique. _May be a pretty-boy, but he obviously works out._ He then stood with his hands on his hips, facing Dani again. "Ready, you old _biao zi_ (bitch)?" he asked, smiling cockily.

" _Deng yi miao_ (hold on a sec)," Dani replied, and took a roll of cloth tape out of her pocket. "Could you hold this please?" she asked Ericka, who was standing nearby. After she accepted it, Dani shed her clothes to reveal the black pair of workout compression shorts and sports bra that she had switched into while in the bathroom. Accepting the tape back from Ericka, she proceeded to wrap her hands, making sure to turn around so that Bud and the rest of the audience got a good look at her scars. A hush fell across the crowd, and even Bud didn't have a comment to make. She then crouched and wrapped her feet.

Dropping the roll of tape on the pile of clothes off-stage, she turned back to Bud. "Alright, pretty-boy, now I'm ready," and then she got into her kickboxing ready position.

She noticed Lori standing there, eyes glistening, obviously knowing how much it cost her to put her scars on display like this. Dani gave her a wink. _Scars don't mean a thing long as I got you by my side_.

Bud was looking at her warily. _Why yes,_ piyan _(asshole), you've made a very big mistake_. And then he closed in and attempted to hit her.

He made a valiant effort, but it was obvious from the start that Dani barely had to even try to keep him at bay. He was unused to having to watch out for kicks or knees, likely only taking boxing lessons and using a bag to work out. He had no real combat experience.

And after five minutes, it was readily apparent to all that Dani was just playing with him.

She would alternate, after deflecting some attacks from him, to either send a knee into his abdomen, a foot to his knee, or a condescending pat on the cheek. And just like her fight with Keith those many months ago, it served to only enrage him further, until he was standing there panting, both sides a mass of bruises, knees swollen, and red cheeks.

"Finished?" Dani asked mildly, hardly even breathing heavy.

" _Ni... ta... ma... de..._ (fuck you)," he huffed.

Shrugging, Dani took a step forward and spun in a blinding blur. Her foot soared around at an incredible height, connecting with Bud's forehead. He collapsed in a heap, out cold.

Dani was swamped by the crowd of family, hers and Lori's, and the celebration began anew.

A couple of hours later saw Dani dressed again, sitting in a booth and leaning in close to Lori. They had their arms wrapped around each other happily. Bud, once again conscious and also dressed, staggered up to the table.

"I can't believe you would pick this... this _chou biaozi_ (stinking whore) over me," he raged.

" _Nao huo cuo huai dan_ (annoying little bastard) just won' give up, will he?" Dani murmured.

"Allow me, _wo de ai_ (my love)," Lori smirked and slid out of the booth til she was standing across from Bud, her hands on hips, eyes blazing.

"You lost, Bud," she started very loudly, enough that the rest of the room fell silent. "Accept it like a man, and move on. Yer gonna live up to the terms, I never wanna see you again, an' the ship's landlock gets removed. An' you wanna know the real reason I'm with this wonderful person behind me? She loves me for who I am, not for who she wants to make me. As for you," she smirked widely. "You, Bud, were so unsatisfyin' that you turned me into a lesbian. Now _nigeiwogun_ (get out of my sight)."

Bud snarled inarticulately as the room exploded in laughter, and stormed out of the pub.

Robert walked up to his daughter, sighing and shaking his head. He did look a little amused, however, as he gave Lori the first hug from him in ten years. Lori closed her eyes, tears leaking out as she smiled happily.

Dani sniffled as well, tears of her own forming out of happiness for her _zhi'ai_ (most beloved).

Robert held his daughter at arm's length and looked her over. "You've changed _nu'er_ (daughter), but for the better, I think. I just wish..." He trailed off.

Lori smiled and cupped his cheek in her right hand. "What, Daddy?"

"I just wish you'd get yourself married instead of running around, living outside of wedlock!" he exclaimed, slightly red in the face.

Lori rolled her eyes, exasperated. "What, that's all you require to get you offa my back, a ring?"

"It's a start!" Robert replied indignantly.

Lori looked back to Dani, still sitting in the booth. "Hey Dani, wanna get hitched?"

Dani grinned back her. "Now, Red?"

"Sure!"

"Seriously?"

Lori smirked at her while her father looked between the two of them, mouth agape. "Yep!"

"Sounds good!" Dani chirped, then interjected musingly, "'Course I think I'm the only one here qualified to marry us right now, bein' a ship's captain and all."

Lori looked around at the rest of the family, who had gathered around to observe the interaction. "Any objections?" Her question was answered by a round of cheering.

* * *

Montrose Township Chapel. Aberdeen.

The next morning dawned bright and sunny, a perfect day for a wedding.

Neither Lori nor Dani decided they needed a traditional wedding. They both walked up the aisle together, arms linked and holding their bouquet of flowers.

Dani was wearing her flowing turquoise dress from the Persephone shindig. _Might as well get good use outta it_. She'd also painted her finger and toenails turquoise to match, and her sandals she'd purchased a while back showed them off. Jess had styled her hair, piling it up on top of her head. Her bouquet was made up of red carnations, same as Lori's.

For her part, Lori was also dressed in her same outfit from the shindig, a dark emerald sheath that wrapped her close and showed a lot of freckled leg, much to Dani's delight. In fact, she had to keep reminding herself to pay attention to the walking and not Lori's legs, or she'd end up face-planting on the carpet. Lori also was wearing a pair of high heels that almost put her right at Dani's height. Her nails were done in a bright red that matched their carnations, and unlike Dani was wearing jewelry, a simple red ruby pendant and matching dangly earrings, both a gift from her sister Betty.

They walked down the aisle of the packed chapel, both families intermingled on either side, to the sounds of simple piano music of an ancient Earth-That-Was tune. The words were lost, but the tradition was maintained.

Behind them came four women from the _Favour_ 's crew. Maribelle and Kelly, both wearing simple but elegant dresses, walked behind Dani in support. Behind Lori came Sara, wearing a yellow sundress and beaming so brightly she could have lit the town up by herself, and Jess, wearing a plain black sheath in the same basic style as Lori's but much simpler. All four women were holding bright yellow carnation bouquets.

They stopped in front of the steps leading to the altar, the other four women fanning out to each side, and the music stopped. The local pastor, a sweet but doddering old man, limped up in front of the altar and started to address the assembled group.

"Did he really just say 'mawage'?" Dani whispered out the side of her mouth.

Lori snickered softly, trying to keep her face straight. "Stop that. He's sweet."

"Oh, no doubt," Dani smirked. "Just kinda... How can you understand a word he's saying? A 'dweam wifin a dweam'?"

Lori had to hold her bouquet up to her face. " _Bi zui_ (shut up)!" she giggled. The other women were valiantly trying to contain their snickers as well.

As the very sweet, but doddering, old clergyman went on about "tweasure your wuv," Dani whispered again. "Hey, where'd you get a ring?"

"Got it on Persephone," Lori grinned, whispering as well.

"Huh, me too," Dani murmured. "Hey, I think we're comin' to our part."

"We would if you would stop yammerin'," Lori snickered quietly.

Finally, the pastor asked them to face each other and say their vows. Lori had insisted that Dani go first, as she was her captain.

"I, Danielle Grant, take you, Lorraine O'Toole, to be my wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, to love and to cherish; from this day forward, and nothing in the 'Verse shall come between us."

Lori smiled brilliantly up at her. "And I, Lorraine O'Toole, take you, Danielle Grant, to be my wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, to love and to cherish; from this day forward, and nothing in the 'Verse shall come between us."

They opened their hands to reveal their rings for each other. Dani had found a simple but elegant ring in gold, since she knew Lori preferred that kind of jewelry, in a corded infinity loop pattern.

Lori's ring for Dani was in white gold and the exact same pattern.

" _Ai ya, huai le_ (shit on my head), you two are beyond adorable," Sara giggled.

The entire room snickered in shocked humor at the profanity uttered in the chapel, but the pastor just looked on dreamily. Dani doubted he even remembered where he was, much less heard anything Sara said.

They slipped each other's rings on the fingers of their love and shared a slow, sweet kiss. The entire chapel erupted in a thunderous applause.

Fortunately, the pastor did not have a heart attack. He was, however, woken up as he had started to doze off on his feet.

* * *

O'Toole's. Montrose Township. Aberdeen.

The combined Grant-O'Toole clan were having the party of a sort rarely seen in Montrose Township. The entire populace had been invited, and the drinks and merriment flowed freely.

Dani, holding Lori's arm, turned to her wife after seeing Rain holding up Dani's handheld. "Are you ready for our song?" she asked, a glint in her eye.

"What song?" Lori asked curiously.

Dani snickered, pulling on her arm towards the low stage. "Tradition, babe, we gotta dance."

"I toldya before, I don't dance!"

"And like I toldya before, love, just move yer feet!" Dani gave a signal to Rain who had proceeded to hook up her handheld to the audio in the pub. As a fast beat pelted out of the speakers, Lori raised her eyebrows in amusement. Dani gave her a mischievous grin and started singing merrily as she spun Lori across the floor.

_Oh don't you dare look back,  
_ _Just keep your eyes on me  
_ _I said you're holding back,  
_ _She said shut up and dance with me.  
_ _This woman is my destiny,  
_ _She said woohoo shut up and dance with me._

"You are such a _lan ren_ (loon)!" Lori laughed with her head flung back, and the rest of the family joined in on the stage, dancing with abandon.

* * *

 _Fortune's Favour_. Aberdeen.

The next morning, Dani woke up with her arms wrapped around a redheaded angel, who was stirring as well.

"'Lo, wife," Dani mumbled sleepily.

"Well hello there, wife," Lori murmured back, smiling.

Dani chuckled. "I like the sound of that."

Lori sighed back in contentment. "Me too."

Groaning, Dani rolled over on her back. "Gotta get up, though, we lift today, should say bye to folk."

"And make sure your pilot hasn't run off with my niece?" Lori snickered, rolling over on top of Dani, trapping her in place and with a smug smile on her face.

"That too," Dani grinned.

Lori rested her chin on her hands, which were folded on top of Dani's chest. "Didn't know she went for girls," she mused. "I 'member you talkin' about that one boy in the slam..."

Dani shrugged slightly. "Don't think it's a matter of boy or girl, more like who she likes, y'know?"

She grabbed Lori and rolled them over again, her on top. Lori gave a shriek of laughter which Dani cut off with a warm kiss.

"Now, get up, lazy," she murmured against her lips.

"Spoilsport," Lori sighed.

They both got out of bed and started dressing for the day.

Lori looked up at Dani after she pulled her short grey dress over her head. "Would you really mind that much?"

"What, Rain and Feather?" Dani's voice was muffled behind her tee shirt, but she continued once it was pulled over her head. "Not at all, really. I just want her to be happy, always have."

"I don't see Feather being the 'explore the Black' type, though," Lori mused, slipping a pair of sandals on.

Dani snickered, pulling on her combat boots. "Stranger things have happened, love."

Once outside the ship, both clans were gathered around to give their goodbyes, some hearty, some tearful. Lori promised to stop by again, and Dani said she'd likely have a mutiny on her hands if they didn't next time they passed through Kalidasa.

Dani did note to herself that Rain was standing in the cargo bay when she walked up, though she decided not to make any comments. _Not my business, she'll come to me about things if she wants to_. She had a feeling, though, that the _Fortune_ 's Cortex line might be tied up a bit in the future.

And so, well after their allotted time slot, the _Favour_ and her crew finally lifted off into the Black.

* * *

Outbound from Aberdeen. Kalidasa system.

Lori was sitting at the galley table, reading a gun mag that Mike had left out, while Dani was on the bridge talking with Keith about something. Dani's three girls walked in and sat down across from her.

"Can we talk?" Rain asked.

Lori sat down the mag, curious. "Sure, what's up?"

Sara looked to her sisters before asking, "What do we call you?"

Lori blinked uncertainly. "Sorry, what?"

"We've had our Mom, and she won't ever get replaced," explained Cali. "We gots our _Kaasan_. So what do we call you now?"

"Girls, I don't wanna replace nobody," Lori answered with a smile. "Just call me Lori, same as always."

Rain smiled back. "Yeah, works for me." Her other sisters nodded, smiling in agreement.

"We still friends?" Lori asked with a grin.

"Sure thing, Lori," Cali piped back, rising from her seat with the others.

As they turned to leave, Sara paused and looked back over her shoulder. "You still better not break her heart," she warned mildly.

Lori shook her head, a serious look on her face. "Nothin' in the 'Verse could make me do that, sweetie."

Sara nodded and joined her sisters down in the lounge for whatever vid they had decided on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Props for the idea behind the canyon race to the _Star Wars X-Wing Wraith Squadron_ book by Aaron Allston. Oh, and the bit about the eyes was from _Fast & Furious_. Had to work it in somewhere.
> 
> And yay, a wedding episode! Which, of course, wouldn't be complete without a _Princess Bride_ reference. Because, geekiness.
> 
> Reception song credit to Walk the Moon, _Shut Up And Dance_. I dare you to listen to it without bouncing around.


	40. Episode 32: Sweet Talkin' Woman

Santo. Qin Shi Huang.

Keith strode across the desert sands towards a rocky outcropping, still well-illuminated by the light of dusk. Dani and Jess flanked him as usual. They weren't expecting trouble, this was just a meet set up to exchange credits for goods on behalf of an employer who preferred to remain at a distance. So instead of their usual heavy load-out, they just wore their sidearms.

"This seem like an odd location for a meet to any of you?" Jess asked curiously.

Dani shrugged imperceptibly. "No more so than the ruttin' sewer that Badger lives in."

Keith snorted, replying, "I'll grant you that. But no, it's not too odd, seller must just be cautious."

The three crewmembers from the _Fortune's Favour_ stopped at the base of the outcropping. "Well," Dani mused, "guess we're early."

They were alerted by a shuffle of rocks but kept their guns in their holsters. A small, balding man with a thin mustache, backed up by two huge goons carrying large-caliber sidearms, approached them from the right side. The pair of brutes immediately drew their guns, while the wiry man pulled out a rather large knife.

"Well, that's not encouraging," Jess murmured.

"Now, joo will hand over money, jes?" the small man said in a thick Santo accent, brandishing his knife. He wore a ratty tee-shirt under a denim vest. Worn leather pants and boots completed the outfit.

Dani sighed irritably. "I'm guessin' you ain't our contact?"

"No, genius, I am not," the little thug replied. "Money!"

Keith grunted. "What's your name _huoban_ (buddy)?"

"You may call me... Muerte," he replied, puffing up his chest.

"Mortay?" Dani asked, quirking her eyebrow.

"No! Muerte! It means Death!"

Jess snickered quietly. "Death?"

"Jes! I am Death!" Muerte responded angrily. "Now hand over money!"

"Look, Morty..." Keith began, smirking.

"Muerte! I am Death!" the small man shrieked.

"Right, right, Death..." Keith sighed patiently. "Look we really don't need this right now."

"Been a long week." Dani commented.

Jess gave a smirk of her own. "Hell, it's been a long month."

Muerte looked at the unimpressed trio incredulously. "Joo not see dese men behind me? Very big guns? Give me money!"

"Yeah I see them," Keith rumbled. "Don't care for how they're looking at me. Five?"

Muerte looked at him, puzzled. "Five? Dere only two of dem, that enuff-"

His response was cut off as two shots rang out. Both of his men fell to the ground with bullet holes between their eyes. Dani, Jess, and Keith drew their handguns.

Muerte immediately backpedaled. "Hookay, I see joo are big guys, real tough _huaidan_ (badass), I let joo off easy dis time, yeah?"

Dani snickered. "I think he's too small a fish anyways, should we throw him back?"

"Fishing metaphors again, Captain?" Jess murmured.

Dani laughed good-naturedly, "Oh _bi zui_ (shut up)."

Keith shook his head humorously. "Okay Morty, take a hike."

"Jes, joo very nice peeples, I thank joo so mach..."

"Go," Keith grunted.

"Jes, jes I gone," the wiry little man exclaimed, and he scurried off into the desert.

Keith sighed. "Well, this job is a bust. Wonder what happened to the client?"

Dani shrugged as they turned to leave. "Mebbe Morty knifed 'im?"

Sara walked up from behind the outcropping to join the other three. "Yep, found his body. All stiff and corpsified. No merchandise."

Jess sighed as well. "Back to the job boards, I suppose. Maybe a nice, boring cargo run for a change..."

Lori was waiting about twenty meters back and leaning against a boulder, her sniper rifle slung across her back. "We got time to grab some dinner before headin' back to the ship? Shootin' folk makes me hungry."

Dani linked her arm with her wife's. "I know, right?"

* * *

 _Fortune's Favour_. Santo.

Jess had been in a foul mood all day, searching the job boards for anything out this way. Relaxing in the quiet of the lounge with the vid off, Dani was considering just pushing on and trying another planet nearby. Though she wasn't in any great hurry, her wife was snuggled up next to her napping on the small couch.

Dani looked at the freckled face with pure adoration. Lori's long lashes rested against her soft cheeks, and her short red hair had gotten messed up while sleeping against her so that her bangs hung halfway across her right eye. She reached over and gently brushed the hair aside. "How did I get so lucky?" she murmured to herself.

Her musings were rewarded by a loud snore as Lori adjusted her position. Dani snickered, and draped her arm around the curvy woman, snuggling her in tighter. _Yeah, no hurry at all_.

She was just about to close her eyes when Jess' voice came over the intercom. "Dani, you have a Wave up on the bridge."

She struggled to get up without jarring Lori but failed miserably as her wife faceplanted in the seat she just vacated. "Huh? Whazzat? I'm up!" Lori mumbled, looking around blearily.

Dani laughed, "Sorry gorgeous, got a Wave." She walked over to the wall unit and clicked the button on it. "Be right up, Jess."

"Lori with you? Bring her too," Jess said offhandedly. Dani thought she sounded suspiciously mischievous, but agreed and dragged a weakly protesting Lori along with her.

Dani and Lori entered the bridge to see Jess sitting on Keith's lap in the pilot's seat, the very picture of innocence. "Okaaaayyy," Dani drawled. "Now yer makin' me nervous."

Jess just smiled and pointed to Dani's seat, where the light was blinking on the Cortex unit. Dani shook her head and plopped herself down, switching the button. The face that filled the screen, with its long red hair and dimpled grin, was the last she expected to see.

Captain Coleen Mac Phearson of the salvage ship _Du-Khang_.

Coleen beamed at Dani. "Hey sweetie, long time no hear! How've you been?"

Dani was momentarily speechless, remembering vividly the last time she had seen Coleen about a year ago when the girl had planted a big kiss on her as a goodbye. Hearing Jess' barely suppressed giggles (and Lori's inquisitive clearing of her throat), she resolved that her Cargomaster should probably be put on septic duty at her next earliest convenience.

"Coleen! Oh, hey there, good, doin' well, um..." Dani trailed off, blushing slightly. She reached over and grabbed ahold of Lori, who landed on her lap with a squawk.

Dani grinned in relief. "Hey, Coleen, this is my wife Lori! Just got married last month!"

Lori gave a small wave. "Hey there!"

Coleen's eyes widened and she blushed a bit. "Oh! Wow, well, congrats! That's, um, _niubi_ (fucking awesome)!"

"So, what's up Coleen?" Dani asked. _Minor crisis averted, though I'm sure I'm gonna have to explain this one to Lori later_...

"Oh, right," Coleen answered, giving herself a little shake. "So, we got a bit of a problem, my crew and I, from our last salvage op. Lemme explain a bit..."

Dani settled in to hear the tale, her arm firmly around Lori's waist, keeping her in view. Jess had abandoned her attempt to keep quiet and was now snorting in laughter into Keith's chest. _Glad this is so gorram funny, girl_...

"So on our last salvage haul, we picked up a load off a remote moon around the gas giant of Djinn's Bane called Hubal. It's in the Kalidasa system. Seemed to be an old exploration shipwreck, nothin' important. But after we dropped it off on Beylix, also in Kalidasa, we found out that there was a cache of newtech on there from the person who paid us for the job."

"Okay, seems pretty easy so far," Dani murmured. "What's the catch?"

"Well," Coleen made a face, "it's worse than you would expect..."

Dani smirked. "It usually is."

Coleen laughed and continued. "Seems there's this Tong gang that got word and they've been doggin' our steps ever since, seem to think we got the newtech on board. An' we don't! But they're not givin' up, an' I know they're staking out Beylix, waitin' for us to show up." She looked at Dani imploringly. "Our patron, he's a rich-type guy out on Bellerophon, he'll give us a bonus to return the newtech. It's yours if you can pull this off for us. We're gonna find somewhere to hole up in, lay low for a spell. Can y'all help us out?"

Dani looked around at the others on the bridge and was met with nods. "Alright Coleen, we can help out. Send over the coords for where you dropped the newtech off, an' where it needs to go, an' we'll get it there. Any time constraint?"

"Nope, just lemme know when you get it done, so's me and mine can come outta hidin'!" She giggled a little bit. "It was nice talkin' to you again Dani. Oh, and nice to meetcha, Lori!"

They ended the call with friendly waves, and after shutting off the Cortex, Dani leaned back thoughtfully.

Lori stroked the back of Dani's neck. "Soooo, this Coleen girl... she seems kinda young, doncha think? Younger than me?"

"'Spect so," Dani murmured uncomfortably.

"And I'm guessin' there's a history here?" Lori smirked as she traced lazy circles around Dani's ears, making her squirm in pleasure.

"Not here, sweetie, let's figure this out first," Dani said breathlessly. "An' stop using yer feminine wiles on me, you already got me wrapped around your lil' finger."

"Hmmm, I'll keep that in mind," Lori snickered and gave Dani's ear a little nip before moving off. Dani suppressed her squeal and turned towards Jess instead.

"As for you, missy, we're gonna discuss things later as well..." she growled.

Jess snickered as she moved off of Keith's lap. "Yes ma'am, Captain ma'am," she tossed over her shoulder as she left with Lori towards the galley.

Keith gave a grunt and levered himself up as well. "You better get back there as well, Jess might start filling in the blanks before you can."

Dani gave a squawk and darted after the two women.

Around the dinner table, the crew gathered to sample Cory's latest culinary miracle, this one using some of the hot spices found on Santo. The shredded meat was swimming in a dish of thick savory red sauce and tiny little red veggies that seared Dani's tongue pleasantly when she bit into them.

"So, _lian ren_ (sweetheart)," Lori said conversationally, "how about this Coleen girl, hmm?"

Dani's face turned red with embarrassment as the other crew snickered at her discomfiture.

"It's really not as big a deal as they're all makin' it out to be," Dani explained, eyes on her plate and still blushing slightly. "We helped her out on the _Copperline_ job is all, an' got to know each other on the flight back, an' she jus' expressed her gratitude, is all. With a kiss," she mumbled the last bit, flushing even brighter red.

"Oh, it was quite a kiss," Jess snickered.

"True, I was impressed," Keith rumbled mildly.

Cali piped up. "An' it went on an' on for awhile. It was icky."

"Just whose side are y'all on here?" Dani asked indignantly.

"Lori's," a chorus of voices answered her merrily.

Dani buried her face in her teacup. "Swear to Buddha, you're all on septic duty for the next month."

"I don' think there are all that many toilets on here..." Cali began, brows furrowed.

"Then I'll think of even nastier jobs," Dani smirked. She finally took a glance at Lori, who seemed mightily amused by the whole situation.

"So," Lori purred, leaning in. "Was she a good kisser?"

"Not bad, I mean," Dani stammered, "it was my first kiss in a whole long time, y'know?"

"An' was she a better kisser than me?" Lori asked, her eyebrow quirked.

"Not a chance in _diyu_ (hell)," Dani grinned back at her. "Didn't make my lips tingle the way they do, every time you kiss me."

"Ewww, okay, stop," Cali protested loudly. "Not at the dinner table, guys!"

Sara leaned over towards Lori and whispered loudly to her, "Want me to shiv Coleen for ya?"

"Nah, that's okay, sweetie," Lori smirked. "I could take her."

The crew around the table snickered again while Dani just rolled her eyes, grinning.

"One thing's for sure," Keith commented once the laughter died down. "We're going to need to make a stop in Kalidasa before Beylix."

"Oh thank Buddha," Lori breathed. "About time we got some gorram body armor."

"Still say y'all need to learn to duck better," Dani grinned. Of course, if she'd taken her own words to heart she could have dodged the bread roll Lori sent towards her head.

* * *

Central Docking. Beaumonde. Kalidasa.

"So what 'xactly is this 'newtech' stuff, anyways?" Cali asked, skipping alongside Dani as they strode through the crowded streets of Central Docking. Rain was with them, huddled into herself and surrounded by other members of the family. She looked miserable but had insisted on coming along.

"Well _baobei_ (treasured one), newtech is just a fancy term for advanced tech, like lasers an' sonics an' really small versions of the stuff we normally use, like handheld Cortex units the size of a matchbook, or somethin' like that," Dani answered.

"Our comm units are newtech," Keith grunted.

"Right!" Dani exclaimed. "That explains the price tag, anyways."

"So we just need to get this fancy techie stuff from the garbage an' deliver it to an old rich guy?" Cali asked curiously.

"Pretty much," Dani grinned, "and dodge the bad guys."

"Shiny!" Cali replied, still skipping along.

Also in their group were Lori, Jess, and Sara. Mike declined the trip this time, just shoved a list in Keith's hand as they left. _Can't figure out why Mike'd be shy about comin' back_ , Dani thought with a smile.

They soon arrived at the abandoned-looking warehouse. Fortunately, it was a warmer night than the last time they had visited, and the group only had light jackets on. Rain looked at the building askance, and her skepticism only grew as they started down the alleyway next to the building.

"Really? Here?" Rain asked.

Keith chuckled. "Your _Kaasan_ said the same thing when we were here the first time." He walked over to the dumpster and pulled it aside.

" _Niubi_ (fucking awesome)," Cali breathed, wide-eyed.

"I know, right?" Sara snickered.

They entered into the small foyer, surfaced in shiny metal. Dani swung the dumpster back into position and closed the door behind them. The girls paced around the floor, giggling at the lights that displayed with every step.

"Honey, you sure about this?" Lori whispered to Dani.

"It's alright, _zhen'ai_ (true love)," Dani smirked, slipping her arm around her waist.

Those who had come here before were expecting the large screen that dropped from the ceiling, but the newcomers all gave a little jump. Centered on the screen was a cocoa-colored man, his long hair still an ice-blue color, and the ever-present long-handled cigarette dangling from his lips.

"Girlfriend," he started, "I'm not runnin' a muthafuckin' daycare here."

Dani grinned widely up at him. "Good to see you too, Dev. Brought my kids 'cause they were dyin' to meetcha. How've you been?"

"Oh, you know," he replied, waving his cigarette around carelessly, "screwing over the customers, lovin' the many lovers. Sometimes both at the same time."

"I'll just bet," Dani snorted. "We stopped by to shop and socialize. You and Mikki free?"

"For you, darling, always," Dev laughed. He punched a button on the couch console and the wall panel to the right slid open to reveal the familiar weapons locker. "Still gotta observe the proprieties, though. You know the drill, I gotta repeat myself?"

"No need, love," Dani grinned, unholstering her Ares to place inside. "Already warned the others as well. Your hair is fabulous as always, by the by."

Dev laughed and turned away from the screen. "See, told you she liked me better."

"Fuck you, bitch," she heard Mikki exclaim from off-screen. "Wait till she sees my hair!"

Dev smirked back towards the screen. "The diva here has been dyin' to show off to someone who'd appreciate him. Don't keep him waitin'."

As the others in the group filed by to drop their weapons off, Dev quirked his eyebrow. "What about you, Sara-girl? Only the four blades this time?"

Sara shrugged, grinning. "I'm travellin' light today."

"They're clean," Mikki's voice called again from off-screen.

The elevator doors across from them opened at the same time that the weapons locker closed. "Remember, love," Dev smiled at Sara, "that offer still stands, you ever want to run with our group."

"Don't you start that again, Dev!" Dani shouted with a grin.

Dev just chuckled as the screen retracted fully into the ceiling.

They all fit inside the elevator, though Rain looked like she was about to crawl out of her skin at the close confines. She just closed her eyes, muttering under her breath until it came to a stop. She practically lunged out the door as soon as it opened. And, of course, came to an open-mouthed stop to look around wonderingly. Cali and Lori matched her expression.

"It's like a great big toystore for killin' folk," Lori breathed, awestruck.

From ahead, they heard Mikki's high-pitched giggle. "That has got to be our new slogan. Can we get it on cards?"

Dani laughed as she dragged Lori along in her wake. "I'm surprised y'all didn't run facials on us when we were in there."

"Oh we did, girlfriend," Dev snarked. "We love you, but we don't trust anyone. I'm dying to hear about this gorgeous woman you're dragging along. Lorraine, is it?"

"Um, Lori, actually," her lover replied uncertainly. Dani supposed it was only natural to be unsure of what to make of the flamboyant duo. They were in identical pants once again, but this time in matching tight black leather that must have been cutting off their circulation. Dev's shirt was a tight tee that showed off his toned midriff, and positively glowed an electric yellow that outshone his hair. While Mikki, sitting next to him in their matching neon-green egg-shaped chairs, had on some flowing blouse of a dark grey color that did nothing to conceal his very impressive physique.

"Mikki, darling, you're gonna make my daughters blush wearin' that shirt," Dani snarked. "You been workin' out?"

"Oh stop," Mikki laughed, "no discounts for flattery."

"Alright then, let's talk about that gorgeous hair," she smiled, dragging Lori down with her on the red plush couch in the middle of the room. Keith and Jess had wandered off towards the rifles again, while Sara, Cali, and Rain all clustered around the blade cabinet.

The hair in question, which used to be a spiky orange, was now a brilliant shade of red and lacquered upwards into a towering mohawk. Dani was fairly sure it could be used as a weapon.

"You like?" Mikki preened. "Just did it last month, liked it so I kept it. All the boys love it as well."

Dev snorted. "You mean the ones you haven't impaled?"

"Bitch, don't start with me," Mikki snarked back, "just 'cause you're too fuckin' set in your ways to change your hairstyle more than once in a decade..."

Lori's face was pink as she tried very hard not to chortle. Dani wasn't so restrained and laughed loudly on the spot. "Oh I missed you guys," she grinned. "So, yeah," she continued, squeezing the hand she was holding, "this is my Lori, my wife. We got hitched last month."

Mikki let out a squeal that could have shattered glass. Even Dev winced. Dani had to duck to the side to avoid losing an eye to Mikki's hair as he rushed over to give her a hug. "Girl, you rock that shit! Fuckin' yes!"

"Mikki, you're losing your reputable air," Dev drawled, grinning.

"Bitch, I can be happy for girlfriend here if I want to, and I'm gonna give her lover a squeeze too." He matched words to action, and Lori looked over his shoulder wide-eyed at Dani, who just looked on in amusement.

"So, you went out and grabbed that ass?" Dev smirked, as Mikki danced back to his seat.

"Grabbed it an' tapped it," Dani smirked back. Lori turned her wide-eyed look back to Dani again, incredulous at her crassness, but both Dev and Mikki howled in laughter.

"Toldya she was hot!" Sara piped up from behind them.

"You called it, girl," Mikki chortled. "Babe, you got it goin on like fire, I like it. Damn, if I was straight I'd tap that ass too!"

"Um, thanks?" Lori squeaked out. Looking past Dani, she spied something that Keith and Jess were standing near. "Oh," she breathed, "is that... over there, is that really..."

"A Callahan _Long?_ You bet your luscious ass, sweetie," Dev grinned. "Go on, take a look, we haven't been able to move it since the last time your muffin-holder was here."

"Muffin-holder?" Dani laughed, "Really?" Lori was already scurrying off, a bright gleam in her eyes.

"Would you prefer muff-diver?" Dev snickered.

"Maybe carpet-cleaner," Mikki mused.

"Sweet Buddha, stop already!" Dani laughed. "'Wife' is fine, thanks!" She reclined back in the sofa, legs out and crossed at the ankles. "So boys, business doin' well for y'all?"

"Lemme get this straight," Mikki said, crossing his own legs. "All the rest of your group is shopping, but you just came to socialize?"

"Pretty much," Dani smiled.

"Girlfriend, you just jumped to the muthafuckin' top of the list as our favorite customer," Dev snarked.

"Yay!" Dani clapped her hands gleefully. "Do I get a prize?" she joked.

"Only our fabulous presence," Mikki said, sweeping his hands across his and Dev's bodies.

"Well, what more could a girl ask for," Dani replied, rolling her eyes and grinning.

"To answer you question, business has been fuckin' booming," Dev began.

"In more ways than one," Mikki interjected, smirking.

Dev glared at his partner. "Bitch, do I interrupt when you're talking?" Mikki held out his hands, looking upwards in surrender.

"Right," Dev grumped, looking back at Dani. "It's been muthafuckin' fabulous, darling. Lots of little wars, and lots of mercs and wannabes gearing up to participate."

"Wars, really?" Dani quirked her eyebrows.

"Don't tell me you haven't noticed the uptick of corporate jobs on the boards?" Mikki remarked. "I know y'all have taken some gigs for Iskellian and Big Blue."

"Why Mikki, have you been checking up on us?" Dani grinned.

"Only to make sure you're working what you got, girlfriend," Mikki snarked back. "So business been good for you, too?"

"Oh yeah," Dani smiled. "Good and bad, ups and downs, but overall we've come away with the better deal."

"Can't ask for more than that," Dev remarked, blowing a cloud of smoke up into the air.

"Hey, Dani," Keith called from over where he was looking at the Callahan tech. "You give them the list yet?"

"Oh, right!" Dani jumped up and dug into her pocket, fishing for the scrap of paper. "Got a special order for y'all, we need some good body armor for our ground team. I'm tired of gettin' shot."

"Thought you said we jus' need to learn how to duck," Lori called out from where she was drooling over the huge sniper rifle.

"Oh _wen wo de pìgu_ (kiss my ass)," Dani called back.

"Later, _wo de ai_ (my love)," Lori sang back.

Dev snickered. "Yeah you bagged a good one there, girlfriend."

"Don' I know it," Dani sighed with a goofy grin on her face. She finally extracted the list, handing it to Dev who was closest. He glanced at it and then handed it to Mikki.

"So what kind of tech are you looking at, love?" Dev queried. "Ballistic, fireproof, blade resistant...?"

" _Ai ya, huai le_ (shit on my head)," Dani exclaimed, returning to her seat. "Didn't realize there were so many options! Keith!" she called out. "Help!"

Keith barked a laugh as he wandered over to sit next to his sister. "Alright gents, let's talk shop."

Eventually, they decided on a couple of different sets of body armor. All would be flexible, and easy enough to fit under their shirts, but served different purposes. For those who usually found themselves in close combat, namely Dani and Sara, they picked out top-of-the-line newtech shirts that were bullet and blade resistant, as well as flame retardant. For Lori, they decided on one that was only bullet resistant, but rated for much higher calibers, and could potentially stop anything up to armor-piercing rounds. Keith also put in an order for a smoke-grey colored, clamshell-shaped set of exterior body armor to fit him, which would come down to cover past his waist. It was also highly bullet-resistant, blade-resistant, pretty much everything-resistant. "This fuckin' baby will even stop a groundcar from rollin' over you," Mikki extolled. Since Keith tended to lead most of their action, he wanted to have a little something extra in case it was needed above and beyond the military-grade underarmor that he and Jess owned.

Unfortunately, whatever model Sara would end up with would take awhile to get to her, since they usually weren't found in her size. It would need to be custom crafted, which would take at least a month. "The others, we can get to your ship within the hour," Dev promised. "So what else do you need today?"

"Well," Keith pondered, "definitely want another shotgun for Dani here, she lost her last one on a job on Persephone."

"Yeah, I liked that SPAS," Dani mourned.

"Hmm," Mikki mused, walking over towards the long rifles and poking around the crates. "No SPAS, but I think I got something better for you, girlfriend. Take a look at this muthafuckin' masterpiece of close-combat destruction."

He held in his hands a deadly-looking short-barrelled shotgun with a collapsible stock, similar to her old SPAS but more compact. It had ribbing along the barrel, and what looked like large ghost-ring sights for close quarters combat.

"It's very pretty," Dani smirked. "What makes it a masterpiece?"

"This, love, is an Ares Devastator 20 auto shotgun," Mikki held it aloft, stroking the barrel lovingly. "Holds twelve rounds of compact buckshot, will put a ten-centimeter hole clean through an unarmored individual at five meters. Guaranteed to ruin the day of any _piyan_ (asshole) who gets in your way."

"Okay, okay, you sold me," Dani laughed. "Just please stop strokin' it, you're makin' me feel dirty jus' watchin' you!"

"No, no," Dev smirked, one finger along his cheek, "keep goin'..."

Mikki barked out a laugh. "Bitch I got other ways of popping your boner."

"Oh dear God, I'm outta this conversation," Dani groaned. "Keith, what else we need?"

Keith smiled, completely unperturbed by the crass pair of arms dealers. "Going to need a few more blocks of ammo for the Callahans, _diyu_ (hell) make it a whole crate, we go through it fast enough. May as well toss in ten boxes of the shells for the Ares shotgun so we can have you practice." He grunted thoughtfully. "Another grenade launcher attachment, I don't want Jess to have all the fun. Also, a dozen each of HE, flash, EMP, and pyro grenades."

"Pyro?" Dani raised her eyebrows questioningly.

"Incendiary," Keith clarified.

"Why just blow _gou se_ (shit) up when you can set it on fire, too?" Jess giggled.

"I like the way you think, girl," Dev snarked.

"Oh, that reminds me," Dani exclaimed. "Can you guys hook us up with EMP mines? 500-pounders?"

"What in the sweet holy fuckery of _Ji du_ (Christ) do you need EMP mines for?" Mikki exclaimed.

Dani snickered at his colorful phrasing. "We got a launcher on the _Favour_ , keeps the bandits off our _pigu_ (ass). Used two up already in the past, what, year or so. Can you hook us up?"

"Let me look something up, that's not our usual basket of fruit..." Dev mused, moving towards the consoles in front of the wall of Cortex screens.

"Daniiii..." Lori sang, pleadingly, from the crate she hadn't left yet.

"No, _wo de ai_ (my love)," Dani smiled, "you do not need something to shoot down spacecraft with."

"But _bang jiar_ (lover/partner)," she whined, "I really, really want it."

"No, Lori."

Her wife, undeterred, skipped over into her face, looking up with big eyes and pouting lips.

"Oh don' even try the puppy dog eyes, hasn't worked for Cali in ages, not gonna work for you, beautiful," Dani smirked, arms crossed.

"What if I do that thing for you where..." she leaned in and whispered into Dani's ear.

Dani blushed, hard. " _Ta ma de di yu_ (fucking hell), that's fightin' dirty, woman."

"I'll let you use the other thing on me, too." Lori was smiling triumphantly, knowing she'd win her over.

Dani didn't think it was possible to blush any redder, but she was pretty sure the sats overhead could detect the heat bloom. "Alright, alright, _jian gui_ (to hell with it), you win..." she finally groaned.

Lori gave a squeal of joy and wrapped her arms around Dani, kissing her soundly about the face. Mikki was wheezing in laughter, barely holding himself up, tears leaking from his heavily mascaraed eyes.

Keith grinned as well, rolling his eyes. "I can't believe you caved in to sexual favors."

" _Didi_ (little brother)," Dani responded solemnly, as Lori skipped back off to drool over her new toy, "there's sexual favors, and then there's Sexual Favors. Trust me, it's worth it."

"And like you haven't done the same," Jess joked, slapping her husband lightly on the arm.

"That's entirely different," Keith answered loftily.

"Oh, Christ on a crutch," Mikki panted, "you people gotta come back more often."

"That's a promise, love," Dani smirked.

While Dev looked up the EMP mines, which he eventually found and could have at their ship within the next three hours, Keith discussed with Mikki the possibility of motion trackers as Lori had suggested on the wreck of the _Ishimura._ Mikki was doubtful he could find anything that would work through the decks of a ship as well as out on the plains, but he promised to do some research and maybe a little tinkering in his off-time until they came back for Sara's body armor.

By the time they left, they were all many credits poorer but highly entertained. Sara, Rain, and Cali picked up a few new blades to play with as well, all delivered to the ship within an hour of their arrival.

Lori was still in the hold, holding the Callahan _Long_ like a lover, when the EMP mines arrived two more hours later. She was still there even when they lifted into orbit, and Dani had to remind her of her obligations that evening in order to separate her from her new toy.

And Dani was, in fact, extraordinarily pleased with the bargain in the end. Even if the rest of the ship knew it as well.

"Still a gorram screamer," Keith mused from the bridge.

"Just shoot me now," Rain groaned from the pilot's seat next to him, holding her hands over her ears.

* * *

Inbound to Beylix. Kalidasa system.

Beylix actually orbited the protostar Penglai, which in turn orbited the star Kalidasa. It had a permanent cloud cover of a swirling, colorful mass, and also sported glistening and dense ice rings around it.

Dani thought it was actually quite pretty from orbit, even if on the surface the planet was essentially the great dumping ground of the 'Verse.

"Beylix Control, this is Firefly transport _Fortune's Favour_ , requesting clearance to land," Rain said into the comm.

"Affirmative Firefly transport, clearance granted for pad sixteen at landing field Alpha One Eight. Mind the trash."

Dani laughed. "Cute."

They realized a bit later, though, that the warning was genuine. Great heaps and mounds of scrap metal and other debris were encroaching right up to the landing pads, and Rain really did have to be careful not to side-swipe a towering mound on her approach.

"Wow," she commented to Dani. "What a heap."

"Well, hopefully, we won't be here long. Keep the engines warm," Dani commented as she rose out of her seat. She headed down the stairs to join the rest of the ground crew, plus Cali, as they unlimbered the Mule for transport. Soon enough they were on their way, Mike closing the bay doors behind them.

It took them about a half hour to locate the scrap yard where the wreck was located, and an extra ten minutes to divert up to a ridge that overlooked the site to drop Lori off. She struggled to carry both her Callahan sniper rifle and the enormous .50-caliber anti-materiel _Long_.

"You're going to have to start working out if you're going to lug both those guns along on jobs," Keith commented dryly.

"No way, I got this," Lori wheezed.

Dani snickered as they started to move back out. "I'm gonna start feelin' jealous, leavin' you an' the _Long_ alone together!"

Lori just stuck out her tongue and kept trudging over to get set up.

The Mule pulled up to the small office at the yard, but it was closed up tight. "Must be by appointment only," Jess remarked, peering into the window and shading her eyes with her hand.

"Well, we already know what we're lookin' for," Dani said, marching determinedly into the yard. "Let's get to it and get off this garbage dump."

Maybe a half hour later, Sara called out in excitement from her corner of the yard, having found the numbered lot Coleen informed them of. The crew spent the next half hour scouring what was jumbled up in said lot.

" _Ta ma de di yu_ (fucking hell), there's a lotta _gou se_ (shit/crap) in here," Dani complained.

"Just got to find something out of place," Jess sighed. "Maybe something that's not as junky as the rest?"

"How 'bout this?" Cali called out from her section. She pointed at a lump of machinery that looked pretty much like the rest.

Dani walked over to her daughter. "What is this, _baobei_ (treasured one)?"

Shrugging, Cali replied, "No clue. It don' fit with the rest, though."

"Alright, I'll trust your instincts," Keith rumbled as he dug his handheld out. He took a vid of the lump from different angles, then opened a channel to the ship. "Home, sending a vid your way. Can you get our engineer to examine?"

"Already here, One," Cory's voice came back. "I can see it, yeah that's our newtech alright. Looks like... yeah, it's a scanner. Normal one would be ten times as large. It likely has twice the normal range as well."

"Right!" Dani said briskly. "Cali, get crackin' an' dismantle this thing, we gotta date with a rich guy."

Cali grinned and set to work. She was maybe halfway done when a call came in over the comm.

"One, this is Five, I have a vehicle approaching your location. Very large, looks armored. Unconventional."

"Unconventional, how, Five?" Keith murmured into his comm as he trotted back to the Mule. The others joined him to grab their larger weapons, save Sara who stayed with Cali to watch her back.

"It's... dunno, One, it's some great big _yikuai_ _lese_ (piece of junk) made into a tank. You'll see it around the bend any minute. I'd say you got some imminent violence headin' your way."

Sure enough, they heard the roar of the engine before it rolled around the corner. It was indeed big, the size of a hovertruck but with armor plating strapped to the sides and the front. Strips of metal were bolted onto the window to provide more protection. And on top, there was a large turret with a heavy machine gun mounted.

The wheels ground to a halt at the entrance to the yard, and a figure climbed up top to man the gun, pointing it at the crew, while several others climbed out the back and approached them.

"I don' think this is the welcomin' committee," Dani murmured.

"Maybe they're looking for donations?" Jess deadpanned.

Keith grunted irritably. "Five, got the _Long_ ready?"

"Jus' waitin' on your orders, One," Lori replied eagerly.

The five men approaching them had their rifles out and pointed them around aggressively. By their dress and ride, they looked to just be common scavengers.

"Gunner and driver. Take 'em," Keith grunted, unlimbering his own military assault rifle.

The sound the _Long_ made was a deep crack like that of thunder, and Dani could have sworn that she heard the whooshing sound overhead of the almost-artillery shell as it blasted directly through the gunner on top of the vehicle. One minute he was standing there, the next his upper torso was simply gone.

" _Tai-kong suo-yo duh shing-chiou sai-jin wuh duh pee-goo_ (shove all the planets in the universe up my ass)," Dani breathed.

She heard Lori giggle over the comm as she worked the bolt on the enormous rifle. "Got more from where that came from."

With another crack, a large hole appeared in the front window on the driver's side, likely through the length of the armored truck as well. The five men had fallen to the ground, shooting wildly at this point, but the _Favour_ 's crew were already well-concealed behind various bits of cover and started picking them off. Dani heard the _Long_ fire once more and saw a gaping hole appear in the hood of the vehicle, effectively destroying the engine block and immobilizing the scavenger tank.

After Lori switched over to her regular Callahan sniper rifle, she was able to pick off the other enemies that the other members of the ground team couldn't reach.

"Well," Keith grunted, standing up and brushing himself off, "that was exhilarating."

"Thanks for the cover, beautiful," Dani murmured into the comm.

"Anytime, gorgeous," Lori replied, the smile evident in her voice. "Gonna need a shoulder rub later, though, this baby kicks like a _wang ba_ (son of a bitch)."

"Tryin' to work here people," Cali complained over the comm she was wearing, "an' yer ickin' me out."

"So sorry, Six," Dani grinned, "didn't mean to disturb you with the sweet talk after the whole gunfire incident."

"Guns I c'n ignore," Cali snarked back, "sappy stuff, not so much."

Dani just shook her head in amusement and wandered back over to where Cali and Sara were working.

Took maybe another hour or so before the newtech was dismantled from the surrounding machinery and loaded up on the Mule, and they were on their way, swinging by to pick Lori up.

As they approached their ship, Rain called out to them. "This is Home, we got another ship incomin', an' they already hailed us, demandin' our goods. Said they were Tong."

" _Hao yun bu lai, huai yun bu jwo_ (good luck don't come, back luck don't leave)," Dani sighed. "Can ya stall 'em?"

"Yeah, sure, I'll just put on a shadow puppet show," Rain snarked. "I'll do what I can."

They were entering the bay with the Mule when they heard the engine roar of a descending ship nearby. Dani jumped out, shouting orders.

"Get the package secure, and strap in the Mule, fast! We're gonna be makin' trails here, an' I don' want anybody hurt!" She ran over to the alcove behind the door controls to secure her new Ares shotgun and then raced up the steps towards the bridge.

"Any luck sweetie?" she said briskly as she slid into her chair.

"Nope," Rain answered, popping the end of the word. "Got 'em pretty _shengqi_ (pissed), though."

Dani barked out a laugh. "Well, makes it more interestin'. Alright if I take the helm?"

"Go for it," Rain smiled, leaning back and strapping in. "Been kinda boring lately, and Feather needs new stories anyways."

"An' how are the two of ya doin', anyways?" Dani asked nonchalantly, flipping switches and adjusting levers to start the engines rotating.

"Whyyyyy?" Rain drawled, questioning.

"Jus' curious, jus' curious..." Dani murmured, watching her scanner. _Tong ship would be down in five, four_...

"Attention crew, we're gonna lift off right quick and right soon, so strap in an' hold on to yer garters," she joked into the comm.

"Well that was a change of tone," Rain remarked, eyebrows raised.

Dani shrugged, grinning. "Gotta keep 'em guessing." And then she threw the levers for the thrusters forward, hurtling the Firefly ship into the sky.

They were at first pressed down into their seats, and then gradually into the backs as Dani rotated the engines to align the ship properly. She was dismayed to note that the Tong ship was not fooled at all, and was rising up in their wake.

"Gorramit, _huh choo-shung tza-jiao duh tzang-huo_ (filthy fornicators of livestock) are gonna make me drop another EMP on their _pigu_ (ass)," she grumbled.

"Thought you liked spiking other folk's _yikuai lese_ (piece of junk) outta the sky?" Rain inquired, hanging on to her restraints with both hands.

"That's before I realized how much the ruttin' things cost," Dani growled back in irritation. "You wanna do the deed?"

"Me? Shiny!" Rain exclaimed, eyes bright.

Dani took one hand off her controls to hit a few buttons. "Okay, targeting is up behind me, you're gonna have to move to the nav seat. Wait a tic, we're almost outta atmo."

Shortly after she spoke the words, the roaring of air around the hull was replaced with just the sound of the engine straining. She eased off on the acceleration so that Rain could transfer seats without injury.

As her eldest daughter settled in, Dani picked up the comm again. "Engine room, gonna need full burn as soon as we drop this _piyan_ (asshole) behind us, _dong_ _ma_ (understand)?"

" _Shi a_ (yes, affirmative)!" Cali piped back.

Glancing at her own display, she lined the ship up as best as she could. "You got the button cover open?"

"Yep, ready to go," Rain replied excitedly. "Do I wait for your signal, or just when I see it line up?"

"When you get a shot, take it," Dani replied over her shoulder. Then, after a beat, she added, "Keepin' in mind that these are ruttin' expensive, right?"

"Right, right..." Rain murmured distractedly, watching her display intently. Then, with a triumphant shout, she mashed the button down to send an EMP mine hurtling backwards.

"Got 'im!" she crowed. Dani could see as well, the ship was twisting out of control as one engine shut down before the other did. Looked like it would continue out into the Black until they got things restarted, but she planned to be long gone before that happened.

"Nice job _baobei_ (treasured one)," she grinned. "Alright engine room," she said into the comm, "gimme full burn!"

"Let's moon 'em!" Rain giggled, strapping back down in her seat.

* * *

Bellerophon. White Sun.

They managed to get to Bellerophon without further incident. Dani overheard Rain talking to Feather over the Cortex about how _huaidan_ (badass) it was to drop the EMP mine, and she smiled affectionately. _Yes you are,_ nu'er _(daughter), one_ huaidan _pilot and spacer._

They were directed to land at the main spaceport, and once down Dani, Keith, and Jess set off in shuttle number two with the newtech on board for the floating estate belonging to Coleen's patron.

"Why is it we haven't replaced the shaky number one shuttle with something more reliable?" Keith asked from the seat next to Dani, holding his nose.

"And why haven't we been able to do something about this smell," Jess wondered out loud from her seat behind them. "I mean, it's been a whole gorram year, more than, and it still stinks! I think the incense seems to be less effective, even!"

"Bitch and moan, bitch and moan," Dani replied humorously from her chair as she made for a landing. Her sure hands on the controls set the shuttle down smoothly on the estate grounds.

Keith opened the hatch but then froze suddenly in the entryway. "Huh," he grunted. "Well, this was unexpected."

Peering around Keith's large torso, Dani saw several suited men spread out around the shuttle, assault rifles trained on the crew. They all had identical tattoos on their faces, a golden claw that came up from their left necks to circle their left eye.

"And of course, it's the Tong," Dani sighed resignedly. " _Tiao chu fu di jin huo keng_ (out of the frying pan into the fire)."

"Come with us, please," one of the henchmen ordered politely. "And leave your sidearms on your shuttle."

The three crewmembers complied and were led inside the fancy estate house. After a long winding hallway, they entered the presence of tall, bald man wearing a neat white suit. He was unsmiling, moving with careful and deliberate movements as he rose from his seat in the living room. Though he had a few wrinkles from what Dani could see, he still looked as tough as durasteel. And he had the same golden claw tattoo on his face.

"Welcome, my friends. My name is Nguyen Han, and I am the leader of the Golden Dagger Tong. I trust you have returned with the newtech?"

"Um, yes we have..." Dani trailed off uncertainly. "Are you Captain Mac Phearson's patron?"

"I am indeed," the unsmiling man answered gravely, motioning them to sit. "I was most interested in the wreck they discovered and desired the newtech scanner I had learned it contained. Unfortunately, my subordinate neglected to convey the specifics of what I desired, I suspect to gain it for himself at a later date." He waved one hand dismissively. "He was dealt with appropriately."

"Now then," he sat up straighter, "if you would permit my men to unload your cargo, we may discuss payment. Tea?"

"Yes, of course, and please," Dani responded, her head swimming. "Um, I hope the Tong we had to disable on Beylix weren't yours?"

"No, Captain," he replied, as a serving girl glided around the seated visitors, handing out tea in very fine china cups. "I assume they were competitors. It happens."

"Erm, yes I suppose it does..." Dani murmured as she took a sip of the tea. "This is excellent, by the way."

"Thank you, dear. We grow our own leaves on my estate here." Nguyen Han folded his hands in his lap. "Now then, will you be splitting the bonus amount with Captain Mac Phearson?"

Dani shook her head, "No sir, she's lettin' us have the full bonus."

The unsmiling man nodded gravely. "Then I will have the payment left in your shuttle for you. Is five thousand in coin acceptable?"

Dani almost choked on her tea. She glanced over at Keith and Jess who were equally surprised. _That's a lot more than we were expecting_.

"Understand, that this payment also buys your silence," he continued. "I do not want to hear any word of what you picked up and delivered to me, from any channel. Also, in return, I will let it be known throughout the Tong circles that the item no longer resides on either your ship or the _Du-Khang_."

"We accept your terms, sir," Dani answered formally.

* * *

Outbound from Bellerophon.

Rain was sitting on the bridge by herself, taking the ship out of orbit. It was, she reflected, a sign of her _Kaasan_ 's faith in her that she didn't feel the need to remain on the bridge for such stages of flight. Instead, she and her wife Lori had turned in already.

As the _Favour_ smoothly set about its new course, Rain's musings were about to turn towards Dani and Lori's marriage and how happy they both seemed. _It's good to have_ Kaasan _so happy_. But she didn't get far before she was aware of a presence behind her.

Not thinking, she turned her head to see Kelly standing in the doorway to the bridge.

"Hey, Aunt Kelly!" Rain said, turning back to the console. "Come to visit me on my shift?"

"Yep," Kelly said, moving to sit down in the captain's chair. "Couldn't sleep."

 _That's odd_ , Rain thought. _She feels... off for some reason. Maybe she's stressed about somethin'?_

Kelly sat there for awhile, and they made some idle conversation, mostly about how Rain was feeling about taking on more responsibility and such, and briefly touched on her budding relationship with Lori's niece Feather. Then Kelly steered the conversation in an unexpected direction.

"So Rain," Kelly asked casually, "how are you doing, mentally?"

Rain looked over, puzzled. "Um, okay, I guess?"

Kelly shook her head. "Sorry, I'm being obtuse. I meant your perceptive abilities. They gotten any stronger since you passed puberty?"

Rain sat there for a minute. Very few people knew about how she, well, _knew_ things. Mom knew, and _Kaasan_ , and of course Sara and Cali, but they'd never talk. _Oh, well Aunt Maribelle knows too. Maybe Mom or Aunt Maribelle talked to her about it?_

She gave a small shrug. It really wasn't something she liked to discuss much. "It's nothing, really," she finally answered. "Just a thing, hasn't changed any... Why?" Something in the back of her head made her ask that last bit.

Kelly just gave an airy laugh and waved away her concern. "Nothing really, just curious. Well, I'll let you be, maybe I can get to sleep tonight after all. Bye, sweetie!"

As Kelly walked off the bridge, Rain sat in her seat, motionless. She had just gotten a... _twinge_ , was the best way to describe it. And there was only one time she ever got a twinge like that.

When somebody was directly lying to her.

She couldn't understand it. This was her Aunt Kelly, granted not actually related, but she'd known her all her life really, and she was best friends with her _Kaasan,_ her Aunt Maribelle... and her Mom. _Why would she lie to me about this?_

It wasn't something she could let go of, either, it just kept circling 'round her brainpan relentlessly.

Maybe an hour later Keith came in to take his shift from her. Instead of her usual brief greeting before departing towards her bunk, Rain sat there for another minute before speaking up to her uncle.

"Uncle Keith, I have to talk to you about somethin'," she began. "This could be nothin', but it may be somethin', and I don't know if I can talk to _Kaasan_ about it because of their history... But I gotta talk to someone about it now. First, though, I gotta tell you a little bit about what makes me so weird sometimes..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Credit for the lovable Muerte (who really needs to make another cameo) to the classic _Undercover Blues_ movie. If you haven't seen it, drop everything and watch it. Now.
> 
> Title track _Sweet Talkin' Woman_ by the fabulous Electric Light Orchestra, a.k.a. ELO.
> 
> And of course, the fabulous Mikki and Dev are owned by the wonderfully talented **dayzejane** and **Thug-4-Less**.
> 
> Many hugs for reading, and please do take a sec to review, I love to get feedback!
> 
> Stay shiny!


	41. Episode 33: Shoot To Thrill

_Fortune's Favour_. Hera. Georgia system.

Dani looked out of the viewport ahead of her. She knew exactly where Serenity Valley lay, where the old airbase was as well, just over the horizon. Where she ended the war in a military brig.

She was feeling a little mopey, being back on this planet for the first time since the end of the war. She tried not to be, but she could just feel her spirits dragging downward. Of course, her perceptive wife picked up on this immediately.

"We need to go out," Lori said firmly, standing next to her on the bridge.

Dani looked up from her seat, perplexed. "An' do what?"

"Go drinking, of course!" her freckled lover grinned at her.

Dani tapped her chin thoughtfully. "Well, we'll be here at least overnight, locals have been using the workshop here, lotta tools need fixin'... alright, let's do it." Grinning back at her, she picked up the comm. "Keith, we're goin' out. You have the ship."

A half hour later they were strolling through the medium-sized farming community. There were a number of bars about, some more rough-and-tumble than others, but the two women agreed they wanted something a little more quiet.

Dani was dressed in her habitual clothes but had changed into a deep blue tee shirt with a scooping neckline. Lori had on one of her usual short dresses, this one a light tan color that matched Dani's cargoes, but instead of either boots or sandals she had on a low set of black pumps. Dani thought she looked as adorable as ever.

"Oh, here's a cute one, Li Shen's," Lori said excitedly, dragging Dani along in her wake. "D'ya suppose they have sake?"

"Can't imagine why not," Dani grinned at her wife's exuberance. "Why?"

"Never tried it before!" Lori responded as she found an empty table near the edge of the room.

Dani looked at her warily as she sat down. "You do 'member I gots the tolerance of an adolescent schoolgirl, right?"

Lori giggled and gave Dani a kiss before sitting herself down. "No worries, beautiful, I'll take care of ya."

* * *

Town of Huntsville. Hera. Georgia system.

Dani woke up naked the next morning with her arm around an also naked Lori. She snuggled up to her wife before realizing they were in a strange bed. _Where did we end up last night?_ She gently stroked Lori's freckled arm as she started to also wake.

Dani smiled into Lori's soft red hair. "Good morning, gorgeous."

Lori yawned sleepily. "Mornin', beautiful."

Another female voice from behind Dani spoke up. "Good morning, you two."

Dani and Lori froze, instantly wide awake. Lori looked up at her with wide eyes, and then they both slowly swiveled their heads around to see who had talked. There was a third woman in bed with them who also appeared to be naked, with a frizzled mess of blond hair, bright blue eyes and a sweet smile.

"Sleep well?" the other girl asked.

"Um," Dani responded intelligently. She was drawing a complete blank as to how to deal with this situation.

"I think so," Lori answered the blond's question. "Hi?"

The naked woman next to them widened her smile and wiggled her fingers at them in greeting.

Dani cleared her throat. "Don' wanna be rude none, but who're you?"

The girl gave a tinkling laugh. "I'm Alexis. This's my apartment. You guys came home with me, 'member? Not ringin' a bell?"

Both Dani and Lori gave identical slow shakes of their heads.

Alexis laughed again humorously. "I'm a waitress at the bar you were at. You were so cute together, and we were all flirtin', so I asked if you wanted to come home with me after my shift. And here we are!"

She giggled and rose to get out of bed. Dani noted that she was even bustier than Lori, and yes, she was very naked.

"Breakfast?" Alexis asked cheerfully as she headed towards the bedroom door.

"Um, mebbe just some coffee, please?" Lori responded.

"Nothin' fer me, thanks," Dani spoke up, watching the view of Alexis' exit. "We, um, really need to be gettin' back to our ship."

Alexis walked out of the room, still naked. "Oh that's right, y'all are off of a ship!" she called out over her shoulder.

After she left, Dani looked back at Lori. "Did we really...?"

"I think so?" Lori whispered uncertainly.

"You don't remember?" Dani hissed.

"No! Nothing!" Lori hissed back.

Dani jumped out of bed, looking through piles of clothes spread around on the floor. "What time is it?" she asked.

Alexis came back into the room, still lacking any clothes, and handed a cup of coffee to Lori. "Early still, sun just came up."

"Okay," Dani breathed, searching around on the floor, "we c'n still get back to the ship in time..."

Alexis looked over at her, concerned. "They wouldn't leave without you, right?"

Lori laughed easily, cradling the coffee cup. She abandoned any pretense of modesty and just sat up without the covers. "Nah, she's the captain," she explained.

Alexis giggled once again, grabbed a set of pink undies from her dresser, and wandered into the bathroom.

"Next time we drink sake," Lori whispered with a grin, "we do it on the ship."

"Next time we drink sake," Dani whispered back furiously, still searching frantically for her underwear, "we do it in our bunk with the hatch sealed."

Dani finally found a comm unit, which wasn't underwear but would do for now in her efforts to pull herself together. She put it on her ear as she continued to search, almost resolving to just do without any undies.

"Home, is this Two," Dani stated into her comm, "checkin' in, sorry for not doing so earlier."

After a beat, Keith's voice came back. "Two, why are you using Five's comm?"

Dani mentally cursed herself. _Right, they can tell which comm it is from the bridge._

"Um, sorry," she stammered, "got 'em mixed up."

"You stop off at a hotel or something for privacy?" Keith asked curiously.

Dani latched on to that as an excuse. "Yup, that's it exactly."

Before she could close the connection, Alexis walked back in wearing her underwear. "You sure you guys don' want any breakfast while ya get dressed?" she asked cheerfully.

Another pause. "Two, who was that?"

Dani winced. "Sorry, Home, gotta go!" She quickly closed the connection.

Lori was laughing by this point. She put her cup down on an end-table and fished around under the covers.

"Here, sweetie, they were under the sheets," she announced, tossing them at Dani.

Dani muttered a curse under her breath. "Thank you, love," she murmured as she started to dress. Lori was up as well, having found her own underwear under the sheets.

Dani pulled her cargos back on and found her comm unit in her pocket. She gave Lori hers and put the other one on. As Dani pulled her shirt over her head, the comm beeped.

"What, Home?" Dani asked irritably.

"Oh, thought this might be Five now," Keith responded, humor evident in his voice.

"No, I found mine, she's got hers now. What?"

"So what's going on _jie-jie_? You wake up in a stranger's house?"

Dani finally snapped, hissing furiously, "Yes, _didi_ , exactly, we both got hammered and woke up in another woman's bed, and as beautiful as she is it's still freaking me out a little! Okay?"

Keith let out a snort of amusement. "Okay, Two, see you soon."

"You realize the whole ship is gonna know now, right?" Lori murmured sympathetically.

Dani just banged her head against the wall a few times.

"You think I'm beautiful?" Alexis called out from the next room. "That's so sweet!"

"Um, yeah, well y'are, no doubt," Dani stammered in answer. "I'm just not used to... y'know... this kinda situation. Sorry."

Grumbling, Dani finally finished getting dressed, as did Lori.

Alexis came back into the room and grabbed a pink sundress to pull on. "No worries, hon. Just make sure you visit next time you're in port, okay? You and your girlfriend both."

"Wife," Dani and Lori answered simultaneously and then gave each other a sheepish grin.

"Oh, you two are so adorable," Alexis giggled.

The beautiful blonde showed them out the front door. "I had a really nice time last night. Thanks for all the attention!"

Dani and Lori waved their goodbyes and started back towards the ship, holding hands.

"So," Lori spoke up after a while.

"Yep," Dani answered, head still spinning.

Lori giggled. "Leastways we know we still gots it, even when blasted."

Dani giggled back at her uncomfortably. "I'm just not... that's never happened, wakin' up in a stranger's bed, much less with two other people... it's weird, don'cha think?"

Lori said nothing but blushed slightly.

Dani stopped in her tracks. "Lori?"

"Okay," Lori sighed, "so there was this one time with Bud, wanted to give him a nice eighteenth birthday present, so me an' another girl I knew... oh come on, Dani, you're gonna catch flies with your mouth hangin' open. You knew I weren't no angel."

"No, no, it's just... wow."

They resumed their stroll back to the ship, Dani's arm now around Lori's shoulders, Lori's around her waist.

"Noticed she didn't mention yer scars," Lori said nonchalantly.

Dani thought about that. "Huh, yer right."

"Soooo..." Lori drawled.

"Hmm?"

Lori looked sideways at her, grinning again. "You wanna stop by an' see her next time we're in port?"

Dani flushed a very bright red. "We... we'll discuss. Later. Much later," she stammered uncomfortably.

Lori gave a peal of laughter as they mounted the ramp. The couple walked into the open cargo bay to see the entire crew lined up on the catwalk overhead, applauding thunderously with whistles and catcalls.

Lori grinned and took a bow, while Dani just rolled her eyes.

"Oh, _bi zui_ (shut up)," Dani yelled over the din. She still managed a grin as well as they headed up the steps.

"Never gonna live this down..." Lori laughed.

Dani smiled, shaking her head. "Nope."

* * *

Hera. Georgia system.

Kelly had been on the bridge, trying to make more small talk with Rain, when a job offer on Hera came through the night Dani and Lori spent off the ship. She overheard Jess setting up a meet for the next evening and didn't think anything more about it

The next morning, however, after she returned from the general mocking of their Captain and her wife, she noticed her handheld piece of high tech equipment was emitting a low beep, which rarely happened. It meant her boss, someone who only was ever referred to as "Sir," needed to reach her.

 _Actually_ , she mused to herself as she logged in, _I can count on one hand the number of times he's reached out to me first_. She pushed down any feelings of misgivings, schooling her face into the customary blandness of all Agents.

The stark-faced man was, as always, attired in a black suit. He spoke without preamble.

"I understand the crew of your transportation has accepted a job. You must deter them from accepting it."

"Sir?" she asked. "I believe they already accepted, they have a meet set up for tonight."

His brow furrowed slightly, which was as extreme a sign of displeasure as she'd ever seen. "Then you must divert them. Agent Eighteen is on site and has set a trap for your previous primary target. Your crew must not trigger it."

And that was as eloquent as she'd ever heard him as well. _It's just a day of firsts_. "It will be done."

"Report again this evening," he said, reaching over with his blue-clad hand to switch the connection off.

Kelly sat back, automatically shutting down her unit as her mind raced. This had always been a delicate balancing act. Her actions now could place her cover in danger. But more importantly, she could lose her family here on the _Favour_. She had begun to see herself as one of them, even though that was at odds with her overall mission in the 'Verse. Anyone was expendable, even herself. The mission came first.

But what to do now.

The one thing that kept circling her very sharp mind (much sharper than she ever let on, all Agents were generally at the genius level of intellect) was that she never really liked Eighteen. For an Agent, he was smug, condescending, and always gave an air of looking down at the very few female Agents that rose in rank high enough to be a number and not a name.

"This is treason," she whispered to herself. And yet... it would solve so many things.

She nodded to herself, clarity forming as to what her next actions would be.

Kelly made her way from her bunk, searching for one particular crewmember. She found her in the galley.

Both Cali and Sara were huddled over a game of Chinese Checkers, a very popular game out on the Rim and Border worlds. Dani and Lori had bought the set for Cali when she turned seventeen last month. The two girls were telling ghost stories, of all things, while engrossed in their game. _Perfect_.

She sat down, watching their game with a smile, and waited for Sara to finish her current tale of some grisly horror that lived in the bowels of a ghost ship, devouring the souls of anyone who tried to sail her through the Black. She gave a laugh when Sara was done.

"That's a good one," Kelly grinned. "I got one, but it's a real tale, not a ghost story. Want to hear it?"

Both girls nodded eagerly, their game temporarily forgotten.

"There's this shadowy, secret organization that exists, and really controls the entire 'Verse," she began, whispering conspiratorially. "They have people all over the place, like a secret society. And they have these agents who carry out their evil deeds, men who have no morals, no pity. And you know how you can tell who an Agent is?"

Cali was leaning forward, wide-eyed by this point, and shook her head eagerly.

"They have hands of blue," Kelly whispered dramatically.

"No way!" Cali exclaimed.

"Way!" Kelly retorted. "And they have this secret device that they use, it uses some kind of sonic wave to kill people. They have implants, you see, to protect themselves, but anybody else in the room - zap!" Both Cali and Sara jumped a little as Kelly delivered the last word in a shout.

"Everybody is lying dead in a pool of blood before they can even react!" Kelly finished with a flourish.

"Wow Aunt Kelly, you tell some good stories!" Cali said solemnly.

Kelly laughed cheerfully as she got back up to get some tea. "I'll have to remember some of my others, I got a whole bunch of them."

 _And hopefully, that does the trick_ , she thought smugly.

* * *

Hera. Georgia system.

The meet was set up that evening in an abandoned warehouse. There were no vantage points for Lori to be stationed on overwatch inside the warehouse, so she was perched on top of a neighboring one. Keith, Dani, Jess, and Sara entered the building together. _Couldn't even find a back door_ , Sara mused to herself. _What kinda warehouse don't have a gorram back door?_

Standing in the exact middle of the dimly-lit building was a solitary man. He was tall and lean, with close-cut black hair and a look of faint disapproval on his face. He wore a black suit, white shirt and black tie. He stood with his legs together and his hands clasped behind his back.

"You are the crew from the Firefly vessel who took the contract?" the man asked in an expressionless voice.

"That's right," Keith grunted. They had been led to believe this was another simple but lucrative job offer, a package needed to be picked up and delivered discreetly. Only Sara, looking around curiously, did not see a package of any kind. _Maybe it's really small?_

The group came to a stop about ten meters away. Everyone had their hands resting on their holsters as a precaution but kept their sidearms in place. Except for Sara, of course, who was getting a bit nervous and kept feeling the need to get a shiv in her hand. Instead, she slipped her right hand behind her back and slowly drew a throwing blade. _Dunno why I'm gettin' so twitchy, could be anythin'.._.

Then the man brought his hands around to reach inside his jacket, and Sara froze in shock.

He had blue hands.

 _It weren't just a story, it's a gorram Agent, he's gonna kill us all_...

Her inaction last only a second, and after seeing the odd piece of tech that the man withdrew, she flung her right hand forward. The black-suited man sprouted a knife from his neck, and he dropped the object, gurgling, before toppling to the ground dead.

The others stared in shock, before looking towards the trembling Sara. "Sweetie, what-" Dani started.

"We gots to leave! Now! We gotta run!" Sara screamed, grabbing hold of her _Kaasan_ and pulling her towards the door.

Keith didn't hesitate any further, Sara noted. "Five, evac now, get straight to the ship, we'll meet you there. You copy?"

"Copy, One, on my way!" Lori said into the comm, already panting with exertion as she raced to exit the roof across the street.

She knew she was going to have to explain things later, but for now, she was just happy to have averted the death of her loved ones, and even more so that her uncle unquestioningly followed her lead. It made her feel... important. Not just that, but valued as well.

 _We'll see if'n that lasts after I tell 'em why I hadta do that_...

* * *

Outbound from Hera. Georgia system.

They had left Hera in a hurry. Kelly heard from Jess and Maribelle how it went down. She knew she was still treading dangerous waters here, not just risking exposure from the crew but also with the Organization. Failure was usually met with death. Treason? Well, such folk often wished they could be so lucky as to be handed a simple death sentence.

It was late at night now, the _Favour_ was on the way to White Sun, having obtained another shipping contract from Dani's old war buddy, Tom, on Osiris. Dani had also planned on doing some refitting while there, maybe overhaul the engine and flush the cooling systems, so they were looking towards at least a few days on-planet.

And Kelly knew there'd be a reckoning for Hera. She'd have to face the fallout sooner or later.

Avoiding her report would only make things worse, make it more difficult to spin the events to her favor. And the primary report had better come from her.

She dimmed the lights in her room and pulled out her communication device. Placing her thumb in the sensor again, she tapped in the code to dismantle the anti-theft device and then the second code to connect to her supervisor.

He appeared on-screen again, immediately, and for once Kelly wished fervently that she could read him better. _One would think, after all these years, I'd be better at it_.

"Report, Agent Thirty," the man in black ordered.

"I was unsuccessful at deterring the crew from making the rendezvous. Further action would have jeopardized my cover. However, when they reached the warehouse, Agent Eighteen was already dead from a knife wound to the throat. I presume the primary subject had already arrived and reacted."

The man just stared at her intently for a few beats. "That is your assessment?"

Kelly nodded firmly. "The primary subject had already shown high precognitive abilities in her tests, and preliminary findings from other Agents support the theory that her abilities have grown stronger. I was surprised Agent Eighteen was careless enough to attempt apprehension in person and at close range."

"Indeed," the gaunt man responded, "Agent Eighteen was known for such... miscalculations."

 _That's right, buy the story_. "He was prideful," Kelly commented emotionlessly.

"And he paid for his sin," the stark-faced man said with finality. "You are heading towards Osiris." As usual, it was delivered as a statement and not a question.

Kelly nodded in affirmation anyway.

"I am temporarily taking you off your current assignment. You will meet with Agent Twenty-Two on Osiris at the coordinates supplied below. He will instruct you further."

"Yes, sir," Kelly answered. _What else was there I can say to that?_

"When your assignment with Twenty-Two is complete, report back to me." Without further ado, her supervisor reached out a blue-gloved hand and shut off the connection.

Kelly exhaled and closed down her unit, returning it to under the bed. _Did he buy it, really?_ She remembered the first time she had met the gaunt man. Even back then, twenty-five years ago ( _God had it really been that long since I was recruited?_ ) the man had no hair. He was always a harsh taskmaster, but she excelled as she always did at everything she put her mind towards. But she never really gained the ability to read the man accurately.

 _What did Twenty-Two want with her?_ She hadn't seen her old partner in quite a few years, but hopefully, it was a mission that could be resolved within the few days they were still on-planet, and she wouldn't need to actually leave the _Favour._

She mused to herself as she settled into bed that it was just as well that she never really liked Eighteen. Much easier to have him eliminated. Which, really, was why she told the story to Sara and not Dani. She felt a little twinge of conscience at triggering Sara's protectiveness of her family. It was one of the things Agents were trained to do, find weaknesses in people and understand how to take advantage of them.

But it didn't make it any easier for her to get to sleep at night.

"For the good of the Alliance," she whispered to herself softly. "For the good of the Alliance..."

* * *

Osiris. White Sun.

Kelly left the ship immediately after they landed. She explained to Dani and Maribelle over breakfast that she had a lot she could catch up on at the Blue Sun corporate offices, and that she might be gone for a day or two, but would let them know if she couldn't make their launch window. Dani made her promise to call them after two days anyway, just to get an update on how long they were going to be staying.

She didn't see anyone else as she walked down the ramp, they were likely all already involved with tasks. Some were sure to be off shopping in the business districts of Osiris. She sighed slightly. Sometimes it was nice to forget, even for a little while, her mission. To just enjoy the friendship of the people on board this ship. But it never lasted.

She had her knapsack slung across her shoulder. In it were the necessary items she'd need if she were off-ship any length of time, including her very accurate little Astra 200 pistol, as well as her handheld tech. She was dressed in a smart business suit in navy blue with a high-collared cream blouse and matching cream gloves, which were coming back into style on the Core worlds.

Kelly made her way via public transportation to the location Agent Twenty-Two had picked out. It was a residential courtyard in a working-class neighborhood, deserted at this time of the day. Apartments towered on all four sides, and there were pillars spaced around to support the overhangs, but the middle was open to the sky. It had the peculiar effect of muffling the sound so that conversation would not escape the courtyard itself. _Pretty handy location_ , she thought as she stood there in the shadows waiting for the other Agent to arrive.

He walked in through the opposite passageway maybe five minutes after she had gotten there, precisely on time. _Of course_. He was dressed as a typical Agent, not even bothering to conceal his blue hands.

"Not operating covertly here?" Kelly questioned mildly.

"Negative Agent Thirty, no need for that on a Core world," Twenty-Two replied. He was fairly young for an Agent, actually a few years younger than her. And yet he had been recruited younger than her, at the age of twelve. Even then he was a bit of a prodigy. The years seemed to have finally caught up to him, as his short-cropped dark brown hair was receding slightly. His piercing grey eyes had lost none of their intensity.

Twenty-Two had always intimidated her a little bit, but he accepted her as an Agent unquestioningly, even being a female. Which made him far preferable a partner than others.

Kelly moved out of the shadows to join him in the center. "What are my orders, Agent Twenty-Two?" She was used to the way Agents dealt with things, even though her first instinct was to ask how he'd been and such. It just wasn't done within the Company.

"Simple fugitive retrieval here on Osiris, but it's a two-person job. It will take three days to accomplish." He paused, perhaps noticing the slight involuntary wince on Kelly's face. "Is that a problem?"

"Potentially if I am to remain in my current cover. I will know more later. The parameters are acceptable." She titled her head as she looked up at him. "There is more?"

Twenty-Two quirked the side of his mouth, which for him was equivalent to a wide smile. "Your perceptive abilities are as advanced as always, Thirty." He hesitated, lowering his voice. "I have been instructed to observe your actions during this exercise, in order to detect any sign of compromise. I trust there will be none to report?"

Kelly stared at him in shock. To reveal his hidden mission orders was... unprecedented wasn't a strong enough word. Unthinkable was more appropriate. "Why are you telling me this?" she whispered, barely moving her lips.

"We have known each other for some time. I find your company and continued existence to be... acceptable."

If Kelly were able to allow her eyes to bug out of her head while in the presence of another Agent, she would have easily done so. _Did Twenty-Two have... feelings for me? Talk about unprecedented!_ "I appreciate your concern," she replied slowly, "and I assure you there will be nothing detrimental to report."

Twenty-Two gave her a slight nod. "I will meet you at the Company building, then, in three hours for your official briefing." And with that, he turned on his heel and left the way he came.

Kelly was frozen in place, her very expansive mind whirling like a maelstrom.

Setting aside the fact that her old partner may have developed feelings for her, this new development was highly undesirable. If the Company suspected her of being compromised, her very existence was at risk.

She started to pace around the courtyard, her short but lithe legs moving rapidly as she tried to sort out a plan. If the Company thought she was compromised then they would suspect the _Favour_ of being the root of that compromise, which would mean there was something on the ship she was trying to protect. Which, of course, there was, but she couldn't let the Company suspect that for real. If they had real suspicions, or any shred of evidence, she would not be walking around free right now.

So she had some time. Time to tie up loose ends, get a decent story together, cement her loyalty with the company again.

Could Agent Twenty-Two be another like her, one who buried their feelings and emotions, suppressed but never really lost?

_No, I can't think about that, it could be another trick, a trap set by the Company to make me slip up and trust somebody. I can't afford to-_

Her thoughts were cut off and her irritable pacing halted by the sight before her. Leaning against a pillar in the shadows was Keith.

"Oh _ta ma de_ (fuck me blind)," she breathed. _No, this cannot be happening_...

"That was a very interesting conversation, Kelly," he rumbled with an almost deceptive mildness. "Or should I call you Agent Thirty?"

 _Oh, it was even worse than I thought_. "Please, Keith," she held her gloved hands up imploringly. "Let me explain..."

"Bag on the ground," he ordered in a quiet baritone as he pushed himself upright from the pillar. He was only armed with his Ares machine pistol, and it was still in its holster.

"Okay, sure," she whispered, dropping the bag off of her shoulder.

"Now, you will tell me exactly what the _ta ma de di yu_ (fucking hell) you are up to," he said, his voice barely containing his fury. He started stalking towards her.

Kelly shied away, trembling. "Please, Keith, I can't tell you, please don't ask me to-"

"Wasn't asking," Keith growled, as he reached out a hand to grab her.

Within an instant, Kelly's entire demeanor changed.

Her trembling ceased instantly, and her face went professionally blank. She grabbed hold of the extended arm and twisted slightly, using her leverage to compensate for her diminutive size to force Keith to stumble to his knees. Whirling around she drove her hand, straight and bladed like a knife, into the nerve cluster at the base of his neck. He collapsed soundlessly onto his face, out cold.

Kelly had a mere split-second to react before she was jumping back from a furious assault. Sara was there, slashing with her shivs. _Of course, he would trust her as backup,_ she thought with detachment. As fast as Kelly was, Sara's initial strike was true and slashed across her torso, opening her up. But instead of blood, her clothes parted to reveal blue body armor.

* * *

Osiris. White Sun.

Sara didn't question, she just struck. She saw Kelly drop Keith like he was an untrained army recruit, and so she was a danger. She had to get her away from him.

The first slash opened up her torso, revealing the armor underneath. It registered in the back of her mind, as all sorts of interesting possibilities entered in. Kelly was one of _Them_ , an Agent that she had even warned her about. And Sara started to frenzy, she could feel the animal usually caged within her snarl, feeling threatened.

Her attacks came faster, trying to get at Kelly's face and throat, but the Agent kept her arms and hands up in front vertically, deflecting the blows but shredding her sleeves and gloves in the process. Sara could see the blue body armor was seamless, extending around her entire body most likely, except for the neck and face. And she was fast, faster than even Sara.

She was able to push Kelly back towards where her bag lay but couldn't get a good strike in. Then, with blinding quickness, Kelly delivered a whirling kick to Sara's chest, staggering her backwards and causing her to drop her shivs as she caught herself on the ground.

 _Physical impact_. The beast within roared with rage and her vision began to darken around the edges. Kelly had grabbed her bag and was gone, disappeared, but she could find her, track her, kill her, _bleed_ her...

As she reached for her shivs, her hand instead touched Keith's unmoving leg, and suddenly all her primal thoughts cut off like a bucket of cold water had been dumped on her head. _I hafta... I hafta protect Uncle Keith. He's defenseless_.

Sara took several deep breaths, making sure she was completely in control. She didn't have time to figure out what had almost happened to her, didn't really want to dwell on it at all.

Instead, she sheathed her shivs and sat down heavily against one of the pillars where she could watch over Keith until he woke up. She stayed out of arm's reach in case he woke violently.

And, full of dread, she opened a channel on her comm unit for a conversation with her _Kaasan_ that she was really not looking forward to having.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _Annnnd_ another mike drop. Relatively short one compared to some of my more recent episodes, but vital to the thread of Kelly's story. Title track credit to AC/DC.


	42. Intermission VI

Hey, all! Been a little while since we spoke. Don't have any tea on hand, but there's a little New Canaan whiskey left in the bottle here. I'm sure we're all legal age, right? Have a glass.

I attended a brilliant seminar this past weekend titled **Some Assembly Required: A Whedonite's Guide to Characterization** with my sister-in-law and one of my very best friends (who Maribelle is based off of). It was created by Kate Johnson and J.T. Brock. The wonderful J.T. was there to present it, and I gained so much from the day. I'm hoping to start incorporating some of what I learned into the next episodes, but at the very least it helped me to solidify the story arc I have planned. Kelly's story, as well as Sara's animalistic nature, will have some resolution over the next eight episodes, to culminate in Episode 43, which will be a doozy. It's gonna be a wild ride, so buckle up. I have the next episode done and it's being reviewed by the Betas, it's a fluffy Interlude (the first of two planned) but it's still a lot of fun. Next one, Episode 35, will have us back into the action!

As always, huge props out to my Beta readers, including **Silvana_Crowe**. Also, shout out to **theradvlad** , I appreciate the feedback, keep 'em coming! And feel free to PM me with any questions or concerns from any of my lovely readers!

Can't go an intermission without acknowledging the immortal Joss Whedon, without whom we would be lost, adrift in a sea of mediocre fictions. And I'd not have such a wonderful 'Verse to play around in for my stories.

And finally, I fully intend to go back and do some fixing of past stories. Every time I do a read-through I catch an error (especially on mobile, so easy to see that way). I also want to go through and leave some credit at the bottom of each for the Easter Eggs I leave scattered about. I've done so for some episodes, but it's been inconsistent.

Well, thanks again for reading my story up to this point! By my timeline, the _Fortune's Favour_ and her crew have been sailing the Black for a little over a year and a quarter. I have planned out for just over the two-year-mark, so there's still plenty of fun to come.

Don't forget to leave me reviews and/or feedback! Love to hear from y'all!


	43. Episode 34: Interlude I

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This episode doesn't really advance the story arcs any, it just serves as downtime for the crew. Fun fluff. So don't expect any thrilling heroics, 'k?

_Fortune's Favour._ En route to Beaumonde. Kalidasa system.

Jess had gotten them a cargo run to Beaumonde. They were due there in the morning but didn't have anything lined up afterwards.

"So, I had a thought," Dani mentioned casually over dinner.

"Oh no, we're in trouble now," Keith joked. He'd been unusually boisterous lately as if trying to buoy the spirits of the crew. Kelly's actions, and her subsequent leaving of the crew, left everyone in various states of emotion. It ran from depression to anger to sheer incredulity.

Maribelle was particularly off-kilter, she'd taken to staying in her bunk all day, only emerging for meals, and even then only responding dully when spoken to.

Which was one of the reasons Dani was broaching her idea.

"Anyways," Dani smirked at her brother, "I say we skip a return cargo from Beaumonde."

That got everyone's attention. The _Favour_ rarely went anywhere without a job at the other end.

"We stayin' on Beaumonde?" Rain asked curiously.

"Nope," she smiled. "I'm thinking we head for Aberdeen for mebbe a week's vacation."

Her announcement was met with smiles and cheers. All the crew had enjoyed their last time on that planet and it had been a good two months since they had been there. Even Maribelle perked up a little bit, she'd made friends with Lori's brother Jeb and his wife Jules. Their little boys were of an age with her own. Dani supposed it was nice to relate to folk going through the same issues.

"Alright then, sounds like we have a plan," Dani grinned.

"Want me to Wave them, let 'em know we're stoppin' by?" Lori asked, a joyous look on her face. Dani was fairly sure it'd been hard for Lori to leave home again after having finally reconciled with her father.

Dani gave her wife's leg a squeeze under the table. "Sure _lian ren_ (sweetheart), give your dad a heads-up so's it don' seem like an invasion none. Should be there in three days, mebbe two if we push it."

"I'm all for pushin' it!" Rain declared, then flushed a light pink.

 _Mmmhmm, I can imagine_ , Dani smirked to herself. Rain had been keeping in regular touch with Lori's niece, Feather. Cognizant of her daughter's penchant for social anxiety, she'd never dream of ribbing her over it. _Still, it's nice to see her actually show an interest in someone_.

* * *

Aberdeen. Kalidasa system.

They had managed to secure a pad within walking distance of Montrose Township, where the O'Toole's family pub was located. The rest of the crew were already assembled in the bay, eager to head into town when Dani shut down the engines. It was just after lunch, local time. She was getting up to leave when she glanced over to see Rain still sitting in her chair, looking over a few things on her screen. "Comin'?" Dani inquired.

Rain smiled over her shoulder. "In a little bit."

 _Huh, thought she'd be more excited to get on the ground_ , Dani mused, heading down the steps towards the cargo bay. _She's not still hung up about stayin' on ship, is she?_

She met her wife standing by the door controls, waiting impatiently for her. Everyone else had already departed the ship. "Let's go, lazy-butt!" Lori snarked.

Dani barked out a laugh. "Lazy-butt, is it? You wanna race to the pub?"

"And get all sweaty 'fore I can get hugs from everyone? Not a chance!" she responded airily, linking her arm with Dani. Lori's other hand was holding a bag, within which was a present from the two to give her father. They moved down the ramp, only to spot Feather jogging towards them, dressed in shorts and a simple tee shirt for a change.

"Hi Aunt Lori, hi Dani!" Feather waved excitedly, and passed right on by, heading into the ship.

"Well," Dani mused, glancing over her shoulder, "guess that explains why Rain stayed on board."

"Can't get much more private," Lori smiled. "'Specially when we're all off-ship."

The two women shared a giggle as they headed towards the center of town, and where the combined Grant-O'Toole clan would be gathered. Save for a pair of teenagers, who Dani did not expect to see much of for the next week.

* * *

O'Toole's. Aberdeen.

They had spent most of the afternoon socializing and catching up with each other, and it moved on towards the grand dinner party Robert had planned for them. Finally, Dani got a chance to properly greet Lori's father. She'd previously been pulled into a particularly intense conversation with Lori's sister Ericka about some of the planets she'd been to.

"Good to see you again, Robert," Dani smiled at the elder O'Toole.

Robert pulled her into a warm hug. _Always forget this is a family of huggers_ , she thought wryly. "Good to see you too, Dani. My daughter taking care of you?"

"Oh yeah," she smiled. "Here, we brought a lil' somethin' for ya," she said as she handed over the bag. From it, Robert withdrew the last bottle of New Canaan's finest whiskey that Dani had held onto.

"This... is very nice. Will you share a glass with me?"

"Thought you'd never ask!" Dani smirked. "Just the one glass, though, I think."

Robert barked out a rare laugh. "Yes, I do recall your inability to hold your liquor." They shared a laugh, remembering the last time she was there and passed out after four shots of whiskey.

They sat at a small table together, surrounded by merriment and conversation from the family and friends around them. Robert poured out two glasses and handed one to Dani. "Your health," he murmured, clinking his glass against hers.

Dani savored the smooth, warm liquid as it slid down her throat.

"Ah, that is indeed good stuff," Robert sighed, examining his glass appreciatively.

"Better not be selling this at yer bar, now. We got this for just yerself," Dani teased.

"Oh, no fear of that," her father-in-law chuckled.

They sat there in companionable silence for a minute or two before Dani opened up the conversation.

"Been meaning to ask you somethin' if'n ya don' mind, Robert," Dani begins.

"Go ahead, I can hardly refuse after getting such a very fine whiskey," Robert replied genially.

"So I noticed that you don't really sport a Border accent. It's much more Core." She held her hand up. "Not tryin' to pry, or be insultin'. Me, I grew up on a Core world, Bernadette, but I spent, what was it, eleven, thirteen... let's just call it an even dozen years on Jiangyin. Between that an' serving with the Browncoats, pretty much lost all my Core accent. Pops up every now an' then when I use a comm unit, or if'n I get especially irritated."

"And you were wondering what happened with me, hmm?" Robert smiled.

"Again, don' wanna pry, but I was a mite curious," Dani replied, taking another sip of her drink.

Robert sat back, examining his glass. "I was born on Osiris, lived there a good portion of my life. Met a wonderful woman from Aberdeen who I fell madly in love with." He looked up at Dani, smiling slightly. "I take it you know the feeling."

"Why yes I do," Dani smirked.

Robert nodded and continued his tale. "Diane looked a lot like most of my girls do, obviously. Freckles everywhere, long wavy red hair, warm brown eyes. Had a spirit for adventure, but she'd been around the 'Verse a bit and was thinking of returning home again. I couldn't resist that brogue of hers that some Aberdeen residents have, so I abandoned my studies and went home with her, fully intending to return to them the following term." He smiled fondly in remembrance. "Six months after we reached Aberdeen, taking the scenic route, Zachery was born. And I never left again. We took over this old pub from her parents, who had no other children."

Dani smiled knowingly. "And having grown up in a small family, she wanted a big one, right?"

Robert winked at her. "Got it in one. Suppose I never did lose the Core accent because I always dealt with the suppliers and businesses in a professional fashion." He stared into his glass for a few beats. "I still miss her, you know, my Diane."

Dani smiled warmly at him, laying her hand on his arm. "I would have loved to have met her."

She took a sip of her drink again, and then looked back up in his eyes. "You know I was married before, right?" He nodded, so she continued. "An' as much as I love your daughter, all my heart and soul, I still miss my Beth. Never does rightly go away, does it?"

"No," Robert replied softly, "never does."

Dani raised her glass, still containing a little bit of whiskey. "To those who've gone before us."

Robert clinked his own glass against hers, smiling and letting the local brogue creep into his voice. "Aye, lass, to those who hae' gone before."

* * *

Montrose Township. Aberdeen.

The next day dawned bright and crisp, the perfect day for an outing. All the families decided that they would take over the Township green for a large picnic. Several other townsfolk who were friends of the O'Toole's were invited as well so that the mass of people on the green resembled more a refugee camp than a simple picnic.

The O'Toole's had provided much of the fare for their gathering, but Dani, Julie, and Cory made sure they opened their own ship stores of fresh vegetables and foodstock. Cory worked for a good three hours to put together culinary treats for everyone before Maribelle dragged him away to join in. Dani could hear her giggling to her husband as she pulled him towards the green, "We'll have leftovers for a month at this rate!"

Several games had been set up as well, some for the little boys and girls, some for the older teens, and some for the adults who were really kids at heart. Which, to be honest, represented most of the _Favour_ 's crew.

Dani was sitting with her back against a tree, stroking Lori's hair as her wife lay with her head in her lap. Ericka and Betty were talking to both of them about random things. Dani thought Betty was a sweet girl but honestly didn't see how the blonde managed to tie her own shoes in the morning.

Keith walked up, his arm draped around Jess. "It's time, _jiejie_ ," he rumbled.

"Sorry, what?" Dani asked, shading her eyes and looking up at him.

"Competition time. Next game up is a relay race. And you're going down." He stood there with a great big smirk on his face.

"D'ya believe this guy?" Dani asked wonderingly to her three companions. "Ya think ya c'n bring me down, _didi?_ "

"Oh I know I can," he replied smugly. "Teams of three, and I have Jess."

"Them's fighin' words. We'll meet ya at the track." Dani grinned.

"Losers have to serve dinner to the winners," Jess tossed over her shoulder as they walked away.

"God he is so hot," Betty breathed. Ericka nodded in agreement.

" _Ai ya, huai le_ (shit on my head), stop that, he's my brother!" Dani squawked, laughing. Lori sat up and looked at her, grinning.

"How are you gonna beat 'im?" her wife asked curiously.

"Oh, I aim to stack the deck," Dani grinned. "I need to find a couple folk, y'all might want to come an' see this."

Maybe twenty minutes later the two relay teams were set up. Keith, Jess, and Cory were waiting at the line, all dressed in shorts and tee shirts. Dani strode up, grinning.

"Where's your team, Captain?" Cory asked with a smile.

"Oh they're comin'" she replied casually as she turned around to wait for them. Before long Sara and Feather came up to join them.

"Well, this just got interesting," Keith grinned. "They know the stakes?"

"Oh yeah," Dani smirked. "An' Feather has an addition y'all might wanna hear."

Feather stepped forward, clearing her throat. "By popular request of most of the O'Toole's," she stated loudly, "it has been requested that when Mr. Keith loses, he must serve up the food shirtless."

Her announcement was met with cheers, howls, and catcalls. Keith threw his head back and laughed good-naturedly, while Jess shook her head, grinning.

"And what do I get out of this when I win?" he asked, smirking.

"I serve you, in a bikini," Feather replied, eyes twinkling. She struck a pose, hand on hip.

Dani noticed Rain standing in the crowd, blushing brightly. _Somehow I don't think my daughter's gonna be rootin' for our team to_ _win_ , she thought, chuckling to herself.

"I don't see what I get out of this," Jess replied, still grinning but with her eyebrow quirked.

Feather rolled her eyes with a giggle. "Fine, I'll serve you both in a bikini."

"Well, alright then," Jess smirked. "You're on!"

Keith chuckled. "I guess we accept the terms! Who's up first?"

Dani stood in front of him, arms crossed. "No gorram way am I racin' you, you'll cheat. I'll take Jess."

"I don't cheat, _jiejie_ ," Keith replied, affronted. "That would be you."

"Oh _fang pi_ (bullshit / you're lying), you would too," Dani smirked. "Me an' Jess, then Cory an' Feather, and last Sara gets to burn ya."

And so they had the race staged. They would each take one lap around the green, slapping the hand of the next person to race. Dani crouched down, ready to give it her all. _I know she's gonna beat me, but I just gotta keep up._

Cali was standing at the start line, holding her new hat up in one hand high above her head. Lori had found her one that looked like a cat, grey with black whiskers and little ears sticking up. Dani was happy to finally have some variety from the inundation of panda accessories, though Cali did have her very large and fuzzy panda patch prominent on her favorite coveralls.

"Ready?" Cali called out loudly. Jess crouched down, smiling competitively at Dani. _Yeah, I'm gonna regret this_...

"Go!" Cali squealed, swinging her arm down, and the two women shot off the line.

To be fair, Dani was able to keep up with Jess for maybe a quarter of the track, but she started to fall behind soon thereafter. She was more of a sprinter than a long-distance runner, unlike her sister-in-law. Her only advantage was her longer legs, and she stretched them as far as possible, but Jess' stamina was far greater than her own.

She was maybe ten meters behind Jess when her sister-in-law crossed the line and slapped Cory's hand. Dani managed to get over the line herself, slapping Feather's hand, before collapsing in the grass.

Jess bent over her, grinning. "Looking a little worn out there, Captain," she snarked.

"Swear... Buddha... septic... week... " Dani stopped trying to talk and just concentrated on breathing before she was able to get back to her feet and walk around, trying to stave off cramps. Jess was doing the same, though she hardly seemed out of breath at all.

Dani looked over the heads of the cheering crowd to see the other two runners coming around the bend. Cory was putting up a valiant effort but just wasn't a match for Feather, who was making up for the distance Dani had lost. Dani could hear Rain and Cali shrieking in glee, encouraging Feather on after all. They were practically neck and neck when they crossed to slap their partner's hands, and then Keith and Sara took off.

"Hey, beautiful, nice run!" Lori said, grinning as she came up to hug her.

"Ugh," Dani laughed ruefully. "I'm feelin' a mite old here, girl. She buried me."

Feather walked over, panting but grinning. "No, Dani, take a look at the track and you'll see buried."

Dani glanced up and was shocked. While she knew Sara was fast, she was possibly even faster than Jess. She was streaking ahead of Keith, who was red-faced at the effort but just couldn't keep up. Puffing with exertion, Sara crossed the finish line a good twenty meters in front of Keith and was immediately swamped by her sisters and Feather.

Dani turned back to Lori and gave her a hard hug. "Gonna be a good dinner tonight," she said grinning.

"Oh, I think my whole family will agree to that one," Lori grinned.

* * *

O'Toole's. Aberdeen.

That night the combined clans gathered for another feast. Dani, Sara, and Feather, as the winners, were set up at a banquet table on the stage, and they were joined by Lori, Cali, and Rain. Everyone was talking excitedly, waiting for the entertainment, as it were, to begin.

A grinning Jeb walked out of the kitchen, dressed in his bartender outfit. "Ladies and gentlemen!" he exclaimed grandly. "Dinner is served!"

First out was Cory, who must have decided to go along with the bet in unusual good humor, as he was shirtless, wearing just his slacks. Though his skin was pale, maybe pasty even, from the long hours spent in the engine room, he had a pretty decent physique. He received several catcalls, the loudest being from his wife Maribelle, as he carried his tray over to serve Sara and Cali. Cali was covering her eyes, groaning, but Sara gave him an appreciative eye.

Next through the door was Jess, wearing a very skimpy bikini that Dani didn't even realize she owned. Not only that, but she had a pretty smoking hot, toned body. "Sweet Buddha, no wonder she toasted me, look at that!" Dani joked to Lori. Jess brought her tray over to the two women, giving them a wink as she set her food down. She left with a little extra wiggle in her step, to the appreciative hoots of the audience.

And then it was time for Keith's entrance, as the family drummed their hands on their tables. They were not disappointed, as Keith strode out wearing only his very tight exercise shorts. The extensive tattoos covering his arms, legs, and torso did little to hide his extraordinary physique, and Dani heard more than one impressed gasp as he walked out. Then the room exploded into appreciative cheers and laughter, whistles and catcalls. He grinned, turning in place, before bringing his platter over to Feather and Rain, both of whom for some reason were blushing a very bright red as Feather leaned over to whisper something in Rain's ear.

"Ladies," he said as he delivered the plates with a flourish. Dani just rolled her eyes. "Nice butt there, _didi_ ," she called out.

"So my wife tells me," he smirked over his shoulder as he stalked back to the kitchen. At that, several other members of the family went into the back to retrieve plates for the others in the room, and the feast began in earnest.

"I need a bikini like Jess'," Lori complained, smiling, as she dug into her food.

"Why yes, _zhi'ai_ (most beloved)," Dani grinned, "yes you do."

Towards the end of the meal, Jess strolled up to the head table, now fully clothed again. "Enjoy the show?" she giggled.

"Absolutely," Lori grinned, as Dani gave her a playful swat.

"You get food for yerself?" Dani asked?

Jess laughed. "Are you kidding? When have I ever passed up a meal?"

Dani just shook her head ruefully. "I don' know how you're not some freaky genetic mutation, ya eat more than Keith and never put on an ounce. It's not fair."

Jess gave her a cheeky wink. "Rest of my family's the same way. Hey girls," she said, switching topics, "Keith and I are heading out tomorrow for a hike. Jeb told us about this one mountain a short shuttle flight away, Mount Quairang, I think?"

"Oh, sure!" Lori exclaimed. "It's really popular, lots of locals hike it, an' it's one of the few spots we got 'round here that attracts folk from off-planet. I haven't been in ages." She turned her warm brown eyes to Dani. "Can we go, _lian ren_ (sweetheart)?"

Dani laughed. "Sure we can, _wo de ai_ (my love)."

* * *

Mount Quairang. Aberdeen.

Dani's enthusiasm for the hike petered out around the halfway mark.

"I gotta... I gotta stop for a bit," she panted, leaning up against a nearby rock.

Jess laughed. "All these heavy meals are catching up to you, sweetie."

"Don' I know it!" Dani exclaimed. "Y'all go on, I'll... I can catch up. Or meet ya on the downslope. Go on..." She pulled out her water bottle and took a swig.

The other three had a brief conversation, and then Jess and Lori were moving on, waving merrily to Dani. Keith gave a grunt as he took a seat next to her.

" _Didi_?" Dani asked as she fanned herself. Fortunately, she was dressed in her comfortable cargo shorts and a white tank top, or she'd have been overheating even worse. At least they were in the shade now.

"Figured I'd keep you company," he murmured, patting the spot next to him. With a grateful sigh, Dani slid down and extended her combat boot shod feet in front of her.

After a few minutes of companionable silence, Dani gave a sigh. "I'm gettin' old, _didi_."

Keith chuckled. "Happens to all of us, _jiejie_."

"Yeah, but I got a younger wife who's gonna be hard to keep up with soon enuff," she murmured despondently.

Keith barked a laugh. "Somehow I doubt she'd leave you in the dust. That girl can inspire you like nobody I've ever seen." He poked her in the side. "Besides which, I saw you running, you'd likely run rings around anybody else out there yesterday, save maybe Jess, Sara, and myself."

Dani gave a snort as she raised her bottle to her lips again. "I could take you."

"No doubt," Keith chuckled. Sobering, he leaned his head back and closed his eyes. "We need to talk, though."

"About?" Dani asked, amused.

"Kelly."

"Right. Yeah, suppose we should." Dani let out another sigh, also leaning her head back. She looked up at the beautifully clear blue sky above. "I still can't wrap my head around it."

"How long have you known her?" Keith asked quietly.

"Hella long time, _didi_ , an' Maribelle's known her longer. She an' Beth were friends with Kelly first, I think they met when they were 'round twenty or so?"

"Hmm," Keith mused. "Way she moved, way she held herself, that takes a lifetime of training. This isn't something she just picked up while traveling around. My guess, she's always been one of these Agents that Sara told us about."

"Just like the man on Hera. The one Sara killed before he could kill us." Dani closed her eyes, suddenly very weary. "Why would she warn us like that, if she'd been one of them?"

"Maybe she's not really such a part of them," Keith rumbled in his quiet baritone. "Maybe she's got different roles to play, and she got caught up in our family so much it wasn't a role anymore."

"It's a nice thought," Dani grimaced. "But it still sticks in my craw. She lied to all of us, for... years, Keith. Years. An' she pretended to be a part of this family, an' put us in danger." She shook her head, eyes still closed. "I don' know how I'm s'posed to forgive that or forget it," she whispered, a small tear trickling from the corner of one eye.

They sat there for a few more minutes, each lost in their own thoughts.

"What will you do if you see her again, _jiejie_?" Keith asked finally.

"I jus' don' know, _didi_. I jus' don' know."

* * *

O'Toole's. Aberdeen.

The two couples eventually made it back to the ship to take a nice long nap. Though Dani suspected Keith and Jess got as little actual sleep as Lori and she did. They were rested enough, however, for the dance Jeb and Betty had organized for that evening.

The two families assembled back at the pub after dinner, to see that the place had been cleared of most of the tables, and a large space in the middle set up as a dance floor. There were streamers about, and an honest-to-Buddha live band was setting up on the raised stage. Lori had found about them in the next major city over, and paid for them out of her own pocket to come play on short notice.

Dani noticed that Rain was there, in an actual dress, her long brown hair brushed out and loose about her shoulders. "When was the last time I saw her in a dress and heels?" Dani murmured to herself. It was a simple little black sheath, but it fit her well, even if she was uncomfortable in her heels. She was standing against the wall, talking quietly with Feather, who was rather stunning actually. The girl had her dark reddish-brown hair piled up in a bun, leaving her neck bare. Her dress was a shimmery emerald green, spaghetti strapped and showing a lot of leg.

Dani gave her wife a nudge. "You niece is lookin' pretty hot over there, love."

Lori glanced over, and then her eyes got wide. " _Ta ma de_ (fuck me blind), she's in full-on seduction mode!" she whispered.

"And how would you know that?" Dani asked curiously.

Lori just grinned back at her. "I've done it plenty of times myself, beautiful."

Smirking, Dani looked over her wife's current outfit. It was one of her usual short dresses, in her favorite green, and wore simple sandals.

Lori rolled her eyes. "Not now, you _lan ren_ (loon). Already got you wrapped aroun' my lil' finger, 'member?"

Dani laughed. "I see, takin' me for granted already." She looked down with a fake pout at her black dress, similar in style to Lori's, that they had picked up on Sihnon. It had silver-threaded patterns scrolling up the sides. "An' I got all prettified for you, even."

Lori snickered, raising Dani's chin up with her fingers for a deep kiss. "You wanna discuss this in private, my old room's still upstairs."

Dani snickered. "What, sneak outta the party like a couple'a teenagers?"

"Sounds like a plan," Lori murmured against her lips.

Half an hour later they were back downstairs, sitting in a booth, both blushing lightly. They hadn't gotten very far, really, just taken each other's dresses off, before Feather and Rain had walked in on them. Apparently, Feather often used Lori's old room for other unspecified purposes, since her own room in Ericka's house was on the other side of the Township.

Aside from the embarrassed shrieking from all four of the parties involved, there was little discussion as to why Feather and Rain had come up; they had immediately retreated amongst repeated apologies and curses in Mandarin.

"Well, it was a nice thought," Dani grinned.

Lori snickered next to her. "I feel like when I got caught that one time by Daddy, snuck up to my room with a girl while on my break. What was her name...?" She looked up at the ceiling thoughtfully. "Susan? Suzie? Hm," she shook her head. "Can't 'member at all. I was sixteen, anyways."

"Adventuresome, were we?" Dani teased, giving Lori a kiss on the cheek.

"Maybe tomorrow I'll show ya my prime makeout spots," Lori giggled.

* * *

Old Cameron Quarry. Aberdeen. Kalidasa.

The following few days were pretty much open, the _Favour_ 'screw intermingling with the O'Tooles as they liked. One evening Maribelle and Cory hosted Jeb and Jules on board the _Favour_ for dinner and a vid night with their kids, while Dani, Lori, Rain, Sara, and Cali all headed over to have dinner with Ericka and her husband John, along with their grown children Feather and Shane.

On another day towards the end of their week there, however, it dawned bright and clear, and Ericka sent word that they were planning a trip over to the Old Cameron Quarry, which had been closed many years ago and sealed off. Since that time it had filled up with water, and made for the perfect swimming hole, now surrounded by grassy hills and lush vegetation.

There was a mad scramble aboard the _Fortune's Favour_ to find long-lost bathing suits. Keith gave up in frustration and decided to just wear his tight exercise shorts.

"Somehow I don't think the other O'Tooles will complain," Jess laughed. She was wearing her bikini again from the other night.

The only suit Dani owned was a simple black one-piece, which was functional but unflattering. Lori assured her she was "sexy as hell" in it anyways, though she had her doubts. She was pretty much over the embarrassment of showing her scars off in public, and nobody really ever seemed to make an issue of it.

Lori had picked up a slinky green one-piece suit previously in the hopes of visiting Pelorum again someday. At least today she got her wish of seeing her wife in a swimsuit, but Dani, walking next to her and admiring the expanse of freckles, considered herself to be getting the better end of the bargain.

Sara and Rain had to run into town and buy swimsuits as they had none. They came back with conservative one-pieces similar to Dani's, both with small skirts on the bottom. Cali had accompanied them, even though she already had one. Dani grinned ruefully to herself, _of course, it would be a panda swimsuit_. It was pretty funny actually, with a giant panda face on the front and the picture of a little black panda tail on the back. The ears on the front, however, seemed to jump out as they were covering her breasts. She refused to be deterred, however, and insisted she would be the most adorable one there. "Because pandas!" she had exclaimed.

The old quarry was a beautiful spot, and a mite crowded on such a beautiful day. It was large enough, though, to accommodate the _Favour_ herself submerged, so there was plentiful room for all to swim. They quickly spotted the O'Toole's perched up on a hill overlooking the water.

Their group noticed Feather waving ecstatically from the edge as she called out to them. She was covered, if that was the word for it, in a bikini smaller than Jess', in a shiny purple.

Feather took a running leap and dove into the water. Dani looked over and saw Rain staring at the spot she had departed from, mouth agape.

"Close yer mouth, _baobei_ (treasured one)," she murmured, giving her daughter a nudge.

They joined the others, Ericka and her family as well as Betty, her husband Justin, and their baby. Feather's brother Shane was already swimming, and the two siblings yelled at Dani's girls to come jump. The three eagerly obliged with whoops of glee.

Dani and Lori settled down next to the O'Toole's under the shade of a tree. "This is a beautiful spot, Ericka, 'preciate the invite," Dani smiled.

Ericka smiled back. "We always have to get here early to grab a spot under a tree. Our family burns on up like meat on a grill if'n ya let us out in tha' sun too long."

"Don' I know it," Lori groaned, slathering on sun lotion. " _Lian ren_ (sweetheart), wouldya mind?"

"It would be my genuine pleasure, _bang jiar_ (lover/partner)," Dani grinned, taking the lotion from her to do her back.

Ericka snickered. "Ah, young love."

"Like you an' John weren't that way for ages," Lori laughed back, nudging her sister with her toe.

"Still are!" John grinned, bending down to give his wife a kiss.

Dani had just finished when she heard a voice from behind her. "Captain, we have a small problem to discuss."

She turned her head to see both Jess and Keith standing behind her with solemn faces. "Oh no," she groaned. "Now what?"

Her brother looked back at her, suddenly grinning. "We have to report a mutiny."

Jess gave an identical grin, eyes glinting mischievously. "And it's going to be a bad one!"

"A mutiny...?" Dani asked, puzzled. Her face cleared, to be replaced by outrage. "Oh no, no you don'-"

She sprung up to flee, but her two crewmembers had already seized hold of her, Keith pinning her arms to her torso and Jess grabbing her legs. Screaming a torrent of profanity in Mandarin, Dani was hauled over to the edge and summarily tossed into the water, to the laughter of everyone.

Dani emerged, sputtering, from the quarry lake. "You _si pi yans_ (damned assholes)! I will space the both of you in yer sleep! I'll... I'll make you scrub the decks with a gorram toothbrush! _Qiang bao hou-zi de, qing wa kao de liu mang_ (monkey raping, frog humping son of a bitch)!"

Keith and Jess leaned against each other, laughing helplessly. "Oh God, that was so worth it!" Jess wheezed. "The look on your face!"

"Kinda like this one?" a voice sounded with glee behind her. With a thrust of hands, both Keith and Jess tumbled right into the water next to Dani, leaving Ericka and Lori standing triumphantly at the edge, hands clasped overhead in victory like a pair of ancient freckled gladiators.

Keith rose to the surface after his wife, having sunk further, laughing. He was soon sputtering, however, as his sister pounced on him from behind and did her very best to drown the traitorous first mate.

"Wife! Help!" Keith laughed, spitting out water as a furious Dani clung to his back, trying to drag him back under.

"Sorry hon, nothing in the marriage vows about rescuing you from a homicidal sister. On your own," Jess giggled, swimming back towards the shore.

Keith managed to survive by diving under and swimming away. He was pursued up the hilltop by Dani's promise of future vengeance.

* * *

Outbound from Aberdeen.

The week had finally come to a close all too soon, but everyone on the _Favour_ returned to their chores with a lighter step and a smile on their faces.

"It's good to have somewhere to return to," Dani mused on the bridge. "Aberdeen's startin' to feel like a home port."

"I don't think you'd get any argument from a single member of this crew," Keith rumbled from the pilot's seat where he lounged.

"T'was good to be dirtside for a spell," she agreed. "But also good to get back into the Black."

"So where we heading for, _jiejie_?" he asked after a bit.

"Back to Beaumonde, actually," she said, checking her course carefully. _Startin' to be that Rain's gettin' better at the navigatin' than I am_ , she thought to herself ruefully. "Yer wife found a cargo that needs to head on over to Santo. An' I think Cory needs to replenish the food stores, he c'n do that at both spots."

"Alright then," Keith grunted as he stood up. "I'm going to check the armory down below, take an inventory. Maybe get Lori and Sara to help. See if there's anything else we need long-term from our light-footed friends. I have some ideas."

Dani snickered. "We won't have the time for a real visit. Give 'em my love. Actually, I'll Wave 'em to make sure they shoot you first thing."

Keith snorted and waved over his shoulder as he left the bridge. "I will get you back for throwin' me in the water!" she shouted at his back in mock ferocity. "You'll never see it comin'!"

Sitting back in her chair after he departed, Dani sighed contentedly. "Yeah, it's nice havin' dirt under yer feet every so often," she murmured, looking out her viewport and seeing the sunrise of Kalidasa over Aberdeen. "But there's nothin' in the 'Verse like sailing the Black. Nothin' at all."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed the bit of fluff. I have another one planned down the line, let me know if this was useful to anyone for character development, or if it was just boring as hell. :-)
> 
> Stay shiny!


	44. Episode 35: Have A Drink On Me

The ground team from the _Favour_ had completed their last job in record time and were now headed over to deliver the information retrieved and get their payment. Dani reflected on the easy assignment as they walked through the narrow streets of downtown Ariel City, hoping maybe their contact would have something more challenging lined up.

The five members entered the courtyard where they were supposed to rendezvous. Nobody else was there.

"I don't like this," Keith rumbled, looking around and drawing his sidearm.

Dani drew her Ares from her holster, putting her back to Lori and Jess, who were pulling their guns out as well. Dani silently cursed herself for not insisting on bringing their heavier firepower. "Sara, you see anythin'?"

Her daughter was peering into the darkness, shivs out and readied. "Nothin' that I c'n-"

Suddenly there was a rustling from overhead, and dozens of gun muzzles poked over the edge of the balcony lining the rooftop. With a sound like thunder, bullets started to rain down upon the team.

" _Ta ma de_ (fuck me blind)!" Dani shouted, lunging for the pillars on the edges of the courtyard, seeking what meager cover they might give.

She rolled breathlessly around the pillar, gun held high, and the gunfire cut off as suddenly as it had started. "One, do you copy?" she whispered into her comm.

There was no response.

"Five? Anyone?" she murmured anxiously. "Is my comm broken?"

Still not getting a response, and yet dreading what she might see, Dani leaned around the corner.

Keith was lying in a bloody heap right in the middle. The shooters must have concentrated on him first. Jess was draped over his unmoving body, obviously having tried to drag him clear.

Lori had tried to follow her, but only got a few steps. She was face-down in a pool of blood, her red hair intermingling with the sticky liquid spreading out from her corpse.

And Sara was stretched out on the ground, her broken little body a few feet away, looking at Dani with empty, imploring eyes, a hole in her forehead like an extra eye socket.

"NOOO!" Dani wailed despairingly.

She bolted upright in her bed, choking back a scream. Her sheets were drenched with sweat, and Lori sat up as well, wrapping her arms around her and rocking gently. Her wife whispered soothingly into her ear, "It's okay, _zhi'ai_ (most beloved), yer okay, it was just a dream, I'm here, nothin' can hurt you, it's okay..."

Dani stared blindly across the dimly lit room, gasping for air. All she could see in her mind's eye was Sara's face with a gaping bullet hole in her head. Tears flowed unhindered down her cheeks.

* * *

Santo. Qin Shi Huang.

Rain had set the _Favour_ down on Santo, late at night, and then headed down to join her sisters to watch a vid about some old Earth-That-Was scientist that turned into a huge green monster when angered. Dani thought it an unlikely premise for a movie.

On the bridge still, Dani looked over at her console when she noticed it blinking. It appeared to be an audio-only Wave from the planet they were on.

Curious, Dani answered with the flip of a switch. "Y-ello," she drawled lazily.

"This is Grant?" a voice came back, laden with a thick Santo accent.

Dani quirked an eyebrow. "Speakin'..."

"Do you remember me?" the voice continued.

"Well, ya gots a really sexy voice," Dani smirked, leaning back in her chair. "But hey, I'm a happily married woman."

"Well, you'll be a dead woman soon," the voice said darkly.

Dani laughed at the pitiful attempt to intimidate her. "Who is this again?"

The voice paused a beat, and then said in a dramatic tone, "This is Muerte."

"Morty!" Dani exclaimed cheerfully.

"No! No Morty! MUERTE! 'DEATH'!"

"Yeah, right," Dani grinned, highly amused, "death..."

"That's right," Muerte sneered. "I'm gonna come for you _biao zi_ (bitch). I'm gonna come for you, and I'm gonna kill you, okay and..."

"Hey hey hey Morty, Morty, Morty," Dani interrupted, "it's late. What's the bottom line here?"

"The bottom line?" Muerte responded incredulously. "The bottom line is you're gonna die _biao zi_... Ugly, okay?"

Dani sighed, still a little amused but tiring of the conversation. "Look, Morty, do me a favor, 'kay? Don't Wave me no more 'less you wanna have, like, a serious conversation, alright?"

She closed the connection, shaking her head and smiling.

* * *

Nuevo Angeles. Santo. Qin Shi Huang.

Lori had decided that Dani needed to take some time off the next morning, seeing as how she'd been having so many nightmares lately. She was obviously still stressed by Kelly's departure.

The two women went shopping in downtown Nuevo Angeles on Santo. They stopped off first at a roadside cart selling iced drinks of a spicy sort of tea and milk poured over ice. Afterward, Dani stood outside a convenience store just down the street from there. She agreed to hold Lori's drink so she could grab sun lotion from inside really quick, as she had forgotten hers on the ship.

Hearing a noise nearby, she turned her head to spot Muerte coming out of the alleyway next to her, knife blade in hand.

"Oh, hi, Morty," Dani greeted him nonchalantly.

Muerte's face turned purple with rage. "Muerte. MUERTE! For Death! You die today!"

Dani sighed. "Right." She placed her drinks on the ground behind her and next to the storefront.

Muerte stood there and began to make some very elaborate moves while holding his knife, possibly trying to be intimidating.

"Y'know that looks really great on the vids an' all," Dani began helpfully, "but in real life you get better results if'n ya just kinda hold it like this an'..."

"Shut up! SHUT UP!" Muerte screamed.

Dani stood up straight again and put her hands on her hips. "Do you always have this much problem with a lil' constructive criticism?"

Muerte howled with rage and lunged clumsily towards the lanky captain. Dani easily blocked his thrust letting his momentum carry him past her and into the wall. He rebounded with a snarl and lunged again. This time she grabbed ahold of his forward arm and twisted slightly, forcing him to drop the knife. She kept hold of the arm, moving it up behind his back so that he was on his toes, squealing in pain and outrage.

Lori came out of the store then and approached the pair, carrying several laden shopping bags in both hands. "Now what?" she asked dryly.

"Oh, hi, hon," Dani smiled at her wife. "You 'member Morty? Morty, this's Lori." She released Muerte and gave him a little push towards Lori.

Lori smiled genially. "Oh, hi, Morty, look it's nice to meet you in person, and not just through a scope, but we've just got so much shoppin' to do..."

Muerte snarled again, pulling another knife from his boot to points at Lori. "Shut up! Shut up! You die too!"

"Oh for the love of Buddha..." Lori rolled her eyes exasperatedly.

Muerte, proving that he had little capacity for learning from his mistakes, lunged in the same clumsy fashion towards Lori. The freckled beauty didn't even bother dropping her bags, just dodged the lunge and tripped him to fall on his face. When he tried to rise, she whirled around and gave him a spinning kick to the head, which dropped him, out cold.

"I can't leave you alone fer a minute," Lori smiled at her wife, handing her one of the bags.

"This wasn't my fault," Dani protested, exchanging the bag for Lori's drink.

"Nothing's ever yer fault," Lori giggled. "You gonna kill him?"

"Ain't we bloodthirsty today?" Dani laughed as they walked off down the street. "I toldya not to drink all that coffee. An' what's with all the bags? Thought ya just needed sun lotion?"

Lori smiled again excitedly. "Oh, you wouldn't believe the sale they had on local snacks! We're gonna be real popular-like on the ship for the next Ladies Vid Night!"

* * *

The Vineyard. Greenleaf. Red Sun.

They had been on Greenleaf several times before, but usually within the tropical belt that wrapped around the planet's equator. Lush jungles filled that area, offering medicines and foodstuffs that the locals were famous for, and island resorts dotted the waters.

This time, though, their shipment from Santo took them to the northern, more temperate climes of wine country, to a coastal town called The Vineyard.

Reclining in her chair at the largest building in the settlement, Dani reflected that the air here practically tasted of the grapes grown for harvesting.

"Gotta say, this's pretty decent stuff," Lori said admiringly, holding up her glass of amber-colored liquid.

Dani gave a noncommittal grunt in reply. She had never really acquired a taste for wine, preferring whiskey or sake. _Might be able to drink more of it if'n I could stand the stuff_ , she mused, sipping her watered-down whiskey.

Wasn't much to the town, really. The building they sat in was a combined upscale restaurant and inn, boasting baths and massages on a faded sandwich board outside. Rest of the settlement consisted of a small marketplace with various little shops selling foodstuff like breads, meats, and cheeses, all made or harvested locally, and at pretty decent prices. Cory and Julie were out there now, stocking up their pantry with what they could find.

Other than that and residences, The Vineyard was made up of acres and acres of farms and a small spaceport providing only the barest of essentials.

Just then Keith and an irritable Jess walked in. They spotted Dani and Lori, walking briskly over to their table and sitting down.

"I don't understand how a town of vineries doesn't need any wine shipped out!" Jess grumbled.

Keith smiled, waving over a waitress. "We'll find something, _wo de ai_ (my love). If nothing else we can move down to the equator and try the usual places, right _jiejie_?"

Dani nodded in confirmation as Keith ordered two glasses of wine. "We c'n do that _didi_." She looked up to see a man walk into the restaurant and make an immediate beeline for them. "Might not need to go far, though, I think you were followed in," she murmured over her glass.

The thin little man was dressed in a light-colored suit, likely to keep cool during the hot days. As he walked up to their table, Dani noticed wine stains near his collar and cuffs. He had a very prominent handlebar mustache, obviously kept into perfect and symmetrical curls with some sort of grease. A pair of small round glasses perched at the end of his nose.

"Hello there, my friends," he began in a cultured but hesitant voice. "I couldn't help but overhear earlier that you're looking for work, you have a ship, yes?"

"That's right," Jess smiled pleasantly. "We're looking for cargo that needs to get offworld."

"Excellent!" he exclaimed with a broad smile. "I have a shipment that needs to make its way to Osiris within three weeks, precisely. It's for a very important gathering, and the Baron would be very displeased if it cannot make it to him on time, yes. He simply must have the wine he usually orders for this event."

Jess glanced at Dani, who nodded her head. "We can get it there within three weeks, so long as there aren't any delays in transit."

The man smiled broadly. "Excellent again! Oh, my apologies, I have not yet introduced myself. I am Norman Sellers, at your service."

Jess looked at him intently. "May I ask what the pay would be for such a rush job?"

"Pay, yes certainly," he rushed out, "since it is indeed a rush job, I will pay accordingly. My usual supply company has been negligent, you see, and left me in the lurch, it's so hard to find good, reliable help these days, you know..."

Keith cleared his throat. "The pay, Mr. Sellers?"

"Yes, my apologies again." Sellers looked like he might start wringing his hands. He seemed to get more nervous and agitated as the minutes passed, and started looking around the room as well. "I can offer you six thousand credits, that should more than cover the tariffs when you arrive, as well as leave you with a hefty profit. Oh, and I also have tickets to the gala itself, I can leave a full set for you and your crew."

Dani and Jess exchanged a look. _Yeah, we c'n do better than that._ "I think maybe that sum is a little low, Mr. Sellers," Jess said mildly. "This is a rush job, after all."

Poor Sellers looked like he might faint by this point. "Oh, of course, very shrewd of you, yes fine I can go as high as nine thousand, but that is the most I can do, I assure you. Half up front, and the other half on delivery to Baron Otello."

Dani gave a smirk. _That's a little more like it_. She gave a slight nod to Jess, who answered, "Certainly Mr. Sellers, that would be fine. Our ship is the _Fortune's Favour_ , we're on pad three. We will meet you at the ship to load your cargo."

"Excellent! Let me just call my loaders and give them instructions..."

As he pulled out a handheld and spoke quietly into it, Lori leaned over to murmur to the other crewmembers. "There's a man in the corner, entered after Sellers. Been very interested in our lil' conversation."

Keith gave a grunt. "Good catch, I didn't see him enter, wasn't sure who he was tailing. Got three buddies around the room." Jess was talking quietly into her comm, letting the _Favour_ know about the incoming cargo.

Lori gave a snort. "I don' know why I even try. You gonna take 'em all on by yerself, too?"

Keith just smirked, as Sellers turned back to the table. "All is set! The wine casks are on their way now, please take care of them, they are very authentic wood casks, gives them their flavor, you see. And here, my down payment," he extended an envelope to Jess who briefly glanced inside to confirm the contents. "Excellent, safe travels to you then!" And with that, he scurried out of the restaurant.

Dani finally noticed the man they had been discussing as he rose from his table by the door. Instead of following Sellers, though, he started towards their table. "Well, this is gonna get interestin'," Dani murmured.

"Define 'interesting'," Jess murmured back, taking a sip of her wine.

"Either bloody or bribery," Keith rumbled, leaning back and resting his right hand on his holster. "Smells like Tong to me. He's yours, Two."

Lori snickered. "Oh, you can smell 'em now?"

The Asian-looking man, sporting a black diamond-shaped tattoo on his left cheek, strode up to their table and sat down without waiting for an invitation. Dani noticed out of the corner of her eye that three other men, dressed in similar workmen's clothing to the presumed Tong at their table, had also gotten up and casually positioned themselves. She couldn't tell from her angle if they also bore the same tattoos, but she was willing to bet they were.

"My name is Howard Lim," the man began.

"Which Tong?" Keith grunted, interrupting him.

"Um, 14K Tong," Lim answered hesitantly.

"And you want the cargo of Mr. Sellers?" Jess inserted before he could say anything further.

"Yes, that is correct," Lim replied, eyebrows raised in perplexion.

"How much?" Jess demanded. Dani concealed her smile. She imagined this wasn't going at all the way he expected.

"I can offer more than twice his payment. Twenty thousand on delivery," the man answered, more sure of himself now.

"Up front," Keith grunted disinterestedly.

"What?" Lim sputtered. "No, on delivery. I need you to rendezvous on the way at-"

"Nope," Keith grunted again. He smiled pleasantly.

Lim's face darkened. "I didn't want to do this-"

"Now," Keith barked. Lori, Jess, and Keith all stood to quickly draw their firearms and point them at the Tong thug standing behind each one of them. Dani, for her part, remained seated but had her Ares pointed at the left eye of the suddenly very nervous Lim.

"Man said 'nope'," Dani smirked. "I'd take 'im at his word. Time for y'all to leave."

Face flushed red, Lim got up from his seat and motioned his head sharply. The other three Tong followed him out.

"We better get moving," Keith grunted.

* * *

The Vineyard landing pads. Greenleaf.

They kept a sharp eye out on their way towards their ship but did not spot Lim or any of his friends on the way. They did, however, spot another ship coming in for a landing at the field. Keith stopped in his tracks, swearing.

"What?" Dani asked sharply.

Keith sighed. "Feds. That's a covert op patrol boat, traveled on plenty of them myself."

"This's just gettin' better by the gorram minute," Dani growled. She opened the channel to her ship, moving faster. "Home, this's Two. Our cargo loaded yet?"

"Um, I believe so," Rain answered hesitantly. "Yep, the truck's movin' away now, we should be good."

"Alright," Dani answered, their ship in sight. "Warm up the engines, get clearance to take off immediately. We need to lift as soon as our feet hit the ramp."

Rain groaned in her ear. "What did we do now?" she complained.

Dani grinned. "It more like what we're gonna have to do if'n we stick around much longer."

The four were jogging by this point and reached the _Favour_ just as the subtly camouflaged Alliance ship touched down. Dani hit the ramp controls as soon as she reached them. "We're on, lift now!" she barked into the ship's intercom.

There was a lurch as Rain brought them rapidly up, swinging them into an exit pattern.

"She's gotten pretty good," Keith commented from behind as they ran up the steps. Mike, Cali, and Sara were below helping to secure the cargo.

"That she has," Dani grinned over her shoulder. "Couldn't be prouder."

They entered the bridge to see Rain alone and in the pilot seat, competently clearing atmo. Dani sat herself down in her chair while Keith took the nav seat, switching on the scanners. Jess and Lori stood behind, watching out the viewport anxiously.

"Any attention on us, _nu'er_ (daughter)?" Dani asked, switching her own scanners on and checking the status of the ship.

"None that I've noticed _Kaasan,_ " Rain replied. "You wanna take us the rest of the way outta atmo and I'll get our course laid in?"

"Sounds good," the lanky spacer replied, taking hold of the controls. "We're gonna want to head on over to Osiris."

"Got it," her daughter replied briskly and got to work.

Soon enough they were on their way, heading on the course Rain designated. Dani didn't even bother checking the coords, she had enough trust in Rain's figures by now. Keith spoke up from behind her, though, before they could go to full burn.

"I've got an Alliance cruiser leaving orbit. She's a ways off to port, but same course."

"Now ain't that a coincidence..." Dani murmured. She lifted the comm to her lips. "Engine room, ready fer burn?"

" _Shi a_ (yes, affirmative)," Cali piped back.

Dani pulled the levers down and they hurtled along their course towards Osiris. She noted on her scanner that the cruiser did the same.

* * *

Outbound from Greenleaf.

They were maybe a half hour from Greenleaf, and far from any satellites, before the cruiser finally made contact.

"Firefly transport _Fortune's Favour_ , this is Alliance cruiser _IAV Erikson_ , please respond."

Dani sighed. "And they know our identity as well," she murmured, picking up the comm. "Copy that _Erikson_ , we were wondering if you were gonna be the strong and silent type."

The Alliance communications officer answered promptly, a trace of humor in her voice. "Negative Firefly transport, but we would like to have a word with you. Please bring your ship into a docking pattern."

"Well that was polite," Jess murmured, still standing next to Keith.

"May I ask if we're bein' charged with anythin'?" Dani asked curiously.

"Again, negative Firefly transport. We're investigating something you may have inadvertently gotten mixed up with. That's all I can say over this channel."

Dani looked over her shoulder, eyebrows raised. Keith shrugged in reply. "Not like we can resist or outrun them," he rumbled.

"True enough," Dani laughed and spoke back into the comm. "Alright _Erikson_ , we'll comply and hold course." She put the comm away and faced Rain. "You got this sweetie?"

"Sure," Rain smirked. "Not like I'm gonna even twitch with a gorram cruiser pointing her guns at us."

Dani laughed again and led the way back down to the cargo hold to await the latest development.

A short while later, they opened the airlock to admit an Alliance officer and a quartet of soldiers. They seemed decidedly non-hostile; in fact, the soldiers just appeared to be escorting the officer, not looking around for threats.

The officer, a man of medium build and short-cropped blond hair, stood in front of the ground team with his hands behind his back. He nodded politely. "And who is Captain Danielle Grant, please?"

Dani had a little vine of dread creep through her. _They know an awful lot 'bout us_ , she thought, grimacing. Still, she stepped forward. "That'd be me," she answered firmly.

The officer smiled. "May I have your permission to inspect your cargo? Just the barrels of wine from Mr. Sellers."

 _Huh_. "Sure, go right ahead," she stepped aside, gesturing behind her.

The officer walked briskly by her, up to the first barrel in line, and inspected it briefly. With a few deft raps, he opened the side of the barrel to reveal a hidden compartment. He fished around inside and then nodded his head. Withdrawing, he sealed the cask up again and walked back to the front of the crew. He then pulled out a handheld unit and examined it, typing in a few things as if in response to a query.

"Yes," the officer began in a neutral tone, looking at his handheld. "Captain Danielle Grant and Mrs. Maribelle Bilkes, please accompany me back onto my ship."

Keith stirred from his cautious perch against the stairway and started to walk over.

The officer looked up at Keith's approach. "I know who you are, sir. I assure you they will be back soon, and unharmed. My word of honor, Master Sergeant."

Keith relaxed and gave the Alliance officer a curt nod of acceptance.

Dani and Maribelle followed the unnamed officer back onto the ship, followed as well by the Alliance soldiers. Dani felt her shoulderblades itch being on board an Alliance cruiser, surrounded by so many, well, Alliance folk. Eventually, they were led to a door along the hallway, and the officer gestured them forward. Dani went in first and froze as her foot stepped over the threshold.

Inside a small conference room was a table and three chairs, two on the near side and one on the far side. Sitting across the table was Kelly.

The diminutive Agent was wearing a black suit, white shirt and black tie. But what really caught Dani's attention were her hands clasped in front of her, encased in blue latex.

Kelly gestured to the chairs in front of her. "Please sit," she said calmly, her eyes almost dead, revealing no emotion, and her tone neutral.

Dani did so, hesitatingly, and Maribelle took the other seat.

Kelly looking into Dani's eyes. "We believe you have been deceived by a smuggler by the name of Norman Sellers. He is the representative at this end of the chain. We understand you are completely blameless in this and do not hold you responsible. We would, however, like to ask for your assistance."

"Our... assistance?" Dani asked with an incredulous voice.

Kelly gave her a firm nod. "We will give you a bug to wear. Make the delivery as planned, even receive payment for the shipment. When you have made the delivery, simply use the phrase 'good as gold' to alert a team of federal agents nearby and they will move in. If you would be able to make small talk with the Baron and his associates to distract them while the federal agents are moving in, we will include a substantial bonus."

There was silence in the room for a few beats. "And why should we trust you?" Dani whispered brokenly, her voice barely audible. She didn't know if it were pain or fury she was trying to repress, likely both.

Something moved across Kelly's eyes, a flash of emotion maybe. "I can only give you the assurances of the Alliance government that what I have told you is true, and we will honor our end of the bargain."

Dani opened her mouth to protest further, but Maribelle put her hand on Dani's arm, staring intently forward at Kelly. _Right, I should really take the lead of my resident empath_.

Kelly up spoke again, quietly but in the same emotionless voice. "I know you don't have any reason to trust me, but please believe this. Right here, in this room, there are some questions you should absolutely not be asking."

"Very well," Dani replied through numb lips. Kelly nodded again, and the officer entered the room to escort them back to their own ship, handing a small pin to Dani before departing.

Dani felt completely detached from reality as she walked into the cargo hold. She heard Maribelle tell the others who they had talked to, and what they were now obliged to do.

She gave herself a shake. _This ain't the time_. Looking over at Keith, she asked, "Didya look at the caskets?"

Her brother nodded. "Industrial-grade diamonds. Worth millions, I expect, and very costly in terms of tariffs. The barrels have a double hull, so there's a cavity inside each one."

Lori was looking at her searchingly, obviously concerned. She gave her wife a smile and headed towards the stairs. "Well, let's get movin' then. Got an appointment with a Baron that we can't be late fer and another fancy shindig to attend."

Dani headed up the steps, sighing to herself. _Kelly, what in the ruttin' hell is goin' on_...

* * *

Osiris. White Sun.

They made it to Osiris without further incident, setting down at the main docking port. Tariffs were paid on the wine, and the Mule with the entire ground team was heading towards the museum where the gala was taking place.

Jess and Lori were dressed for the shindig, in slinky black outfits with high heels though unarmed, while Dani and Keith were playing the part of laborers, wearing normal spacer clothing and their sidearms belted on. They'd stay behind to keep an eye on the wine caskets. Sara had on a simple dress, the kind a child from a well-to-do family would wear. It was her job to slip throughout the party and warn them of any further hitches to the plan while Jess and Lori socialized with the Baron and his cronies.

They arrived at their destination fifteen minutes after the gala was scheduled to start. Unsurprisingly, the front doors were already locked.

"Back door?" Keith grunted.

"Worth a shot," Dani replied with a shrug.

And of course, that was locked as well. No amount of banging on the door would bring a response from the inside.

Dani sighed irritably. "This cargo is becomin' more trouble than it's worth," she mused. Glancing over at her brother, she raised her eyebrows.

Keith nodded and set to work on disabling the security system at the delivery entrance.

Within a few minutes, Dani and Keith were inside, while the others waited with the Mule. The loading bay was deserted, but the sounds from the party upstairs filtered down. It was fairly obvious that no amount of pounding would have gotten anyone's attention with all the noise. Opening the door on the far end, the two siblings surprised a caterer, who dropped her tray with a shriek.

Fortunately, things were sorted out with the head of catering, who was relieved that the wine had finally arrived. "Baron Otello will be most pleased!" the matronly woman gushed.

"And our payment?" Dani asked.

"Oh, I don't know anything about that, you'll have to track him down." The head caterer looked the two crew over from head to toe distastefully.

"Don't worry none," Dani laughed. "We have folk lookin' more respectable-like to talk to the Baron."

With that, Dani and Keith set to loading the wine caskets into the loading dock and next to the freight elevator. Jess, Lori, and Sara moved on upstairs to scope out the situation and locate the ringleader of the smuggling operation.

"How's it look, Three?" Keith asked via the comm as he hefted another cask into the room.

"Busy," Jess murmured. "Haven't found the Baron yet, but there are a lot of notables, including some we know."

"Oh, anybody we like?" Keith asked curiously.

Jess laughed. "I said know, not liked. Several Parliament members, some high-ranking Alliance military officers..."

Keith grunted as he set his next cask down on the floor. "I get the feeling you're not telling me a name."

"No, because if I did you'd come up here and punch him out," Jess replied humorously.

"Didn't that give it away, Three?" Lori asked curiously, as she intermingled among the guests as well.

"It's a larger pool than you'd imagine, Five," Keith smirked.

"Four here," Sara whispered. "Just found a cluster of guys standing around, casing out the place. If I didn't know better, an' I do, they stink of Tong."

"Why's it everyone knows what Tong smell like but me?" Lori murmured. Then she gave a small squeal.

"Five, what's wrong?" Dani asked, concerned, as she paused in picking up the next cask in line.

"Nothin', no problem," Lori laughed softly. "Somebody just pinched my _pigu_ (ass)."

"What?" Dani squawked. "Who was it? I'll punch 'is face in!"

"No punching in people's faces, either of you!" Jess hissed back.

"Don' worry none, Two," Lori giggled. "Clumsy lil' ole me spilled my entire drink down his shirt. This ain't my first rodeo, _lian ren_ (sweetheart)."

Dani growled low in her throat as she picked her load up. "I still wanna punch 'im," she muttered.

"Just stay down there, Two, and get yerself all sweaty an' worked up fer me," Lori murmured. "I gots plans fer ya tonight."

"Oh do ya now, Five?" Dani murmured back, grinning. "An' what would those plans entail?"

"One, is there any chance you c'n get a separate channel for those two?" Sara complained petulantly. "Always when I'm tryin' to work..."

"Tempting, Four, very tempting," Keith grinned.

A few more minutes passed, and the loading was complete. Dani and Keith secured the Mule, and the back doors, and sat down to wait for events to unfold.

"Now this's interestin'," Sara murmured.

Keith sighed. "Just keeps getting better... What have you got, Four?"

"Four more Tong, but looks to be a diff'rent kind... What was the tattoo you saw on that Lim guy from Greenleaf?"

"Diamond-shaped, black," Keith grunted. "Said he was 14K Tong."

"Well, these are more of his buddies," Sara reported quietly. "The other three had tattoos on their hands, a curved dagger... where have I... Oh!" she exclaimed suddenly. "Right, I 'member seein' them! Were a minor player on Persephone, but bigger on the Core worlds. Assembly Tong. Gotta lotta folk they own in high places."

Dani looked at her brother. "Why do I get the feelin' we're gonna get stuck in the middle of a gang war before we c'n find the Baron?"

"Don' worry about the last bit, Two, I just found the Baron. Leastways, should be 'im," Lori said tentatively. "Sure looks puffed-up enuff..."

"I see you, Five," Jess murmured. "Point him out to me... Okay, yes I agree, should be him, I'll move in and make contact."

Dani and Keith waited tensely for Jess to speak again. Instead, Lori started whispering into her comm. "I think Three switched her comm off so's she c'n concentrate on the Baron... they're talkin', he's smilin'... oh my, _wang ba_ (son of a bitch) is gettin' awfully friendly-like with yer wife, One..."

"Gorramit," Keith growled, "I better get to punch someone in the face tonight."

Dani snickered. "Watch what ya wish for _didi_..."

"Okay," Lori said breathlessly, "I got close enuff to listen in. Baron handed her an envelope, they're on their way down to the loadin' docks... One, she said it, she said they were 'good as gold'! That's the code, right?"

"Right," Dani said firmly. This was why they left the bug with Jess, as she would be the one to converse with the Baron. The lanky captain headed over to the back door and unlocked it, standing by with her hand on her holster.

"Four, Five, get your _pigu_ (ass) back down here," Keith ordered tersely. He went to stand by the door to the kitchen, also putting his hand on his sidearm.

"One, I've lost track of the Assembly Tong," Sara whispered anxiously, "but the 14K Tong are movin' in behind Three and the Baron."

" _W'rin bu lai_ (things never go smooth)," Dani moaned. Just then the door handle next to her turned, and four men entered the room. They froze upon seeing Dani and Keith standing guard over the caskets of wine and the smuggled diamonds contained within.

Dani smiled at who she presumed to be the federal agents arriving to sweep things up. "Oh, hi boys, you must be..." she trailed off as she noticed the one man holding the door still had his hand on the knob. On said hand was a tattoo of a curved dagger.

" _Ai ya, huai le_ (shit on my head)," she yelled, yanking out her gun the same time the Tong members did. She managed to pop off one shot, taking out the first thug, before diving behind the dubious cover of the wine caskets.

Bullets smacked into the wood around her, sending splinters everywhere, and eventually streams of wine flowing over her head. " _Ching-wah tsao duh liou mahng_ (frog-humping son of a bitch)!" she shouted irritably. "I hate this _shiong mao niao_ (panda piss)!"

"Quit your whining, Two," Keith said as he dropped another Tong from his position by the door.

"One, Two, what's goin' on?" Lori shouted into the comm.

"Busy now, dear, _deng yi miao_ (hold on a sec)," Dani replied tersely, poking her head around to pop off another round. She didn't think she hit anything, but it kept their heads down. _Gorram glad I didn't wear anythin' nice tonight, I'll never get the stink out_...

"All units, sit check," Keith barked into his comm, pulling back around the corner as a barrage of gunfire scattered around his position.

"Three, with the Baron, but we've come under fire as well," Jess said calmly. _Must've turned her comm back on_ , Dani thought to herself. "We're holed up in a broom closet."

"Five here," Lori came back. "Looks like the one group of Tong ambushed t'other, an' they're havin' one _diyu_ (hell) of a brawl. Four an' I aren't able to get to y'all."

"Pull out, Four and Five. Get out the front door," Keith ordered. "We're pinned down as well, but the Feds should be here soon, we just have to hold out."

"If they're even comin'," Dani grumbled, squeezing off another round. A satisfying yelp of pain rewarded her efforts. "Ha, winged the _ang zang de yukai gou shi baotu_ (filthy piece of shit thug)," she crowed.

There was a large crash from upstairs as the brawl between the Tong got rowdier. "Two, you got this?" Keith asked.

"Go ahead, One, I'll keep 'em pinned," Dani promised. She checked her clip, inserted it back and popped off another pair of shots. Immediately she was forced to duck as the return fire came back, rather too accurately for her comfort. _Just don' take too goram long,_ didi...

The crashing noises above intensified, and then cut off completely. "Well, good news people," Keith murmured into the comm.

"The Feds show up?" Dani asked hopefully.

"Not yet," Keith answered, "but I did get to punch someone in the face."

" _Jiao ni sheng haizi zhang zhi chuang_ (May your child be born with hemorrhoids)," Dani growled back irritably, as she moved her position over to another group of casks. Several shots chased her along, but she made it unscathed.

"Baron is secure," Keith stated next, unperturbed by Dani's rant. "We're heading down."

"Four and Five are outside the building," Sara said excitedly. "And I think I see the feddies comin' to the rescue!"

"'Bout gorram time!" Dani shouted. She leaned around and fired off the last two shots from her magazine. This time, though, the return fire nicked her upper right arm. "Ow, _hun dan gou niang yang de_ (bastard son of a bitch), that hurt!"

She ejected her spent magazine and inserted her new one, racking the slide to chamber a round. Before she could trade more fire, there was a flurry of automatic gunfire from outside the building, then silence.

"Federal law enforcement! Lay down your arms and come out peacefully!"

"Hey, no problem, I'm just actin' in self-defense here!" Dani called out, obligingly laying her gun on a cask and standing up with her arms raised.

Three armed and armored federal agents entered the room, their assault rifles sweeping the room. "Are you Captain Danielle Grant?" the one in the lead questioned.

"I am," Dani nodded, keeping her hands raised. "Two more of my crew are on the way down, escortin' the Baron. All nice and gift-wrapped, you might say."

The leader laughed and pointed his gun up at the ceiling. His two companions did the same. "Well, we appreciate the assistance. You look a mess, though."

Dani laughed ruefully as she lowered her arms, looking down at herself. "An' I can' even stand the smell of this _gou se_ (shit/crap)," she whined pathetically.

"Two, are we clear to enter?" Keith whispered into the comm.

Dani glanced back up. "My folk are at the door, okay for them to enter?" The lead marshall nodded, and Dani gave her affirmation to Keith as she holstered her Ares sidearm.

Keith and Jess entered, escorting a very perplexed-looking, elderly, and portly gentleman, whose eyes widened at the sight of the marshalls standing in the room.

"Baron Otello, you are hereby bound by law," the Fed in front started, as he pulled out a set of plasticuffs.

"All in a day's work," Jess murmured, linking her arm with her husband.

"And hey, Keith got to punch a _piyan_ (asshole) in the face," Dani said sarcastically, "so that makes it a win, right?"

"Works for me," Keith shrugged, walking past her and out the door.

Dani sighed, shaking off the dripping wine from her arms, and followed morosely.

Lori and Sara were standing by the Mule and started towards them excitedly. They stopped in their tracks at the sight of Dani. "Oh, honey," Lori whispered, horrified.

"I know, don' say it..." Dani sighed.

"Yer purple!" Sara giggled.

"I said don' say it!" she glared back."Jus' don' touch me, I don' wanna get it on anybody else, okay?"

"Okay _zhi'ai_ (most beloved)," Lori said, her mouth twitching. Dani could tell she was on the verge of hysterical laughter.

She sloshed her way over to the Mule and made to get up into the passenger seat. "Nuh-uh," Keith grunted from behind the driver's console. "You'll get the seats stained. Into the cargo bed."

"Are you ruttin' kiddin' me?" Dani stared at him incredulously.

"Go on Captain, git!" Sara grinned, hopping into Dani's spot.

Lori sighed, her hand hovering over Dani's shoulder, afraid to touch her reassuringly. "I could ride back there with you?" she proposed weakly.

"No, go on, we'll be on the ship soon," Dani grumbled, climbing into the unpadded back. "Dibs on first shower."

"I think you earned that right, sweetie," Jess laughed as the Mule headed out. "Least we got paid!"

"Well, we c'n hope to get an extra bonus for tonight from the Feds," Dani shouted back over the rising wind of their passage. "Earned that, too!"

Further attempts at conversation proving futile, Dani just huddled in a miserable, wet heap at the rear of the Mule's cargo bay, resolving to never, ever go anywhere near wine again.

* * *

 _Fortune's Favour_. Osiris. White Sun.

Dani was freshly showered, and after several applications of the industrial-strength cleaner that Mike provided, her skin was more or less it's natural hue once more. She'd also gotten her arm wound seen to by Maribelle, the bullet had grazed her just below where her underbody armor covered her shoulder, of course. Fortunately, it wasn't bad and wouldn't need stitches.

She headed up to the bridge, toweling her head dry, and heard the excitable voices of her girls.

"An' she was drippin' wet, all purple-like! You shoulda seen her!" Sara was finishing up, giggling.

"I always miss the fun," Rain complained. "Didn't even see her come in!"

"I think she set a new record for divin' into our bunk," she heard Lori's voice, also giggling.

Dani strode onto the bridge, outraged and betrayed. "Not only are my girls makin' fun of me, but you're joinin' in Lori?"

Lori, sitting in the nav seat and still wearing her shindig dress, smiled unrepentantly. "You were quite the sight, _bang jiar_ (lover/partner), gotta admit it was pretty darn funny."

Rain snorted from her chair. "Shoulda taken a vid," she snarked.

Sara and Cali were somehow squeezed together into Dani's chair, and they both just grinned up at her.

"'Sides," Lori purred, coming to her feet and slowly walking towards her, "yer still my _jue dai jia ren_ (prettiest girl ever)."

Dani snorted, refusing to look her in the eyes. "Quit it, yer not gettin' on my good side that easy-like..."

Lori draped her arms around Dani's neck. "Did I tell you what kinda underwear I was wearing under my dress tonight?"

Dani swallowed, feeling her cheeks heat up. "Um, no?"

Lori leaned in further. "Not a gorram thing," she breathed.

" _Ta ma de_ (fuck me blind), you always gotta fight dirty, woman," Dani grinned, blushing even harder. Over Lori's shoulder, she noticed all three of her girls rolling their eyes dramatically, and the Cortex light blinking.

" _Ai ya, huai le_ (shit on my head), hold that thought, okay?" she groaned, pulling Lori's arms down.

Her wife gave a little pout. "Well, I'll be in our bunk. Waiting for you." She turned and walked out, a definite bounce in her walk.

"Damn," Dani breathed, watching her leave.

"I know, right?" Sara smirked.

Dani gave her a mock glare. "Stop that. And move, I gotta take this Wave." _An' it better'd be the shortest gorram Wave in the 'Verse_.

Sara and Cali moved back to the nav seat while Dani plopped down in her chair, still toweling her hair dry. As she reached over to flip the channel on, she murmured to herself, "With my luck and timing, it's prob'ly gonna be..."

The unsmiling face of Ms. Harrison stared back at her. " _Shi niao_ (shit  & piss)," she muttered under her breath. Then, louder, she asked "What can I do for you, Ms. Harrison?" smiling pleasantly.

The corporate drone didn't comment on Dani's disheveled state. _Must've gotten immune to it by now_ , she mused. "Captain Grant, I am contacting you on behalf of the Alliance to thank you for your efforts on Osiris."

Dani paused. "Oh?" she asked intelligently.

"I have arranged payment of a bonus for you. Please proceed to the bar at the following coordinates, on Osiris, tomorrow morning at 10 am local time. Payment will be given to you then. Please only bring Mr. Keith Grant and Mrs. Maribelle Bilkes with you."

"I see," Dani said as ice washed through her veins. With minimum pleasantries, they logged off, and Dani sat back tiredly.

"There a problem with somethin', _Kaasan_?" Rain asked, concerned.

"Not a somethin', _baobei_ (treasured one)," she murmured, "a someone."

* * *

Guido's Tavern. Osiris.

Dani, Keith, and Maribelle strode into the dimly lit and sparsely-populated bar. Few patrons were there that early, save for those really serious about their drinking and others wishing for a quiet clandestine meeting place, such as themselves. Kelly was already there, sitting with her back to the wall at a table in the corner. She wore casual clothes this time, long-sleeved jacket and fashionable gloves covering her likely blue-clad hands.

The three _Favour_ crew approached warily, and Kelly gestured for them to sit. "I appreciate you coming," their former friend said softly. Dani thought she appeared more human this time, maybe even a little nervous, but she took her seat facing Kelly without comment.

They sat there, the four of them, in an uncomfortable silence before a waitress came by to take their drink order. After she had left, Maribelle spoke up in a trembling voice. "How long have you been an agent?"

Kelly grimaced a little ruefully. "Long before I met you, or Beth." Dani flinched slightly at the mention of her deceased wife.

Keith had kept his right hand under the table when he sat down. "And why did you specifically ask for me?" he rumbled curiously.

"Because I knew they'd feel safer with you here," Kelly answered, smiling very slightly, "and you wouldn't try to kill me at first sight."

Keith smirked, already fairly certain of the answer to his next question. "And why not Sara?"

Kelly's smile became grim. "Because I know she would."

They sat in tense silence again as the waitress returned with their drinks and then departed yet again. None at the table touched a bottle or glass.

"So what's with the blue armor?" Keith spoke up again. "Seems to be a staple of you Agent types."

"It's full-body," Kelly explained neutrally. "Yes, all Agents are issued a set. It's why I'm not worried about your hand under the table, Keith, I know you can't really harm me without hitting me in the head, and I'm faster than that."

"Oh, but I'm pretty sure armor-piercing ones will," Keith smirked once again.

Kelly's eyes got wider fractionally.

"Made a quick stop by Beaumonde awhile back," Keith explained, nodding, "got hooked up with AP ammo in return for a favor at a later date. We're all going to have at least one mag of AP on us, now that we know what we're up against."

Kelly sighed in frustration. "How can I make you understand we aren't the enemy here?" Her hand came across the table as she slid an envelope over with their payment. "We're all on the same side. I'm working for the good and stability of the Alliance."

Keith quirked an eyebrow, picking up the envelope and tucking it away in a pocket of his fatigues. "Alliance or Blue Sun?"

"Haven't you figured it out by now Keith?" Kelly asked wryly. "They're one and the same."

She looked over at Dani, who still hadn't said a word. "Please, Dani, say something."

Dani stood up abruptly. "You stay here, we leave first," she ordered curtly.

Kelly nodded sadly as Dani stepped back from the table, and Keith and Maribelle followed suit. Dani turned to leave, but stopped, staring at the wall.

"You betrayed me," Dani finally whispered, her words clipped but full of emotion. "Don't rightly care about the reasons, you lied to me and put my ship at risk. You harmed members of my family. Not sure I can ever forgive that."

Dani slowly walked out of the bar, calling out over her shoulder as she did, "And you're right, Sara _will_ kill you on sight. Told her I wouldn't stop her if she did."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Credit for storyline goes to _Best Things Get Better With Age_ by Alana Abbott, Serenity RPG Adventures.
> 
> And of course, the wonderful Muerte appears courtesy of _Undercover Blues_.
> 
>  _Have A Drink On Me_ by AC/DC.
> 
> Stay shiny!


	45. Episode 36: The Albion Job

Hera. Murphy protostar. Georgia system.

The _Fortune's Favour_ settled onto her landing struts as the engines rotated back into their horizontal position. On the bridge, Dani stretched in her chair and glanced over at her daughter. "Mebbe I should just stay in my bunk on landings, you don' even need me anymore," she joked.

Rain gave her a smile, the light from the setting sun streaming in from the viewport glinting off the buttons and pins adorning her flight cap. "I'm not all that great yet, _Kaasan_ , still got lots to learn."

Dani snorted in amusement. "Yeah, you keep tellin' yerself that." She pivoted in her chair then and directed her attention to her brother, lounging in the nav seat behind her. "You got the ship _didi_. Lori and I are taking the night off, I'll leave my comm on if you need me."

"You know your comm can be remotely activated, right?" Keith smirked mischievously.

Dani paused at the doorway. "On second thought, my comm'll be switched off, as will Lori's, and unless the ship explodes I don' wanna hear from nobody." Keith barked out a laugh in reply.

As Dani jumped down to join Lori in their bunk to get ready, Rain ditched her hat and vest in the storage locker behind her seat. She quickly darted off the bridge towards the engine room.

Down in the cargo bay, Sara was entertaining herself with her butterfly knife. She was getting better with it every day, easily surpassing even Dev with her dexterous movements, and rarely even paid much attention to what her hands were doing anymore. Now, flipping butterfly knives with both hands, that took a little extra care.

She glanced up curiously as Rain and Cali came running down the stairs to join her. Rain was dressed plainly for a change and wearing her gun, and Cali had no toolbelt or panda hat, just her panda-head gunbelt on with her gun in place.

Cali ran up to her, grinning excitedly. "Sara, we gots a mission!"

Sara quirked her eyebrows, not pausing in her hand motions.

Rain leaned in and whispered intently. " _Kaasan_ and Lori are goin' off ship. I think they're gonna meet the woman they did the last time we were here. We're gonna tail 'em. You in?"

Sara returned her sisters' grins, tucking her knife away. "Ain't I always?"

Just then Dani and Lori came tramping down the steps dressed for a night out. Lori had on sandals and one of her usual short dresses, this one a dark green, while their _Kaasan_ was actually wearing a dress herself. It was a similar cut to Lori's, black with silver threading on the sides, and she also had sandals on her feet, which was unusual enough to make all three girls raise their eyebrows.

The two women paused when they reached the deck. Dani looked in the direction of her daughters, clustered around conspiratorily. "What're you three up to?" she asked, suspicion lacing her words.

"Nothing!" all three replied cheerfully in unison.

Dani sighed and shook her head. She continued to walk outdoors holding Lori's hand. "Ship better be in one piece when we get back!"

They gave them a little bit of a head start before the three girls snuck out behind to follow discreetly.

* * *

Town of Huntsville. Hera.

The trio of sisters were sitting at a table in the corner of the small bar, in the shadows and away from Dani and Lori. They noticed a pretty blond waitress had walked up to serve their _Kaasan_ and her wife. The three women were talking and laughing together.

Cali leaned over from behind her menu. "Izzat her?"

Sara shrugged, peering over hers. "Could be, dunno. Sure has a big rack on her."

"I was gonna say she was 'overly endowed'," Rain giggled, "but sure we'll go with that."

Cali grimaced, shaking her head. "I just don' get what folk see in them."

"What, boobs?" Sara grinned, needling her sister.

"Yeah, I mean they're all huge and bouncy and get in the gorram way all the time." Cali made a face. "What's the big deal?"

Rain and Sara snickered good-naturedly. Before they could answer her, though, the same waitress came over to take their drink orders, offering them a cheery smile.

"Don't worry none about the tab, girls," the pretty blond said after she wrote in her pad, "your Captain over there already picked it up."

Rain groaned. "Busted."

"I swear I could've been all stealthy-like on my own," Sara grimaced.

Cali laughed at them, unperturbed. "Where's the fun in that?"

The waitress grinned. "Name's Alexis, by the way. They also said you're welcome to join them."

With a sigh of resignation, the three girls got up and trudged over to where Dani and Lori sat. Both were now grinning at their approach, highly amused.

"And so my wayward children join us," Dani announced dramatically.

"An' what a coincidence it is, seein' them here," Lori commented.

Dani smirked at her wife. "It's almost like, I dunno, they followed us here or somethin'?"

"Ha, ha, hilarious," Rain snarked. "So was that her?"

"Her, who?" Dani asked innocently.

"Your booty call!" Sara exclaimed, which brought a round of laughter at their table.

Lori chuckled, setting down her glass. "Yeah, she is. Whatcha think?"

"Pretty," Rain commented thoughtfully.

"She gots a nice smile," Cali offered.

"An' a really nice set of boobs," Sara snarked.

"Oh, why thanks for noticin', sweetie!" Alexis replied from behind as she walked up with their drinks. Dani and Lori had to giggle at the blush that crossed Sara's face, as it happened so rarely.

The five women sat there for a while longer, talking about innocuous things and just enjoying each other's company. It was a relaxing evening for all of them, even with Alexis popping in every so often to socialize as well. The three girls decided, individually, that she passed inspection, and deemed her worthy of their _Kaasan_ and Lori.

Before long, though, Alexis' shift was over, and she left along with Dani and Lori towards her apartment. They meandered out of the bar, waving merrily to the younger crewmembers, who departed soon thereafter back towards the ship.

Sara strolled along the street with her sisters. "Whelp, leastways we got t'meet her."

"And got free drinks," Cali piped up.

"And hey, nothin' bad happened to me!" Rain exclaimed with unusual cheerfulness.

Sara snickered. "Still a long walk back to the ship."

"I will hurt you." Rain deadpanned.

Sara laughed merrily, racing on ahead. "Only if you c'n catch me!"

Rain took off after her. "Why you-"

Cali jogged after her sisters as well. "You guys, you know I can't run fast! I gots noodle legs! Wait up!"

* * *

 _Fortune's Favour._ Hera.

Lori and Dani returned to the ship early the next morning and headed directly into the galley for coffee and tea, respectively. Maribelle and Jess were already sitting there, both sipping their own cups of tea.

Jess looked up, eyebrows raised. "So, how was it?"

Dani blushed a light pink. "Really nice, actually."

"She certainly enjoyed herself," Lori smirked, helping herself to the coffee pot and sitting down at her regular spot at the table.

Dani sat down at the head of the table with her tea. She looked over at her wife, suddenly concerned. "Hey, you don' think that you don', um, satisfy me or-"

Lori gently placed her finger over Dani's lips. "Hush, I know. A lil' variety is nice, so long as we're doin' it together, right?"

Dani nodded eagerly, smiling.

Jess sighed, looking into her cup. "I've always been curious, but I don't think I could ever broach the subject with your brother."

"Trust me, honey, he'd be receptive," Dani laughed. "Hey, here's an idea. Next Core world we go visitin', find a Companion. Surprise 'im."

Jess' eyes brightened. "Oh, wow, that's... that's a really shiny idea!"

Lori looked over at Maribelle with a wicked smile. "How 'bout you?"

Maribelle waved a hand in front of her. "No, no, I'm not nearly that adventurous, I'm just fine being all vanilla and all. Really."

The other three women snickered. "Alright," Dani smiled, "but I gotta tell ya, don' know what yer missin'..."

Just then Keith wandered in from the bridge, coffee cup in hand. "What's she missing?" he asked, mildly curious.

"Um," Dani replied, blushing. "Things."

"Yes, definite things," Jess snickered.

"Loads an' loads o' things," Lori giggled.

"My things are just fine, thank you very much," Maribelle replied primly, a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.

Keith sighed, walking over towards the coffee pot. "Rutting women," he grumbled.

"I heard that!" Jess exclaimed.

"Wasn't trying to be all that quiet about it, hon," he smirked, sitting down at the table. "So, not to change the topic or anything, although I am indeed doing so, got a Wave from Dev early this morning."

"Oh?" Dani inquired. "Haven't heard from 'em in a spell, what's up?"

"They're calling in their favor, from the rush order on the armor-piercing ammo," Keith grunted. "Shouldn't be too painful, just serve as bodyguards at their next arms dealer meetup on Space Bazaar, regulars came down with the flu."

"Oh, that'll be fun," Dani smiled. "When?"

"Three weeks from now," he replied.

"Three weeks!" Dani exclaimed, jumping out of her chair. " _Da-shiang bao-tza shr duh lah doo-tze_ (the explosive diarrhea of an elephant), we'll have to push it to make it in time!"

On her way, she slapped the intercom by the door. "All hands, we're lifting in five," she said hurriedly, and then scrambled towards the bridge.

Keith looked around at the others at the table. "Well, how was I supposed to know," he shrugged.

* * *

Space Bazaar. Red Sun.

They made it on time, by virtue of Rain's creative navigation and Dani's willingness to burn the extra fuel. Yes, it was important not to piss off dangerous arms dealers like Mikki and Dev, but the _Favour_ 's crew considered them friends as well, and Dani did not want to let them down when they had actually asked for their help.

"Space Bazaar control, this is Firefly transport _Fortune's Favour_ , requesting docking clearance for bay seventeen," Dani spoke into the comm.

"Roger that _Fortune's Favour_ , you're expected. The _Mistress_ is right behind you."

" _Mistress_?" Rain asked from her seat.

"Mikki and Dev's ship, they've been following us in," Dani replied as she lined the _Favour_ up for the docking bay. "See the old Trans-U behind us?"

Rain snickered. "Yeah, that's a perfect name. I see them."

"Well, it beats somethin' like the _Sodomizer_ ," Dani grinned, causing Rain to laugh even harder.

Dani pulled in neatly, leaving plenty of room for the larger transport following them in. She shut the engines down and reached for the comm. "We're down, folks. Remember, only ground crew gets off, everyone else stays aboard. No amount of whining or attempt at bribery will sway me, as should be evident from the past week or so." Putting the mike back, she stood to buckle on her holster.

Rain sighed. "I get the reasonin' and all, but it still sucks."

"I know, _baobei_ (treasured one)," Dani said sympathetically, patting her on the shoulder. "'Sides, you usually stay on ship anyways."

"But this is Mikki and Dev!" Rain cried out. Then she sighed again resignedly. "I know, I know, lots of other mean _hun dans_ (bastards) as well."

"Yep," Dani replied, planting a kiss on her elder daughter's forehead before heading downstairs.

She hit the deck of the cargo bay just as the doors were opening. The ground crew was assembled, as was Mike to guard the ship in their absence.

Lori tossed Dani her new Ares shotgun. "Ready to do this, _bang jiar_ (lover)?"

Dani smiled at her wife as she slung her longarm over her shoulder. "Always, _lian ren_ (sweetheart)."

The five members of the ground team were all geared up for combat, though for Dani that simply meant her usual shipboard wear of brown combat boots, tan cargoes, and a black tee with her brown flight jacket worn over. Her trusted Ares pistol was at her side.

Lori and Jess were dressed almost identically, which amused Dani to no end. While they were almost the exact same height, Lori's round, cheerful, and freckled face, framed by her short bob of red hair, contrasted sharply with Jess' exotic Asian features and long black hair, which was back in a simple ponytail today. Both had their Callahan rifles slung over their shoulders, Lori's with a scope attached and Jess' with a grenade launcher. And both were dressed in simple grey fatigues with black combat boots.

Keith had on his usual grey camo fatigue pants and tight black tee, foregoing any jacket. His military assault rifle, also with a grenade attachment, was slung over his shoulder. "I think the two of you should stay on a detail together, you look good," he commented as he bent down to tie the laces on his black combat boots.

Sara snickered. "Almost like twins." She had on a simple outfit of light cargoes, shoes, and a blue long-sleeved tee shirt. While the other four would accompany Mikki and Dev, she would remain, as always, their ace-in-the-hole and roving around, looking for danger. _That girl can blend in like nobody's business_ , Dani thought to herself proudly. Sara was, however, wearing her Nova pistol belted at her waist without being asked.

"You wearin' yer armor, girl?" Lori asked as she adjusted her Browncoat Service Pistol in her holster.

"Yep," Sara replied cheerfully, as she tugged down her collar to reveal the shimmery underarmor. Keith had picked hers up with the AP ammo the last time he had stopped by Mikki and Dev's place.

"Alright then," Jess stated, tucking her little Beretta sidearm back into her shoulder holster. "Let's do this."

The five of them walked down their ramp and up to that of the Trans-U's, which had just started to lower. Lori and Jess remained behind them, searching the bay for threats, while Dani, Keith, and Sara waited patiently for their employers.

Before long the flamboyant pair came striding down the ramp in all their glory. Dev had his hair still long, but it was now dyed a dark, almost midnight blue, which matched his leather pants. He had a tight white tee shirt on which did nothing to cover up his impressive abdomen. Mikki, however, still had his towering red mohawk, and bright red leather pants to match, which contrasted nicely with the simple black tee shirt he wore. Both were carrying very large caliber automatic pistols in their holsters.

"Dev!" Dani squealed in a rather unprofessional manner. "You changed your hair!"

Dev barked a laugh as he strolled up to the lanky captain. He flipped his hair back over his ears. "You like?" he grinned.

Mikki rolled his eyes. "And here goes the preening," he snarked.

"Bitch, don't you go all diva on me," Dev said irritably, "girlfriend went apeshit over you the last time, my turn now."

The _Fortune_ 's crewmembers laughed. "And you look completely fabulous," Dani grinned. Glancing over at the slightly pouting Mikki, she added, "Mikki, I'm glad you kept yours, perfection shouldn't be messed with."

"Naturally," Mikki preened. "And I love the combat vibe y'all have rockin' tonight, that shit is just what we're looking for."

"Naturally," Dani echoed with a smile. She turned and walked between the two arms dealers as they headed towards the docking bay exit. Keith and Sara trailed them, while Lori and Jess preceded them. "So what's the plan, gents?"

"We usually stick together," Dev started, all traces of jest gone from his voice. "Mingle with the suppliers. This meet is pretty casual. Low-risk. There'll be some high-rollers there, but nobody we can't handle."

"And I'll let you know if there's anyone we need bitch-slapped," Mikki grinned. "If we do split up, I'll take the twins up there with me."

"That leaves Keith an' me with you, Dev," Dani commented.

"And what about our deadly little Sara?" Dev smirked, looking over his shoulder.

"I'll be watching everyone's backs," she commented airily, "jus' waitin' to stick a shiv in where it's needed."

Both Mikki and Dev barked out a laugh. "Girl, we just gotta get you a pair of goggles," Mikki laughed.

"I still don' get what they're talkin' about," Sara whispered to Keith. "D'ya get what they're talkin' about?"

* * *

Convention Center. Space Bazaar. Red Sun.

Mikki and Dev lasted only so long as it took for one to get offended by the other. Dani really couldn't remember which had started it, but the result was that Keith and Dani were now trailing Dev alone as they wandered the booths of military tech dealers.

"Three, status?" Keith murmured into his comm as Dev chatted animatedly with the proprietor of one such booth, marked Daniel Defense.

"All quiet, One," Jess came back quietly. "Mikki seems to be enjoying having his 'twin' bodyguards."

"An' we don' even look alike," Lori muttered.

Keith chuckled. "Four, how about you?"

"Oh, jus' peachy, One," Sara replied breezily. "Been hit on three times by disgusting old men, propositioned for sex twice, an' there's some guy who wants to hire me as a bodyguard. I don' even think he knows I gots shivs up my sleeves."

Dani snickered quietly while scanning the immediate area. "Ain't you the lucky one today."

Dev started moving onwards, past another booth labeled Rock River Arms, but then almost bumped into another tall, lanky man wearing dark, round sunglasses to conceal his eyes. His hair was wild, curly, and unkempt, spilling down his back, but he wore what amounted to a very nice Core-worthy tuxedo.

"Dev," the man said warily, his voice rusty and wheezing.

"Oscar," Dev replied, just as warily.

"Noticed you got some new folk," Oscar smiled slightly.

"Noticed you have the same," Dev matched his smile. "But I have two to your one. We going to have to get messy here, bitch?"

"Now don't be like that, Dev," the lanky arms dealer sighed melodramatically. "I'm sure my girl could take both of yours anyway."

Dani had been grinning at Oscar's bodyguard. "How've you been, Evie?" she smiled at the tall blond woman.

"Well enuff, Dani, you?" the amazonian merc replied, also grinning.

"What, you two know each other?" Oscar drawled lazily. "She's not family, is she?"

"Actually, Mr. Oldman, she's my sister-in-law, so yes, she is family," Evienne smirked.

"Oh, bollocks," Oscar grumbled and started to walk off. "Another time, Dev..."

Evie gave them a wink as she followed him. "Is Lori here?" she mouthed.

Dani nodded, pointing to her comm unit in her ear. "Hey, Five, your sister Evie is around," Dani murmured, turning back to watch Dev's back. She could hear him grumbling something about detesting the man who just departed.

"Oh, nice! I'll keep an eye out, thanks _wo de ai_ (my love)!"

"And what kind of moron names his ship the _Boneyard_?" Dev was still ranting. "Oh now," his tone suddenly changed, "what have we here, my sweets?"

"Dev!" the dark-skinned suave man behind the counter called out. "How've you been, man?"

"Been awhile, Shawn, love. I'm courting a hard-on for this lovely piece of hardware you have on display today, tell me about it."

Shawn laughed, picking up the compact and deadly-looking assault carbine. "This, my friend, is a SIG MCX Black Mamba. Semiautomatic assault rifle with included suppressor and IR laser, mounts for a variety of scopes. 30 rounds of high-velocity .300-caliber violence. Light and modular, dual recoil springs, and a side-folding stock."

"Darling, I love it. What do you think, handsome?" Dev smirked, turning to Keith.

Dani's brother grinned, looking appreciatively over the weapon. "Can't say for sure until I've fired one, but it does look like a, how did you say it, 'muthafuckin' masterpiece'."

Dev threw his head back and laughed loudly, Shawn and Dani joining in. "Yes it does, sweet-cheeks, yes it does," Dev sighed. "Alright Shawn, I want three cases. Can you handle that?"

"'Course I can!" Shawn smiled, and the two men settled in to do some bargaining for the hardware, as well as accessories to match.

Dani was leaning casually against the previous booth for Rock River Arms, when she overheard the raspy voice of Oscar Oldman again, speaking with perhaps another vendor.

"It's a big order, see, need to ship it right off to Albion..."

"But Oscar, what in the 'Verse do you need enough weapons and body armor to equip a small army for?"

"Oh, not for me, no... alright, I can tell you, we've been pals for awhile... see there's this client of mine, let's say the usual shady sort we deal with yes? Now, he's decided he needs to retire, and he needs to move his goodies off-planet..."

"Really? Like what sort of goodies?"

"Well, from what I heard, and this is all rumor mind you... the usual stolen art, artifacts, and other such items... but I also heard he's sending his little vault for the ride as well, and it should have a tidy sum of nice, hard credits inside, yeah?"

"Nice! Least it'll be well-protected, you get the money up-front?"

"Of course, dear boy! What kind of a mercenary gunrunner do you take me for?"

Dani was listening so intently to the conversation behind her that she failed to notice Dev and Keith had moved on already. "Two, anytime you feel like joining us again..." Keith snarked.

"Sorry, sorry, I'm comin'" she murmured back and hurried to keep up. While her eyes kept roaming for threats, her mind was spinning in an entirely different direction.

* * *

 _Fortune's Favour_. Space Bazaar. Red Sun.

"Who wants to be a bad guy?" Dani grinned at her crew over dinner.

They had finished up their job for Mikki and Dev, who had already taken off in the _Mistress_ for other parts unknown. Jess was about to look for cargo that needed to be moved, but Dani asked her to wait till after dinner as she needed to speak with the crew first.

Lori had paused with her food halfway to her mouth. "Um, say again?"

"I heard tell a tale of a nice, juicy target," Dani explained to the wondering faces around the table, "an' it's ripe for the takin'. Lemme relay to y'all what I overheard..."

She proceeded to divulge the details of the conversation from Oscar. When she was done, Keith leaned back thoughtfully. "You want to hit them in transit," he rumbled. "Likely be in a convoy."

Dani nodded eagerly. "But we could figure out the routes, an' the composition of the convoy..."

Lori smiled. "An' they don' know that we know."

"Huh," Cali mused. "So it's kinda like bein' robbers, only we'd be robbin' bad guys?"

"Pretty much," Dani smirked as she leaned back, her fingers interlaced behind her head.

"Isn't this a little outside our usual jobs?" Cory objected, leaning forward. "It sounds like we're becoming actual criminals here."

Dani brought her hands down and leaned forward as well, earnestly. "For one, we're robbin' from a criminal, so it's not like we're gonna get reported to the law. For another, I 'spect there's gonna be a nice payout from this. Figure we could turn over a percentage to the poor on Albion, redistribute the wealth some. That make your conscience rest easy?"

Cory sighed in exasperation. "I suppose so..."

"Look, it's not like we're gonna make a habit outta this," Dani tried to reassure him. "More like a target of opportunity, as Keith would say."

Cory looked down at his cradled coffee cup, eventually giving a reluctant nod.

"Any other objections?" Dani asked, looking around. Finding none, she clapped her hands together. "Right then, let's make a plan an' be bad guys."

* * *

City of Caledonia. Albion. White Sun.

The planet Albion has a little over two billion souls living on its surface, scattered between several major cities. Of those, the biggest and most metropolitan of them was Caledonia. Towering structures dotted the landscape, interspersed with apartment buildings and the like which would still dwarf any other structure found outside other Core worlds such as Londinium or Osiris or Ariel.

The large building in downtown Caledonia had 'Camelot Enterprises' emblazoned across the side in giant, two-story letters. Most everyone in the city knew it was a front for the real power behind the political offices, or at least it used to be. As power often does, things had shifted, and the top dog was no longer the biggest and baddest in the neighborhood. In fact, he had slipped far enough down that it was time to seriously consider retirement while he was healthy enough to enjoy his ill-begotten gains.

The Count, as he was commonly referred to, decided to finally make his move, after hefty application of bribes and gifts to divert the attention of both law enforcement and those who replaced him in the power structure. To be honest, those who were in the latter camp were just as happy to see him offworld, removed from the temptation of becoming a meddlesome influence.

And so for one day, both the criminal and law enforcement elements turned a blind eye to whatever occurred in Caledonia.

Early that morning, the giant garage doors at the bottom of the building opened and spat forth a convoy of six hovertrucks, escorted by as many hoverbikes. They turned down Arthur Boulevard in the direction of the spaceport, where a discreet transport was waiting to take The Count's riches to where he now resided on Bellerophon.

Two blocks over, Lori crouched behind a low concrete wall surrounding the rooftop of an office building. There were scattered antenna and Cortex link dishes around the perimeter, enough so that an aircar would find it difficult to land there.

"Five here, target approaching. Any sign of a bird?" she whispered. She knew there had to be air cover for this convoy and was getting a little concerned it hadn't been spotted yet. She concentrated on the convoy, though, peering through the scope of her Callahan sniper rifle. She briefly mourned not being able to take her lovely new toy, the _Long_ anti-materiel .50-caliber monstrosity that could down an aircraft. But, as Dani had reasoned with her, there was no way to gracefully extract while lugging it with her, and no gorram way she would abandon it.

"This is Four, just spotted an aircar takin' off from the roof," Sara reported quietly.

"Right," Lori murmured determinedly. _Showtime_. "One, do I have clearance?"

"Roger that Five, we're all in position, engage at will, and be careful," Keith's voice came back in a rumble.

"Gorram right you'd better be careful," Dani grumbled irritably. Lori smiled softly. Her wife's concern was sweet, and she knew that the lanky spacer didn't like her chances of extraction. She'd tried to reassure her, but her _zhi'ai_ (most beloved) was a natural worrier. _S'what makes her such a good captain_ , she mused to herself.

Lori sighted down at the lead hovercycle, letting out a breath. "Peekaboo," she giggled in a sing-song voice as she took her shot. The rider flipped over backwards, his momentum causing the cycle to flip upwards and back on top of his corpse. She immediately switched targets and started peppering the first hovertruck with shots, cracking the windshield and causing it to slew to the side and crash into oncoming traffic.

The rest of the convoy didn't hesitate and diverted down the next alleyway. They had planned for an ambush, even though none was expected, and had plenty of alternate routes set up. Of course, the danger in that lay when such routes were known to your enemy.

"They're movin' as planned," Lori said calmly into her comm as she took out another two hovercycles. "Three cycles and five trucks headin' your way, Two."

"Roger that, _lian ren_ (sweetheart), watch yer _pigu_ (ass)," Dani came back tensely.

Just then the aircar lighted down on the roof across the street from her, clearly intending on dealing with the sniper. Lori dropped the first few out, but there were plenty more where they came from, and automatic fire started raking across the meager wall she was using for cover. She ducked down as bullets chipped away at the concrete, and she prayed they didn't have anything heavier on board.

Meanwhile, the convoy was steering through the narrow alleyway to take it to the next intersection. There was a pair of buildings, only four stories high each, straddling the little one-way road.

The lead truck came to a halt as a grenade sailed down from one of the rooftops and blew its engine up spectacularly. The other vehicles were alerted by the frantic cries from inside the truck and stopped their progress immediately before they could get themselves stuck. The rearmost one, carrying The Count's heavy vault of hard currency and bullion, swung ponderously in reverse and then accelerated back the way it was originally traveling, having been assured by the air group that the sniper was no longer a threat.

The next truck in line wasn't so lucky, as another grenade took its engine out in a fiery explosion. Gunfire from above rained down, eliminating the other hoverbike escorts and disabling the remaining two hovertrucks. The drivers fled into the adjoining buildings, considering discretion to indeed be the better part of valor or a paycheck.

"One, we're done, primary target headin' your direction," Dani said into the comm. "We're moving to street level." She paused a beat as she headed down the steps. "Three's gettin' pretty good with that launcher of hers."

"Why thank you, Two," Jess replied, the pleased grin evident in her voice as she raced downstairs from her building.

Meanwhile, Lori was still huddled behind the low wall. "I'm pinned down, cannot evac!" she screamed into the comm.

Sara's voice came back, panting. "I hear you Five, on my way up to the bad guy's roof, gonna be a few minutes still!"

"Five, this is Two, _deng yi miao_ (hold on a sec), almost to your location!"

Lori grinned at the welcome sound of her wife's voice. "Is this another patented Grant rescue?"

"Quite likely, yes!" Dani replied.

Suddenly there was a noise from behind Lori, and Dani was flying over the rooftop on a hovercycle. She skidded to a stop, almost falling over.

"Let's go, lover!" Dani shouted, a fierce grin on her face.

Lori laughed, shouldering her sniper rifle. "You are still _feng li_ (crazy), woman!" She raced over, hunched down, to hop on the cycle behind Dani, wrapping her arms around her lover's middle.

"Hang on!" Dani yelled. She kicked off the roof and the cycle gave a little wobble before soaring over the top, narrowly missing the edge. It promptly dove towards the opposite building.

Lori shouted concernedly into Dani's ear. "Hey, big building right there!"

"Sorry, whoa, yeah okay got it!" Dani tilted hovercycle, bouncing them off the side of the building and into traffic.

Dani blew out an explosive breath. "Whew, okay this is harder than it looks!"

"Are you telling me this is your first time driving one?" Lori yelled.

"Well, yeah, not too much different from- whoops, that was close, okay I got this..."

" _Tai-kong suo-yo duh shing-chiou sai-jin wuh duh pee-goo_ (shove all the planets in the universe up my ass)" Lori screamed, tightening her grip and digging her head into Dani's back.

"No, it's good I got- oh _cao_ (fuck) where'd he come from, it's okay- whoops, nope, alright, we're good..."

Lori continued to curse heatedly in Mandarin, fear causing her arms to wrap around Dani like steel bands.

Dani gave a squawk. "Girl if I can't breathe and pass out 'cause of your grip, it's your gorram fault when we crash!"

"WHEN we crash?" Lori screeched incredulously.

"Nah, it's all good- whoa, okay that was my mistake, sorry... no, we're good, I got this..."

* * *

Caledonia Docking Authority. Albion. White Sun.

The last remaining truck was almost home-free. The driver took the turns a little bit past the recommended speed, but he wanted this over with and whooped with glee when the welcome profiles of starships lined up on landing pads came into view.

His celebration was short-lived, however. Just as it crossed over onto the landing field, Keith stepped out from behind a maintenance groundtruck, his HK G38 Assault Rifle at the ready. Selecting the switch on the side of his attached grenade launcher, he zeroed in on the truck and sent an EMP grenade onto his target.

The vehicle immediately sputtered as the engine died, settling onto the ground. Smirking, Keith walked up to the front of the truck, motioning for the driver to exit. With a sigh he complied, wondering if he just forfeited his overtime bonus.

As the driver exited, Mike and Cali cruised on up in the Mule. They made short work of opening up the back and using the built-in winch to extract the vault, wholly intact, from the hovertruck. All told, it took five minutes from the detonation of the EMP grenade until the Mule was heading across the landing field towards the far side where an innocuous Firefly transport waited.

Shortly thereafter Mike and Cali were on the _Favour_ and securing the vault as if it were any other cargo they usually transported. The Mule was already raised up and secured in the rafters of the bay.

Keith stood at the ramp controls, looking out across the field. "All units, give me an ETA."

Just then Jess soared in from overhead, cutting in expertly and killing the engine just outside the ramp. "That work for you?" she smirked.

Keith laughed and headed down to hug his wife. "Show-off," he grinned.

His grin turned to shock as he had to jump back to avoid Dani's perilous and somewhat-controlled fall on her hoverbike. She managed to halt half a meter above the ground but then dropped the rest of the way with a crash.

"Oof!" she exclaimed. "Well, that was exciting, right _lian ren_ (sweetheart)?"

Lori stumbled off of the back of the wrecked bike, wide-eyed and disheveled. "I... you..." She stalked up the ramp, sputtering incoherently.

"Hey, wait up _bang jiar_ (lover/partner)! I just need a little practice is all!" Dani called after her, giggling.

Keith looked around, realizing one member of his team was still unaccounted for. "Four, status?" he asked into the comm, concerned.

* * *

City of Caledonia. Albion. White Sun.

"Four here," Sara reported dazedly, " _deng yi miao_ (hold on a sec)..."

She looked around the rooftop where she was standing. Littered about her feet were the corpses of the six mercs that had been firing at Lori, now bloodied and cut into ribbons.

Sara looked down at herself with a curious sort of detachment. She was covered in blood herself, with numerous cuts and bruises that she could tell, nothing life-threatening.

The plan was to just pop her head out the roof door and toss a flash grenade, then slip away. _What happened?_

She spoke into her comm again, realizing she might be worrying her team. "I'm gonna be awhile, lemme get back down to ground and find transport."

As she left the roof and hurried down the stairs (with a bit of a limp, she had a minor gash on one leg), Sara's brows furrowed in concern. "What the _diyu_ (hell) is wrong with me?" she murmured, worriedly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was inspired to write this episode after watching _The Italian Job_ (2003). Sorry, no super-Mini Coopers here.
> 
> And yes, in case you're curious, when you think of Oscar Oldman you can visualize Ozzy Osbourne.
> 
> Stay shiny!


	46. Episode 37: Sweating Bullets

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **WARNING:** This episode has some disturbing and violent imagery.

Three Hills. Georgia System.

Sara heard a scream.

It shook her out of her stupor. She felt like she had been asleep. _What was that...?_

"Sara!" she heard again. It was her _Kaasan_ , standing not three meters from her. _Why is she screaming my name?_

She took a glance around and then down at herself. There was blood, lots of it. It coated her like a second skin, from the blades in her hands down to her elbows and even in her hair, almost like she'd taken a bath in the warm, visceral liquid.

Looking back up, she saw that Keith was standing in front of her, eyeing her warily and slightly winded as if he'd been fighting or running. He was unarmed, but there was a long gash on his forearm. Just like a shiv would make.

Sara's eyes widened and she dropped her shivs on the floor. "What..." she began brokenly.

Then Keith took a quick step forward and hit her on the side of her head, hard, and everything went black.

* * *

When she woke again it was in a very different place. The sky was overcast, a hard and dark grey. That alone could have told her exactly where she was, even without looking around her. The rubble littered the landscape, as if a giant had stomped everything flat, and then jumped up and down on things again just for good measure. But what really cemented her location was the smell of decay and suffering. The reeking odor of despair.

She was back on Shadow.

Sara looked at the ruins in front of her again, more closely this time. The pattern of the jumbled stones and wreckage... It was definitely her house, where she had to dig herself out from the aftermath of the bombing. And then dig her family out to bury them.

She realized with a start that there were no sounds, not even a breeze. No moans of the injured or dying, no growls of homeless pets now turned feral. It was almost like the entire planet was, in actuality, dead.

"Thought it was time you an' I finally had a chat," a silky voice came from behind with a warmth and intensity that was alternately soothing and unnerving in its familiarity.

She whirled around frantically, spotting a dark figure leaning against the wall in the shadows of what had been her bedroom. She was about Sara's height, dressed in ragged leather clothes the color of dried blood. The figure stood up straight and started stalking forward towards Sara. She realized that it was a girl with tangled, curly brown hair... and she had her face.

"Who... what are you?" Sara whispered. "Where didya come from?"

"Who am I?" the girl chuckled, a sound like bones rattling. "Haven't you figured it out yet, love?"

She slinked forward in a motion akin to that of a true predator, a panther stalking forward through the brush. "As for the where... I've always been with you, but ever since this place," the girl gestured around, "I really came to life. _You_ gave me life."

Sara stared at her in shocked horror for a while. "How can this be?"

"I'm you, love. I'm part of you, you're part of me. But you only lemme come out to play so very, very seldomly. And I wanna do somethin' about that..."

* * *

 _Fortune's Favour_.

Sara was startled awake again. This time she seemed to be rooted in reality, as the lights overhead seared her through her brain. She went to cover her eyes, but her arms were restrained somehow.

What had happened to her? She'd been on Three Hills, she was scouting around, looking for the hostages... bandits had taken two women from a settlement, the _Favour_ had been hired to get them back... she was sneaking through the compound, opened a door... and then nothing.

Sara whimpered slightly in the back of her throat but refused to give in to the panic. _Why can't I remember? What happened before_ Kaasan _and Uncle Keith walked in? How did Uncle Keith get hurt?_

"Hey _baobei_ (treasured one)," a soft voice called from over by the desk in the infirmary. Dani came into view, her face loving but worried. "How are you feelin'?"

" _Kaasan_?" Sara whispered. "Please... tell me what happened..."

"You don' remember?" Dani asked gently. Sara shook her head, but before she could respond, heard the door open. She craned her neck to see Maribelle walk in, followed by Keith. He had a large bandage wrapped around his forearm.

"You can't do any exercise for at least a week, or you'll tear out the stitches..." Maribelle was saying before she noticed Sara was awake. "Oh! Hey there sweetie, let me take a look at you."

Maribelle walked over and shone a light in her eyes, checking her pulse and such. Sara still stared at Keith's arm. She couldn't take her eyes off of it. Tears started welling up in her eyes. "Did I... did I do that?"

Keith glanced at his sister and they shared something wordlessly. Dani turned back to Sara again, smoothing her daughter's hair back. "We're not sure what all happened 'fore we got in the room... but yeah, you did. He was tryin' to restrain you, an' you fought back 'til I got there an' called out yer name. You stopped, though, okay? I think maybe we jus' startled you...?" She said the last bit halfheartedly as if she were trying to convince herself.

Keith took a step forward, sighing. He wouldn't look Sara in the eyes, but his next words were unusually gentle. "We heard you over the comm, _wai sheng nu_ (niece, sister's daughter). You found the hostages in that room, but then you got ambushed by maybe four bandits. All we heard after that was one of the bandits slapping you, you hitting the ground... and then..."

"And then just the growlin', and the screamin'," Dani finished for him, quietly. She was looking at Sara with an unreadable expression on her face as if she was still holding something back.

"But... the hostages? Did they get away?" Sara asked.

Dani sighed, a tear trailing down her cheek and looking as if what she was about to say was physically painful for her. "No, honey," she whispered brokenly. "Everyone in the room was dead. Bandits, the women, everyone. They were all dead from knife wounds..."

Sara looked at Dani, the best woman she had ever known, her mother-figure, hell her mother now that she'd adopted her... and saw fear in her eyes.

Horror spread across her, as images started to swell in her mind's eye, of slashing and cutting and bleeding and killing everyone anyone who moved, growling the whole time...

Sara's breathing increased and she started to panic, thrashing about. _Oh god I'm a monster, I killed innocent women, I hurt Uncle Keith_...

"Sara? Sweetie, you're starting to hyperventilate," Maribelle shouted as she tried to hold her down. "You've got to calm down before-"

And then the welcome blackness enveloped Sara again as she passed out.

* * *

The first thing to hit her again was the smell, clinging to her nostrils and the back of her throat. Sickly sweet decay. She was back on Shadow once more.

"Where are you?" Sara screamed desperately.

"Right here, as always," the voice said with a dark giggle. Sara whirled around to see the girl again, the girl with her face but shrouded in an aura of violence and death.

"Okay, what's goin' on?" Sara shouted, getting angry now. "What are you, like, my subconscious or somethin'? Are you making me black out all the time? What is this place?"

"Oh, my, so many questions," the not-Sara purred, walking around the rubble to perch on the remains of the living room wall. "Lemme see..." She tapped one long blood-red fingernail against her chin. "What's goin' on is, we're havin' a chat, you an' I. Maybe we won't get interrupted this time 'round. What am I, well, like I toldya, love, I am you, an' you are me."

Sara growled and threw her hands up in the air. "That doesn't even make any gorram sense!"

"That's 'cause you're not listenin'," the girl said smugly.

"What..." And then Sara paused. _She is me_... "Wait, you're... are you that, that animal side of me?"

The girl made a tinkling laugh, a sound like glass hitting the floor after smashing a face through a window. "Oh, that's good, yes alright. I am that part of you, yes, but I'm so very much more." She sighed and hopped off the wall, slinking over to stand within arms reach of Sara. "Let's start off on a better foot, for the time being leastways. Call me... Shrike. Yes, I like that. You may call me Shrike."

Sara stood there, dumbfounded. "You... want me to call you a name?"

Shrike grinned at her lopsidedly. "Of course, silly. I may be you, and you may be me, but I'm a very diff'rent person, you know. But lemme answer some more questions for ya, since we have the time. C'mon, have a seat." She led Sara back towards the rubble where they sat, facing each other and leaning up against some rocks, maybe a meter apart from each other.

"Sooo, the blackouts," Shrike drawled. "Yeah that was me, that was when I got to take full control. It's hard enuff just to live through your eyes and only get a lil' taste of the violence... sometimes I just want more, an' then every so often... I get that chance when you let me take control. Usually only when you get hit; that gets you all sorts of mad. Like in that room earlier. You got a taste of that just now, yeah?"

"No," Sara shook her head, "I don' believe you. How can you control me? I control me!"

Shrike giggled again, and Sara felt icy chills creep up her spine. "Oh, love... You think I haven't been in control before? Lemme illuminate for ya..."

Sara's head started swimming with images and scenes playing back as if it were a vid of herself, but through a stranger's eyes...

* * *

Albion. White Sun.   
Two weeks ago.

Sara crept up the staircase. She could still hear the gunfire though _Kaasan_ was on her way to pick Lori up. She readied the flash grenade, just slip it out the door and run, it would give them cover...

The door was opened first and she was face to face with a burly merc. He immediately grabbed Sara and flung her out onto the roof, shouting, "Got one, tryin' to sneak up on us!"

Sara whirled, reaching for her shivs when another merc kicked her in the head sending her sprawling. She dimly heard them complaining about the sniper having gotten away, but maybe they could still have fun.

She growled, low in her chest, as a darkness flowed through her veins, and she yanked out her shivs. She thrust upwards to slice into the groin of the merc who kicked her, sending him screeching to the ground. Spinning, she sliced into another, and then another... geysers of blood, glorious blood, she was hacking and slashing until there was no more movement, and she reveled in the moment, feeling more alive than ever...

* * *

Osiris. White Sun.   
Three months ago.

She wanted to kill Kelly so badly, why wouldn't Sara let her chase her, she was getting away, no don't stop don't think just _GO_ gorramit, every other time you'd just let her go... Then her chance was gone. Sara had calmed down and stayed to protect Keith instead of taking the sweet, sweet vengeance she so rightly deserved...

* * *

Santo. Qin Shi Huang.   
Six months ago.

Sara was stalking the last lookout for the gunrunners. The other two were so easy to take out, this one shouldn't be too much more of a challenge...

And then she made a mistake.

As she crested the building, she accidentally kicked over a pipe that had been leaning against the parapet. And her carelessness made her target roll, avoiding Sara's first slash. He wildly flung an arm out and knocked her back, hitting her on the cheekbone.

Sara giggled darkly, pulling her other shiv out. "Oh, yer gonna pay for that..."

And she took her time with him, cutting ever so slowly until he would have begged for mercy. If she had left him a tongue to beg with.

Motherlode asteroid belt. Red Sun. Seven months ago.

Sara was walking along the corridor of the _Ishimura_. She was finally on track to reach Keith and Cali again. Out of nowhere, a Reaver pounced on her, knocking her to the ground, with another one on his heels. They snapped and gnashed their teeth at her, but she slithered out from under them, drawing out her shivs and grinning bloodily, as she spat out the piece of flesh she took with her.

The Reavers actually paused, maybe some little part of them taken aback, or perhaps they recognized another predator. In any case, it was enough time for Sara to hurl herself at the pair, slashing and kicking wildly. There was no finesse, no attempt to end them quickly and move on anymore.

She was determined to prove that yes, Reavers could feel pain.

* * *

Persephone. Lux.   
Nine months ago.

This Tong in front of her was saying that her Uncle Keith owed him and that he was going to collect... but then he threatened her family. And that just... would... not... do...

She pulled out her shivs, growling deep in her little chest. He wanted blood, did he? She would show him fountains of blood like he'd never seen before...

"Sara!" Keith barked, authoritatively.

Sara stopped, trembling. No, not now, she was so close, let her in, let her have control, she wanted blood, rivers of blood, she could smell it, taste it-

And then Dani was there wrapping her warm arms around her and murmuring in her ear. "It's okay, _nu'er_ (daughter), calm down, nobody's gonna get hurt, alright? Just ease off, put your knives away. Please, honey, put your knives away and walk back with me..."

And Sara got herself under control. With a wail, she retreated again and let go...

* * *

Silverhold. Red Sun.   
Eleven months ago.

They took what was hers. They took her _Kaasan_ , hurt her and bled her.

So she would finally get her blood. Sara was all too willing to spill it. She looked at Keith, her eyes promising death to all who stood in her way and then took position, waiting for him to go inside.

She followed him in, silently killing every thug she came across. Messily so, sometimes slashing the throat, sometimes the femoral artery, sometimes in the back, the fourth lumbar down, oh that one was such a gusher... but she finally had her blood, rivers of it...

And then in the office, there were two more lying there like sacrificial lambs. Not even worth a challenge, so she just slit their throats effortlessly. _Give Keith the gun, he'll have fun with it, there were more she could cut and bleed_...

"Can you go check on her?" Keith whispered hoarsely to Sara.

 _Check on who...?_ Oh, yes, her _Kaasan_ was here... And then she found her, a huddled wet mass smelling of blood, covered by a blanket. Suddenly the smell of it wasn't as sweet; no, it was heart-wrenching, that was her _Kaasan_ under there...

 _That's fine_ , she thought to herself, letting Sara take full control again. She was sated, purring in contentment, she'd had her fill of blood for now...

* * *

Persephone. Lux.   
One year ago.

Sara was waiting by the back door. She knew the pitiful excuse for a human would bolt; the others weren't trying to be all that quiet, really. And then he was there, trying to escape. But Sara knocked his feet out from under him, pouncing on his chest and holding a shiv to his throat. She grinned darkly at the Colonel. "We're back here, guys!" she called out to her team in a sing-song voice.

She could smell his fear and it was intoxicating. She saw the veins in his throat pulsing rapidly as he lay there, eyes bulging; it would be so easy just to lean in a little, just a little cut and the blood would pour forth, oh the lovely sweet blood...

But then her _Kaasan_ was there, and the moment passed. "Nice work, _nu'er_ (daughter)," she heard her murmur, and it was enough to shake her away again. Even later, when Sara offered to take off the man's head for Mike, she was denied the opportunity, it would have been so sweet, so sweet...

* * *

Splendor, moon of Newhope. Georgia System.   
One year and two months ago.

They were under attack.

The mercs had charged into the bar, firing tranq darts, and her family was in danger. Sara was all too willing to do whatever it took to protect them, and she gladly let the animal loose.

With a fluid movement, she closed in on the first of the attackers and brought a blade up and across his throat. With a bubbling scream, the merc clutched his wound and fell to his knees, while his enraged partner lashed out with a club at the diminutive hellion.

She easily dodged his attack and spun around, burying her shiv deep within the man's back and ripping it up in a clean slice, opening his back and slicing through part of his spine.

This was good, yes, the blood was flowing and she was bathing in it. More mercs were coming in, but Dani was shooting at them, keeping them at bay. And then Dani was down, it was just her and Rain slashing with their knives. Sara thrust upwards into the throat of one man, ripping outwards and covering his partners in a spray of blood. The floor was slippery with the stuff now. She spun and slashed and sliced and cut... The blood ran freely, it was an ocean, it was glorious... And then it cut off sharply as one of them finally got a good hit in, clubbing her from behind and knocking her unconscious. And the little animal in her purred as she slid into the darkness, _we'll do this again soon, love, too bad you won't remember it_...

* * *

Unknown location. Ariel.   
One year and three months ago.

She was in a room with four men who had drawn metal batons instead of guns. And Sara had just given her free reign. _Oh yes, it's time to play_...

She was still not able to really take control, completely take over. Sara was feeling too protective of Cali for that, but all the same, she got her blood. Her eyes glittering darkly and a snarl forming on her lips, Sara brought her left-hand shiv around in a sweeping arc low across the first man's abdomen. He dropped his baton to clutch at his stomach to keep his intestines from leaking out. _That one's dead soon, move on to the next_.

She twirled around and buried the right-hand shiv up into the next man's chin, point facing outwards. His eyes bulged in terror, but he didn't have the time to react at all before she ripped the shiv forward, along with half his face. _Very dead._

Sara ducked under the spurt of blood and the third man's lunge. Her foot flew towards his knee and she heard the satisfying crack as it gave way. She jumped over his body as he collapsed to the side. _Disabled, move on and come back to him later_.

The fourth was swinging his baton in a tight pattern, keeping Sara at bay, or so he thought. The deadly little girl just gave a chuckle that sounded like death itself and intercepted his swing with her left hand, digging a shiv through his forearm. With her right, she darted in and cut deep into his leg, right through the femoral artery. _Disabled and bleeding to death, back to the third one_.

She ripped both blades from the screaming man and whirled around. In the time she had gone through all four men, their bodies had barely had the time to hit the ground. And yet the first man must have dropped his baton towards the door, because a very determined-looking Cali was swinging it with both hands, repeatedly, on the third man's head as he lay prone on the floor.

The sight of Cali brought Sara back to herself, but she was so close, so close to completely reveling in the blood... But no, Sara returned her shivs back up her sleeves and gave herself a shake. _Another time, love_ , the little voice whispered, though Sara couldn't hear her.

* * *

Persephone.   
Two years ago.

Sara was stalking through the corridor. She had a really bad feeling about this job for her Tong sponsors. They were on the downslide, other Tongs were circling like sharks and this was a last-ditch effort to gain some leverage on the most powerful group... But of course, as she should have suspected, it was all a set-up.

Several Tong crashed through the paper-thin walls, swords and knives held ready. Sara panicked, slashing out wildly with her shivs, trying to escape...

_Just lemme in, I can help you, get you away..._

But she was quickly overwhelmed, disarmed, and tied up. Another Tong, this one likely an elder, strode towards her prone body to loom overhead. "So, this is what they send? Pathetic." He walked back away, dismissing her completely. "Send her off to the buyer on Hera, that should finally satisfy my debt to that _si pi yan_ (damned asshole)..."

* * *

Persephone.   
Four years ago.

Sighing to herself, Sara gently closed the window she had crept through. Her little gang of urchins and criminals valued her as a burglar, able to squeeze through places most of the bigger boys couldn't. But this wasn't really a challenge, it was too easy. Which, really, should have told her better.

"And what have we here?" an amused voice called from directly beside her in the shadows.

Startled, Sara pulled out her ever-present shiv and whirled, slashing out. The voice let out a yelp of pain and jumped backwards into the light.

Sara could see he was a young man, dressed casually, but had a commanding air about him. He wore a white short-sleeved tee and he was clutching his arm which was now dripping blood.

_Yes, right there, that's it. He's wounded, you can take him down, make him bleed more..._

And then the man gave a bark of laughter. "I'm very impressed. Not just a little cat-burglar, are we? This kitten has impressive claws." He smiled at Sara widely, and the tenseness evaporated.

"Come with me, child. The Tong always appreciates the value of a person, and I can see that you would be a welcome addition to our group..."

* * *

Shadow.   
Seven years ago.

It was raining.

The water, though, was dirty and polluted. Where it pooled, what little vegetation there was died. But it was the only water to drink anymore.

Nobody cared about the residents of Shadow anymore. The Alliance had bombed them into oblivion. The Independents were too concerned with their war. So the survivors were left to suffer and scrounge as best they could for themselves.

And prey on the weak.

Sara was huddled miserably in the meager shelter of what used to be her bedroom, now mostly tumbled stones and beams. The twelve-year-old sniffed, clutching the ratty blanket closer around her, feeling violated, hurt, angry, sad... too many emotions welling up inside of her. She almost wished for death, but instead wished for something, anything, to help her, save her.

She saw a glint of metal nearby as lightning flashed. Curious, she crawled, ever so quietly, towards it. The next room over had been the kitchen and the wall had collapsed onto her bed, so this seemed to be from there.

Picking it up, she saw it was a simple steak knife, tarnished already. The cheap metal was bent slightly, but it was still sharp enough.

She looked at it wonderingly, and something dark slithered inside of her. "I can save you," it whispered.

* * *

"So you see, now?" Shrike asked lazily as she leaned back. "I'm the real you. I'm the real me. Maybe yer just the shadow, hmm? Anyways, it's time, kitten. Time to jus' let me out to play, we have so much more fun when you do, can't you see that?"

"No, no, no," Sara moaned, clutching her head and rocking back and forth. "This is... I'm completely _feng li_ (crazy), aren't I? This is _shen jing bing_ (insanity)!"

The other girl giggled again, blood drops spattering against the blade of a knife. "Maybe just a little bit."

"I don' believe this..." Sara whispered, brokenly.

"Oh yes, and your last question from earlier? Where are we?" Shrike gave Sara a smirk. "This is inside your head, darlin'. The place you never left, the place I was born. And this is my playground now."

"No," Sara moaned again, shaking her head violently. Then she leapt to her feet. "NO!" she shouted. "Gorramit, this is my head, my life! I'm not gonna just hand you the reigns, let you take over, ya hear me?"

The edges of the landscape started to blur, and the sky brighten. "Well, guess it's time for you to go again, love," Shrike commented with a sigh. "Just 'member, though. You can't ever get rid of me now, I'm here to stay..."

* * *

 _Fortune's Favour_.

Sara was jolted awake, sobbing. Her hands were still restrained, but she immediately felt Dani grab ahold of her, and then she was enveloped in a warm hug. She couldn't see through the tears, but she could feel her _Kaasan_ shaking as she held on to her tight.

"It's okay sweetie, relax, I've got you, alright? It's okay..." Dani murmured softly into Sara's ear until her breathing calmed down again.

After a bit of time passed, Sara cleared her throat. "C'n I... get some water?"

Dani stood back up, wiping tears of her own from her face, and smiled. "Sure, _baobei_ (treasured one), just a tic."

She walked away to return with a cup and straw, holding it up to her mouth. She turned her head slightly as Sara drank. "Maribelle, c'n we... c'n we get these things off of her now?"

" _Deng yi miao_ (hold on a sec)," she heard Maribelle murmur, as she came into view. She peered intently into Sara's eyes, placing a hand on her forehead. "You've been through a lot, haven't you, sweetie?" she whispered.

Sara nodded wordlessly.

"And you realize now what's going on, right?" Maribelle pressed gently.

Again Sara nodded. "I've got... someone else in me, sorta."

"She's got what?" Dani exclaimed, and then lowered her voice again. "I don' understand, what's wrong?

Maribelle sighed but kept her hand resting on Sara's forehead. That, along with Dani's hand on her arm, grounded her somehow, made Sara feel calmer.

"It's known as Dissociative Identity Disorder, sometimes referred to still as Multiple Personalities. It explains the blackouts she's had, why she can't remember things." Maribelle explained patiently.

"I 'member now," Sara interjected with a whisper.

Maribelle looked down at her sharply. "You do?"

Sara nodded again, her voice barely audible. "She showed me."

Letting out a heavier sigh, Maribelle moved her hand up to stroke Sara's hair back. "That could explain the trauma she's had since she got in here. This is so far outside my realm of knowledge... There may be some meds I can get ahold of or some other treatment. I just don't know..."

"Alright," Dani said firmly, all traces of tears gone from her eyes. She looked at Sara and smiled. "It's gonna work out, sweetie. Even if'n we can't get you help, we're all still here for ya. Maybe sit a few missions out, yeah? Or, if'n you wanna still help out, mebbe spot for Lori, or somethin'..." She trailed off but then refocused back on Sara. "We'll work somethin' out. What's important is, we know what's what, an' we'll deal with it. Alright, _nu'er_ (daughter)?"

Sara smiled back, tears blurring her eyesight again. As Maribelle released her straps, she flung herself into Dani's arms, sobbing. "I love you, _Kaasan_."

"Oh, _lian ren_ (sweetheart), I love you too. Nothin's ever gonna change that, hear me?"

Sara nodded, wiping her tears on Dani's shirt. Sniffling, she leaned back. "Got yer shirt all wet," she grinned weakly. "Sorry 'bout that."

Dani laughed. "It's okay. I think I'll manage."

"C'n I..." Sara began hesitantly, "c'n I see Uncle Keith? I gotta apologize to 'im..."

"I'm here, _wai sheng nu_ (niece, sister's daughter)," Keith's baritone voice came from the doorway. He stepped fully into the room, and Sara flinched slightly at the sight of the large white bandage swathing his arm. "I'm the one who needs to apologize. I've been pushing you too hard and putting too much responsibility on your shoulders. Treating you like a soldier instead of my _wai sheng nu_."

Sara sighed, putting her head back on Dani's shoulder but still keeping Keith in view. "Well, I'm still sorry. I don' ever wanna hurt anyone in my family. Any of y'all." She sniffled again. "Am I still on the ground team?" she asked in a small voice.

"'Course ya are," Dani laughed softly. "Like I said, we'll just go slow for a spell, alright?"

Keith nodded. "I like the spotter idea. Nothing wrong with some scouting, either, so long as it isn't in a dangerous area. And you're still one of the best sleight-of-hand artists I've seen. Just no shivs for now, alright?"

Sara grinned. "Yeah. I c'n work with that."

"Right," Maribelle said briskly, as she shooed Keith out of the room. "She's still had a lot of trauma today, and I want to keep her under observation. Let me give a smoother to help with sleep, okay?"

Maribelle closed the door behind Keith and dimmed the lights. Sara lay back on the infirmary bed again, and Dani leaned over to brush the hair back over her ear, kissing her gently on the forehead.

"Rest now, _baobei_ (treasured one)," Dani whispered. "I'll be here when you wake again."

Sara closed her eyes, exhausted, and felt a small prick on her arm as she drifted off to sleep.

* * *

Jiangyin.   
Thirteen years ago.

Sara looked at her parents furiously. "I don' wanna leave Jiangyin!" she screamed. "I like it here, an' all my friends are here! Why don' I ever get a say in anythin' this family does?"

"Sara, honey, you can make new friends, but your father has this great new opportunity..."

"Oh, right, just like the last dozen or so," the six-year-old scoffed. Before she could endure another lecture about respect and how they knew so much better than her about what was good for her, she stormed off towards her room.

Stumbling blindly from the dining room into the kitchen, she ran into the island in the center but caught herself before she could fall over. _It was all so unfair_ , she raged to herself. _Rain and Cali and all my other friends, even Miss Beth and Miss Dani, they all thought of others first, of their own family first. Why couldn't mine, for once in their lives, do the same?_

 _One day I'll be free of 'em, I'll be big enuff to stand up for mysel' an' protect mysel'_... She glanced down at the kitchen island, where a knife had been left out from making dinner.

A little something inside her growled.

 _Gorramit, and I didn't even get to finish dinner._ She ran off towards her bedroom, tears flowing again. _One day_ , she promised herself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Props to Megadeth for the title track, _Sweating Bullets_. And apologies for the darkness. Sara's story gets resolved somewhat in the next episode, I promise...
> 
> Stay shiny!


	47. Episode 38: Clean My Wounds

En route to Aphrodite. Murphy protostar. Georgia system.

"So that's who Aunt Lori an' Dani have been seein'?" the auburn beauty asked over the Cortex, her blue eyes sparkling.

"Yep," Rain answered. "Still hard to wrap my head around."

"What, the whole threesome thing?" Feather asked mischievously.

Rain squirmed uncomfortably in her pilot's seat and pushed her button hat up on her head. With her hair short now, it seemed to fall forward more often. "Um, yeah, I guess," she muttered. She knew Feather loved to get her flustered, and it flustered her even more when Lori's pretty niece said it was 'cute'. Kinda like how she'd squealed with joy when Rain had cut her hair, saying how 'adorable' she looked now.

"Awww, don' I even get a blush outta that?" Feather queried with a pout. "What if I asked you, if'n you'd ever think about doin' one?"

"What?" Rain squawked, momentarily forgetting she was being stealthy in her conversation. "I... You... No!" Now she was really flustered, the whole idea of sex was just perplexing and somewhat revolting to her.

Feather leaned back with a peal of tinkling laughter. Rain thought it was the prettiest laugh ever, and she supposed the reason why she put up with the needling was that it amused the Aberdeen native so much.

Eventually, Feather wiped the tears from her eyes. "Now that's the flustered pretty girl I love to see," she giggled.

 _Gorramit, she keeps using the L-word, an' I don' know if she's serious or just needlin' me again_...

"Don' know why I put up with you," Rain grumbled good-naturedly, as she couldn't really conceal her own smile.

"Aw, that's 'cause you love me, too!" Feather smiled warmly. Then she leaned in, her face turning serious, which was a very unusual occurrence. "Listen, Rain. Y'know that we both gots diff'rent experiences, right? We're both twenty, but you've been all over this 'Verse, seein' places I c'n only dream of, an' I only been here on Aberdeen. But ya also know, I've been, well, 'with' plenty of folk. Not all of 'em all the way," she hastened to reassure, as Rain's eyes widened, "but a few, boys an' girls, yeah?"

Rain nodded slightly, unsure as to where this was going. _She don' usually throw it right up in my face like that..._

"So, what I'm tryin' to say is, we gots differences, yeah? And yet, I kinda feel like we mesh, ya know? I c'n talk to you about stuff I can't talk to nobody else, about my dreams or hopes an' stuff... an' I love listenin' to you talk, too, 'bout what all you've been doin', and seein', and stuff." She seemed to fidget a little uncomfortably, and Rain realized this was really her, no needling, just baring her soul. "I really like you, Rain," she continued softly. "An' I feel... I dunno. Somethin' that I don' rightly recall feelin' before. So I'm sorry if'n I, y'know, tease you and all, and it offends you, I just..." she trailed off, looking at Rain with those sun-bright blue eyes of hers.

"You never offend me," Rain reassured her in a whisper. "An' I, well, um... yeah. You know."

"I do?" Feather asked, a trace of a smile on her face again.

Now it was Rain's turn to fidget. She wasn't used to talking about feelings, or anything like that. She was an intensely private person, even towards her sisters, but she considered herself to be pretty kind-hearted. She'd been taken advantage of before for that, and so it was rare for her to let anyone in outside of family. _Though, technically, 'spose Feather's family as well, huh?_

"Look, ya know I don' like to talk 'bout this kinda stuff," she said, giving voice to her thoughts. "But yeah, I gots feelings for you too. Don' rightly know what they are, but even if'n I didn't, I'd still be Wavin' ya. I like talkin' to ya."

"Me too," Feather smiled. "I 'specially like hearin' your stories. Where is it yer headin' now?" she asked, unsubtly changing the subject.

"Aphrodite," Rain answered. "Lil' planet around the star Murphy. An' it goes around Georgia."

"Wait, I know that name," Feather mused. "Oh, right! Lots of battles were fought near Murphy, right? On Sturges, Hera... I'd love to travel there someday, see where Aunt Lori fought and all..."

"You could travel with us, next time we put in on Aberdeen!" Rain blurted out. She immediately flushed and wished she could clap her hands over her mouth. _Why do I say such gorram boneheaded things? Ruttin' brain-to-mouth filter stopped workin' again_...

"Really?" Feather asked, her eyes wide.

Rain opened her mouth to reply, not sure exactly what she was going to say but was spared the effort when she heard her Uncle Keith's voice from behind. "You know, I hear it's creepifying to lurk."

Rain furrowed her brow. It was Keith's turn for watch but why did he think she was lurking? Turning, she saw the reason for his comment. Both Sara and Cali were crouched just outside the door to the bridge, grinning widely. She had no explanation as to how she missed sensing them, other than the fact that she was so engrossed in her conversation with Feather.

"Awww, Uncle Keith, it wuz jus' gettin' good!" Cali protested.

Rain spun back towards the Cortex unit where Feather was grinning widely. "So, I need to go now and murdify my sisters."

"Good luck!" Feather laughed as she closed the connection.

"Run away!" Sara squealed, dashing down the hallway.

"No fair!" Cali yelled, hightailing it after her. "I'm slower an' I always get caught first!"

Keith stood to the side, grinning. "Go ahead _wai sheng nu_ (niece, sister's daughter), I got the bridge."

"Thanks, _jiu jiu_ (uncle, mother's brother)!" Rain called out cheerfully as she raced in pursuit after her errant sisters. Passing down the hallway, she heard Lori's indignant shouting from the bunk she shared with her _Kaasan_.

"Some of us are tryin' to sleep around here y'know!"

"I highly doubt that!" Rain laughed, banging her way across the deck.

* * *

 _Fortune's Favour._ En route to Aphrodite.

Dani stood in the doorway of the galley the next day, having left Rain on the bridge. She leaned against the frame, sipping her tea. Her gaze was focused on a card game in progress, very large by _Favour_ standards.

Sara, Lori, Keith, Mike, Cory, and Jess were all sitting around the middle of the dining table, and she thought that they could have given the casinos on Persephone a run for the money with how seriously they were taking the game. Instead of chips or credits, however, they traded with the time-honored crew tradition of chores written on slips of flimsi.

"Raise with dishes," Keith grunted.

Lori scoffed, and looked across at Sara. "An' here I thought this was a serious game." She pushed another slip into the center. "Shower scrub."

"Eww," Sara wrinkled up her nose. "I seen the shower after Cali's been in it, gorram right I'll stay in. Laundry."

"Hey!" Cali protested from the corner where she was playing Chinese Checkers with Julie, both little boys watching avidly to learn the rules.

"Sorry, babe, truth hurts," Sara grinned. "Engine grease is a pain in the _pigu_ (ass) to clean out."

Dani took a couple steps into the room, looking down at the piles in front of each player. "I thought y'all had learned by now not to play with Sara," she mused.

Cory rolled his eyes and sighed. "Lori said she'd take her down a notch or two."

Keith barked a laugh. "Didn't know they'd be working together to swindle the lot of us."

"So much for female solidarity," Jess pouted. She had the smallest pile of them all.

Sara and Lori, who indeed had the largest piles by far, reached out to each other without looking and bumped fists.

"See, right there," Mike complained. "Ruttin' telepathy or somethin'. Totally unfair."

Dani smirked as she walked by towards the rear stairwell. "Nobody to blame but yerselves that yer gettin' creamed."

She continued down the steps and towards the infirmary. Maribelle was sitting inside with the door cracked open. Dani walked in, closed the door behind her, and leaned up against the bed. "Okay, she's upstairs playin' cards. Figure we got some time."

Maribelle sighed and nodded, turning from the Cortex unit she'd been pouring over non-stop all day. "Alright. Here's what I can tell you so far about Dissociative Identity Disorder."

The blond woman leaned back and crossed her arms, looking contemplatively at the floor. "It's classified as a mental disorder on the dissociative spectrum, characterized by at least two distinct and relatively enduring identities, like this other girl that she says she's talked to, that alternately control a person's behavior. The biggest thing to note is that it's often accompanied by memory impairment for important information not explained by ordinary forgetfulness."

Dani nodded slowly. "The blackouts, the way she can't 'member when she's lost control, or at least she useta not."

"Right," Maribelle sighed. "And this is what really concerns me. They should be separate. It's not uncommon for one personality to be aware of the other and see through the other's eyes, but it is _highly_ unusual for them to be aware of each other, much less talk to each other."

"But she's still Sara, right?" Dani asked, worriedly. "She's not this other girl, Shrike, I think she called her?"

"No, absolutely not," her sister-in-law reassured. "Sara is considered the 'host', as it were. This other one is an alternative personality, or 'alter'."

"And how does it usually happen? I mean, do folks just wake up one day with another person in their head?"

Maribelle shook her head in the negative. "No, it's usually some sort of trauma or stress that causes it. Some theorize that the latent disorder is always present but the trauma just brings it to the forefront. In any case, I'm fairly certain that the events on Shadow are what caused it to fully bloom."

"Alright," Dani said, standing up and pacing slowly with her arms crossed. "So what can we do? You said there's some sorta way to treat it?"

"That's not an easy answer," Maribelle sighed again, turning back to her Cortex terminal and flipping through a few pages. "Common treatment methods include an eclectic mix of psychotherapy techniques, including cognitive behavioral therapy, insight-oriented therapies, dialectical behavioral therapy..."

"Ya lost me, doc," Dani grinned sheepishly. "I'm just not versed enuff in all these medical terms to follow."

"Sorry," Maribelle laughed. "There's two ways, really, to treat. And you can combine them. One is with therapy, and the other with medicine. Like I said, we can work them together. The problem being, I can't help with the psychological end, I'm just not trained in that area. I can find some of the medicine... but nothing has been found to be very effective by itself. Most of it needs to be in conjunction with the therapy." She turned back to face Dani again. "Actually, we're pretty lucky in that regard. If we were still back on Earth-That-Was, there'd be no effective medicine to use. But since we terraformed Greenleaf, there are several medicines that come out of there which can be used for treatment, along with treating other psychological disorders."

Dani stopped pacing and leaned back against the bed, chin resting in her hand. Maribelle waited patiently, as she could almost visualize the wheels spinning in the lanky captain's mind.

Dani glanced up at Maribelle as a thought struck her. "D'ya think Emily could help? She got a degree in Psychology, right?"

Maribelle blinked a few times. "I completely forgot about that. I know our niece graduated already but didn't she join up with the Far Reach?"

Dani grinned at her. "Followin' in her aunt's footsteps. See if ya c'n get ahold of her sometime, okay? An' for the rest... we'll just take it as it comes I s'pose."

"That's not much of a plan," Maribelle said quietly.

"No, it's not," Dani agreed, turning to leave.

"You know she's an adult now, right?" Maribelle asked, stopping Dani in her tracks. "Sara's nineteen now. I just want to make sure, you know. Don't let her small stature fool you into thinking she's still a child."

Dani smiled, unoffended. "I know she's not a child. But she is my _nu'er_ (daughter)." And with that she left the infirmary, closing the door quietly behind her.

"And that doesn't reassure me any," Maribelle sighed to herself, turning back to her Cortex terminal and rubbing her eyes wearily.

* * *

Aphrodite. Murphy protostar. Georgia system.

"Anyone got eyes on the target?" Keith murmured into the comm from where he was stationed by the road, concealed in the trees.

"One, this is Four, I think maybe... yeah, we gots somethin', party on horseback, mebbe four of 'em? Five, you got a better looksee than me?" Sara whispered.

"Where do you... oooh, I got 'em now, nice catch Four," Lori replied from her perch above Sara's position. "Alright, I got an angle on 'em. Yeah, I see four figures, that should be our target. Let 'em get a lil' closer and I can confirm."

"Right, everyone else in position," Keith ordered, as he readied his assault rifle. With any luck, he'd not even need to fire off a shot. He was wearing his cumbersome clamshell body armor all the same. "Ugh, this gorram armor is hot as _diyu_ (hell). I remember them being cooler when I was in the army."

"But you look all intimidatin' and all, _didi_ ," Dani teased back.

"Definitely scary," Jess added. "Gave me goosebumps."

"Oh _wen wo de pigu_ (kiss my ass)," Keith grumbled good-naturedly.

"Okay, One, I can confirm primary target. Others look to be matchin' the descriptions of his buddies," Lori reported. "I can keep eyes on 'em all the way in. Only primary has a bounty, right?"

"You got it, _lian ren_ (sweetheart)," Dani murmured.

Within a few minutes, the sound of hoofs beating against the hot, dusty road came to the ground team's ears. It was muffled somewhat by the sparse trees lining the path. They were dense enough, however, to hide the crewmembers as well as prevent a man on horseback from fleeing into the woods.

As the four horses approached their position, Keith stepped out into the middle of the road, rifle to shoulder and pointed at the lead man.

They reigned in the horses, drawing their guns and pointing them back at him. "Shoulda dropped me, _piyan_ (asshole)," the lead man sneered. He had a swarthy face, pockmarked and unshaven.

"Andrew Laurent, you've been making the people around here pretty miserable. Enough so that they paid us to bring you in," Keith rumbled mildly. "They did specify alive, though."

Laurent laughed. "Well, good for me, bad for you, eh?"

"Not so much," came Jess's voice. The four whirled around to find Dani and Jess standing side-to-side behind them on the road and pointing their long guns at two of Laurent's friends.

"Yeah, they weren't too particular as to yer condition," Dani smirked over the barrel of her shotgun. "Full o' holes an' leakin' blood is still alive, ya know."

"So, I realize you're only an _ang zang de yukai gou shi baotu_ (filthy piece of shit thug)," Keith continued. "But I think even you can appreciate how it'd be better to spend your next few days in a cell rather than in a hospital."

The bandit hesitated for a few beats, and then snarled, " _Ni ta ma de_ (fuck you)," before raising his gun again.

A shot rang out, that of a high-powered rifle, and one of his bandit pals had his head explode. Jess fired off a burst, stitching another bandit with holes, lifting him up in his saddle and then slumping him over. Dani's shotgun also barked and the impact flung the last bandit off his horse to lay on his back, staring sightlessly at the sky.

Keith hadn't moved, just kept his rifle trained on Laurent. "You want to reconsider yet?"

The bandit leader evidently had a change of heart and threw his gun to the ground, arms raised.

* * *

Old Wayne's Bar. Aphrodite.

The ground team had pulled off an easy job and were celebrating at the town's solitary bar. It was pretty crowded as such, but the group managed to find an open table for all of them to fit, though Keith did have to threaten someone in order to grab an extra chair.

"So this didn't pay much," Jess commented, sorting through the bag of coins. "But it did earn us some goodwill and potentially a cargo run. We'll know more in the morning."

"Sounds good to me," Dani drawled, leaning back in her chair. She was looking around curiously. "I s'pose we shoulda gotten our drinks at the bar. I don' see enuff waitresses wanderin' around to snag one."

"Yep, pretty understaffed," Lori commented with a critical eye. "If this's the usual crowd, they shoulda put twice this many on the floor."

"Well," Dani sighed as she got up, "lemme see what they got, mebbe just a pitcher for us, yeah?"

As she got up to leave, she bumped into an obviously drunken man who was weaving his way towards the bar as well. "Oh, sorry 'bout that, _huoban_ (buddy)," she apologized.

"Ruttin' _biao zi_ (bitch), think ya c'n just elbow me like that?" the drunkard growled belligerently.

Dani snickered. "You really wanna get into it, _piyan_ (asshole)?" she sneered. She hadn't been in a decent bar brawl in a while, and if she couldn't get a drink, well, this was the next best thing. Unfortunately, she momentarily forgot who all had accompanied her.

The drunk took a threatening step forward, and suddenly Sara was there, fists balled and standing protectively in front of Dani.

"Oh no," Dani breathed, but before she could react at all, the drunk swatted Sara out of the way and sent her stumbling to the side. Sara crouched down, her hair hanging in front of her face, but Dani could hear her growl even over the din of the crowd.

" _Ai ya, huai le_ (shit on my head)!" she yelled, and lunged for her daughter, grabbing her from behind and wrapping her arms tightly around her. "Keith, get him away, now!"

Dani didn't look to see what happened with the drunk next, but from the sounds of things Keith had quickly disabled the lout and thrown him out of the building. Dani kept her head tucked into Sara's back, as her daughter squirmed and fought to be free, snarling incoherently the whole time.

"Sara! C'mon girl, it's me! Calm down! I've got you, nobody's gonna hurt anyone, okay?" she shouted desperately, and the noise in the bar died down as people started to watch the struggle taking place.

After a few moments of wrestling, and just before Dani was about to finally tell Keith to subdue her, Sara calmed down and went limp in her arms. She heard a clatter and looked down to see her own knife had fallen from Sara's hand onto the floor. _She must've gotten it from me in the struggle_ , she realized, ice washing through her veins. _She didn't use it, though, not on me, even though she could've easily_...

Sara sagged in Dani's arms, and she eased them both to the ground, still holding on to her daughter. She wanted to hear her, to make sure she was herself again before releasing her.

"Oh God... did I hurt anyone?" Sara whispered.

Dani let out a trembling, relieved breath that she didn't realize she'd been holding. "No sweetie, you didn't, it's okay... let's get you home, though, alright?"

Dani spoke briefly with the others and assured them they'd be fine, that they should stay and still enjoy the evening.

"Are you sure, _wo de ai_ (my love)?" Lori murmured in her ear as she hugged her wife.

"Yeah, it's okay, _zhi'ai_ (most beloved)," Dani answered. "I just need some time with her to talk, alright?"

A few minutes later Dani and Sara were strolling together through the town in the direction of the landing field. The place was pretty well deserted, which indicated most of the town's population must have been at the bar.

Sara clung to Dani's hand like a liferaft, obviously still rattled by her recent experience.

"I know it's hard to share," Dani began tentatively, "but do ya wanna talk about it? Like, what happened?"

Sara sighed despondently. "I don' know for sure. She didn't let me see. One minute, I was in front of you, the next you were holdin' on to me on the floor."

"What about the other times?" Dani asked curiously. "She let you see then?"

"Only afterwards, kinda like a vid playin' ya know?" Sara murmured. "I was watching stuff happenin' to me, but it wasn't me doin' the stuff."

Dani sighed. "Alright _baobei_ (treasured one). Look, me an' Maribelle, we've been talkin', and there's some stuff we c'n do to help. There's some meds, but they won' do all that much by themselves. Need to do some therapy."

"Like, talkin' about my feelin's and such?" Sara asked skeptically.

Dani nodded humorously. "I think it's a mite more than that, but yeah, that's the gist of it. We're lookin' at gettin' in touch with Emily, she'd likely know how to deal with this. That okay, you bein' able to talk with someone you know?"

"Yeah," Sara replied slowly, "I think it'd help, knowin' who I was talkin' with..."

She trailed off as she noticed a couple of shadows detaching themselves from the sides of the closed storefronts up ahead. One of them resolved into the figure of the drunk who'd caused the trouble in the bar, and he was leering at both girls.

" _Bun tyen-shung duh ee-dway-ro_ (stupid inbred sack of meat)," Dani growled, starting to pull out her gun. She didn't get far, though, before she was clubbed from behind and collapsed to the ground in a heap, her pistol falling from her limp fingers.

Sara had noticed the second thug behind her also swinging a club but ducked in time to avoid it. Instead, she was hit by the backswing in the shoulder, sending her flying away from Dani's unmoving form. Her comm unit also went sailing off into the darkness.

She huddled against the wall of the building she had ended up at. The four men were chuckling evilly, two with clubs and the other two with knives, and they circled in towards her. _If they get to me, then they'll get_ Kaasan _, I have to protect her..._

The whispers up and down her spine started to turn into growls of rage. Sara knew she had to do something, or both she and Dani were dead. But if she just let Shrike take over, with her _Kaasan_ lying helpless there and within her sight...

Sara closed her eyes for a moment and imagined the smell of death and decay, a sky of hard, unyielding grey, and a landscape of rubble...

* * *

"Alright _biao zi_ (bitch)," Sara shouted irritably, "let's do this."

"My, my, so forceful," a voice giggled, the sound crawling and biting up her skin like fire ants. "I like it."

Shrike sauntered out from behind the ruins of her house, wearing the same dried-blood-colored tattered leathers as before.

"Time don't seem to work normal-like here, right?" Sara asked without preamble, arms crossed. "So's we c'n have this talk, an' there ain't no time passin' outside?"

"Pretty much, but it has its limitations..."

"Then I'll make this quick." Her deadly little Nova pistol materialized in her hand, just like she hoped it would, and she pointed it right between Shrike's eyes. She had thought long and hard about how she would do this, when relaxed and calm, hoping Shrike couldn't tell what she was planning. She'd just hoped to do this in a more controlled situation, not when Dani's life was on the line.

Her plan seemed to be working so far, as Shrike's eyes widened and she took a step back, the first sign of weakness she'd ever seen in her.

"Now, I noticed you don' ever use a gun," Sara continued, keeping her tone as forceful as possible, "but I gots one now pointed at your head, so let's negotiate, okay?"

Shrike smiled slightly, her confidence wavering. "You can't kill me."

"Oh but I think I c'n hurt ya." Sara wore a wicked smile, the mirror of the one she so often saw on Shrike. "I'm guessing it'd make ya go away awhile, or mebbe weaken ya... no idea what, 'xactly. But I know it'd hurt."

Shrike gave a small pout. "I ain't goin' away."

"Don't want ya to. I'm talkin' about sharin'."

Shrike barked out a short, incredulous laugh. "Share?"

"Right," Sara continued, her gun not wavering a millimeter. "You be satisfied with sharin' control with me. I let you play every so often, but on my terms."

Shrike regarded her curiously as if she were examining a specimen on a dissection table. "What do you want?" she asked in a mild voice.

"I wanna protect my family," Sara said, tears brimming in her eyes, and her gun arm dropped to her side. "I wanna fall in love someday, mebbe go on a date like a normal girl. I wanna love and laugh, and I can't do that none if'n _yer ruttin' killin' everyone in sight_." Her voice had raised to an angry shout by the end.

Shrike sighed, the rustling of dried autumn leaves in a graveyard. "I still don' get what's in this fer me. Why shouldn't I jus' take over as I like? You'll slip up again, or someone'll hit ya, an' I'll be let back in, only this time I won' let go..."

Sara took one step forward and raised her gun again to point at Shrike's face. "Get used to this view," she growled. "It's what you'll see at the end. You act like an animal, you get put down like an animal. An' more likely'n not, it'll be someone I love who's holdin' the gun an' that will _tear them apart_. I will _not_ let that happen. I will _DIE_ by my own hand 'fore I let that happen, an' you still lose."

The other part of her considered Sara's words very carefully, from what she could tell. Then, with a slow smile, she tilted her head towards her left shoulder, exposing her neck. Sara realized this was similar to how animals would concede to the authority of an Alpha.

"Alright," Sara breathed out, relieved it had actually worked. She lowered her gun, looking at it thoughtfully. "Still need to name this thing," she mused offhandedly.

"Oh, that's easy, love," Shrike purred, and the sky began to lighten and the edges of the landscape blurred. " _Le Petit Mort_. You know, 'little death'?"

Sara snickered at the old Earth-That-Was euphemism for an orgasm. _Nice. Yeah, that'll do_. She felt herself floating upwards and opened her eyes back in the real world.

* * *

Aphrodite. Murphy protostar. Georgia system.

Sara blinked her eyes open and saw the thugs had only taken another step forward. _Alright, then, let's do this. First up, let's get a weapon._

Pushing off the wall behind her with her feet, she launched herself at the rightmost man holding a knife. Surprised, he took a step back but fortunately didn't raise his knife up to ward her off. Which would have been fine, as Sara still had her underarmor on beneath her tee shirt and it would have stopped a knife thrust.

As she landed on the man she brought one foot down hard on his instep, causing him to howl in pain. Then she brought her right hand up high above her head, thumb extended and directly into his eye socket. It wasn't enough to blind him permanently, but it hurt like hell. He dropped his knife and staggered backwards, clutching his face and falling on his ass.

The other three were just now waking up to the fact that this wasn't a helpless little girl in their midst, but Sara didn't give them time to change mindsets from that of bullies to actual combatants. She scooped up the dropped knife with her right hand and rolled towards the next man in line, slicing neatly across the back of one ankle and severing his Achilles tendon. As he fell backwards, unbalanced and flailing, she sliced upwards into his right arm, just enough of a gash to force him to drop his club.

She continued her motion, spinning around and into the knife-wielding bully who was next closest. He had started to react and thrust his blade forward clumsily. Sara easily deflected it with her blade, but that wasn't quite enough for her. She slid her own blade along and past the crossguard, deep into the fleshy bit between his thumb and forefinger. It made his grip slick and painful, and he dropped the blade immediately. She finished her spin with a kick into his groin, doubling him over in pain.

On the downward direction of the spin, she picked up the second blade with her left hand, and then crouched there in front of the last standing man, who looked back at her incredulously. She gave a dark little giggle.

"Boo."

To his credit, he did consider fleeing, but the second knife-wielder had been the drunken ringleader, and he shouted at him to "get that lil' _chou biaozi_ (stinking whore)." He charged in, club swinging.

Sara ducked under his swing, scraping her blades up against both arms, causing them to bleed painfully but not nicking any major arteries. He stumbled forward to land on his hands and knees as she tumbled past, dropping his club, but she didn't give him the chance to get up. Instead, she jumped on his back with both feet, causing him to land on his chest with a whoosh of air as his breath was knocked out of him. And then she kicked him in the head. Hard. Maybe a few times more than was necessary. But all in all, it was quite cathartic.

She turned to look towards the other assailants. The first two were hobbling off, one holding his eye as well as supporting his partner, who was unable to put weight on one leg. They both left a small trail of blood. It was not, she noted with satisfaction, enough for them to bleed out, assuming they sought out the appropriate medical attention. And if they didn't, well, that was their own gorram fault.

She looked at the original drunk who started the whole evening's mess. He was staggering to his feet, cursing belligerently and balling up his fists. Sara just sighed, walked calmly up to him, and crouched, driving a blade down into each foot.

The drunkard bellowed anew in pain, and fell down onto his knees. Tired of the whole situation, Sara spun around and delivered a kick to his forehead like she'd seen Dani do in the fight with Bud back on Aberdeen. He collapsed onto his side, out cold.

"Huh, that's pretty effective," she commented dryly to herself, and then walked over towards where her comm had landed. It took all of a few seconds to locate and put back in her ear. "One, this is Four. Two is down an' wounded. We're on the path back towards the ship. Please meet us here, an' ask Maribelle too."

"Roger that, Four," Keith came back, his voice controlled but obviously already on the move. "On our way."

She smiled and walked over to sit next to Dani, noting that she didn't seem to be bleeding from her head injury. She rested her hand on her _Kaasan_ 's arm, and closed her eyes briefly, the smells of sickly sweet putrification filling her nostrils.

* * *

"See, nobody killed, all maimed, threat eliminated." Sara smirked triumphantly, arms crossed.

Shrike prowled restlessly back and forth, like a caged animal. "Didn' get to kill no one."

"No, but it takes greater skill to jus' disable. Plus, we gots four grown men now who'll _xiaobian_ (piss) their beds at night when they has nightmares of us."

Shrike stopped and faced Sara. She cocked her head to side, exposing her neck again in submission. Then she straightened and grinned evilly. "I c'n work with this."

"Good," Sara replied mildly. "'Cause it's this or nothin'. I will put you down mysel' before you harm 'nother family member again."

Shrike cocked her head yet again, grin still firmly in place, and melted into the darkness. The last Sara saw was the whites of her teeth before the rest of the landscape blurred, and she felt herself floating familiarly upwards again.

* * *

Aphrodite. Murphy protostar. Georgia system.

Blinking rapidly, Sara tensed at the sound of running feet but then relaxed as she saw the figure of Jess racing towards them. She gave a slight wave, and Jess slowed to a walk, grinning in relief. "One, found them, just keep on down the street." She walked cautiously toward Sara. "Maribelle and Mike are on the way in the Mule, too. You okay, sweetie?"

Sara nodded calmly. "No injuries on me. _Kaasan_ got knocked out from behind, mebbe a concussion? Dunno, but she fell pretty hard."

Keith and Lori arrived then, and the latter immediately moved towards Dani's prone form.

Sara stood up wearily, stretching her back muscles. She went to stand next to Keith, who was eyeing the bodies lying on the ground.

"Both unconscious," she assured him. "I let the other two run away."

"Really?" Keith grunted. He just looked between Sara and the bodies speculatively, and then graced her with a rare smile of approval. "Nicely done, _wai sheng nu_ (niece, sister's daughter). Nicely done."

And Sara felt like her chest could have exploded from the happiness and pride that simple statement caused.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So there's some resolution for Sara. Not fully, as there will still be issues, but she's getting a handle on it. Hopefully, I did justice with DID, keep in mind it's going to be slightly different in the 'Verse as opposed to today (which hopefully I implied with the mention of the Greenleaf meds). Most of my research was from the wiki page.
> 
> Props to Corrosion of Conformity (which is still the most amazing band name I have ever heard of) for the title song, _Clean My Wounds_.
> 
> Stay shiny!


	48. Episode 39: No More Tears

Ariel. White Sun.

Kelly strode down the corridor determinedly. She had spent the last four months since leaving the _Favour_ on many menial tasks, one of which actually set her on a course to meet with her old family again. _Can I still call them that?_ She squashed the thought ruthlessly. There was no room within the Agents for such feelings. She was working for the Company, for the good of all the Alliance. And any other such thoughts... would lead to her downfall.

It had been three months since she saw Dani and Maribelle last, and that meeting had been unfulfilling, to say the least. She'd hoped to at least get through to Keith, the former Alliance special forces trooper, on the necessary duty that compelled her. But somehow she doubted that. _Dani's just too strong a leader, even with all of her non-leadership qualities. They follow her wholeheartedly out of love_...

Again she steered her thoughts from going down that path. Right now, she finally had a major assignment. It had taken four months, but it seemed that the Company trusted her yet again. And, to her delight, she was to serve under Agent Seventeen, another female whom she hadn't had the chance of working with before.

Kelly arrived at the meeting room precisely on time. She took a second to compose herself before knocking firmly. "Enter," said a cold voice.

She walked into the small room and sat at the table across from her new supervisor. Agent Seventeen was a tall, gaunt, and unsmiling woman. Her black hair was tied back in a severe bun, making her seem as if she was permanently startled.

"Thirty," the woman said, nodding.

"Seventeen," Kelly responded politely, also nodding.

Her counterpart opened a manila envelope in front of her, rather than a portable Cortex unit to access the central files of the Company. _That's odd_ , Kelly noted absently.

"I am working on a case involving smugglers," Seventeen started brusquely. "It has been difficult to break into their ring as they are decidedly untrustful." She was looking down at her papers, flipping through them and not meeting Kelly's eyes. Kelly nodded anyway to indicate her understanding.

"How am I to assist?" Kelly inquired.

Seventeen paused at one piece of flimsi, running her finger down a list of figures, nodding slightly, before flipping to the next one. She nodded again, and finally looked up at Kelly.

"I understand you were recently embedded with the crew of a small transport. Firefly class."

 _Oh_ ta ma de _(fuck me blind)._ "That is correct."

"This crew will serve us well. We will coerce them into helping us. We will use your knowledge of their weaknesses to subvert them to our cause, and that will lead us closer to the smugglers."

 _The_ diyu _(hell) you will._ "Certainly. How do you see this unfolding?"

Seventeen quirked her mouth very slightly as if that were the only way she knew how to smile anymore. "This ship, the _Fortune's Favour_ , will serve us as bait. From your past reports, they usually send in a select ground team on their operations, is that correct?"

 _I'd like to see you take on Dani and Keith, Sara alone would kick your_ pigu _(ass)._ "That is correct," she answered with a nod. Part of her was actually amazed she could partition a section of her mind off with her rebellious, traitorous thoughts of familial loyalty, but the rest of her agreed it was just another part she played, another role. Still, this was a difficult and dangerous path she was on right now.

The severe woman across from her looked back down at the flimsi. "Subject Grant, Danielle, Captain, former Independent pilot. Subject Grant, Keith, First Officer, former Alliance special forces." She looked up again. "I have been unable to determine why further efforts were not made to recruit him for the Company after the war."

 _Like Keith would ever be Company material._ Kelly said nothing but sat there with her blue-clad hands clasped in front of her.

Returning her gaze to the flimsi yet again, Seventeen continued. "Subject Grant, Jessica, Cargomaster, former Alliance supply corps. Subject O'Toole, Lorraine, former Independent sniper. Subject Grant, Sara." Seventeen leaned back and clasped her own hands in front of her speculatively. "There has been some discussion about the last subject. Only nineteen years old and yet an impressive number of kills to her name, from your reports and others. Yet you indicated she was not Company material."

 _I will never help you or the Company researchers get their claws into Sara._ "That subject is indeed inappropriate for Company recruitment. She is highly unstable, mentally."

"We have programs for that," the other Agent disagreed.

"I am aware of that," Kelly reproached as mildly as possible. "I took that into consideration, but my months of experience and observation of her indicated such programs would ultimately be unsuccessful and a waste of both credits and resources."

"The Company typically endorses the opinion of the Agent on site," Seventeen commented, which said volumes in and of itself. _Alright, so now we know where we stand. You don't trust me. And I think you're a_ go tsao de biao zi _(dog fucking bitch)._

Kelly sat there without speaking, simply staring unblinkingly at Agent Seventeen. She, in turn, did the same but eventually broke eye contact to pull a separate sheet of flimsi from the folder and passed it across the table.

"Mission parameters, Thirty," she said in the same cold voice. "I have a ship assigned to me, docking bay as noted. We depart at 1800 tonight."

"Are we not logging this on the Company mainframe?" Kelly asked calmly as she stood up. _This is unusual as_ diyu _(hell)_.

"Negative," the woman answered as she rose to her full height, towering above Kelly. "I do not trust the mainframe. I keep all my notes on flimsi or on the ship computer. We will only inform the Company with direct results."

"Very well." _Paranoid_ pigu _(ass). Actually, I might be able to use that._

Kelly turned and exited without further comment, though the flimsi in her hand might have been clenched microscopically more than necessary.

She returned to her quarters to gather what she would need for the operation. She had a few hours still before they lifted, so she sat down to read the flimsi Seventeen had handed her.

And finally allowed that other part of her brain to reintegrate and start to rationalize what she was feeling.

Her blood turned to ice as she read what the _feng li_ (crazy) woman had planned. Kidnap the ground team from the _Favour_. Keep them all hostage except for Dani, send her back to the ship to meet up with the smugglers, convince them to accept her and get close to them. All with the threat of her family members hanging over her head.

It was pure _shen jing bing_ (insanity). It would never work. Dani would never consent to being a patsy, or allow her family to be held hostage. She would move everything in the 'Verse to rescue them first.

And she was positive there would be no convincing Agent Seventeen otherwise. Especially as she considered Kelly to be untrustworthy.

Kelly sat there for all of five minutes as the possibilities circled through her head. Several plans were conceived and rejected just as quickly. Only one had any degree of an acceptable success rate. And, of course, it was the riskiest for her.

But it would allow Dani and the rest a decent chance to escape.

Once her course was set, she did not hesitate further. She finished packing, grabbed her bag, and headed towards the small starport that the Company typically used on Ariel. It was on the lower levels, typical of the berths that Agents used throughout the Core. Owned by a shell company of Blue Sun and occupying the same space as the polite criminal underground of the businessmen who really were the power behind the Alliance.

First, though, she made a quick detour, making sure she was not followed, into a public Cortex terminal.

As she walked, she typed out a quick but detailed message into her handheld unit, encoding it and specifying a circuitous route that it should take before even trying to locate the destination. Kelly had, naturally, memorized the Cortex code for the _Fortune's Favour_ , and specified that as the final point. The text-only message would only decrypt when read on a terminal on that precise ship.

She was in a vacant booth for a mere second or two, enough time to plug a cord from her handheld to the Cortex unit and hit a button on her interface, then disconnect and move on, wiping the complicated subroutine and message completely from her handheld as if it were never there.

It was done. And she prayed it would be enough.

* * *

Beaumonde. Kalidasa.

The warehouse district Seventeen had chosen was close enough to Dev and Mikki's place to be familiar to the _Favour_ crew, and yet far enough away to not arouse the suspicion of the arms dealers. Kelly thought it was actually pretty inspired. When she wasn't being a cold, maniacal, _chou maniao_ (stinking horse piss) specimen of a _biao zi_ (bitch), she could be a very methodical planner. _No, I'm not bitter at all about being assigned to her... And to think I was actually looking forward to this._

Though Kelly could give Seventeen several prime locations around the secluded courtyard where Lori would situate herself, she could not with absolute certainty nail down the spot where she would end up. So the other Agent assigned her the task of neutralizing the _Favour_ 's sniper, wherever she may end up. Kelly had a suspicion that she meant eliminate, as she would not be necessary for the plan, at least in Seventeen's twisted mind. But instead of confirming, Kelly just made sure to pack a tranquilizer dart pistol along with her usual Nova sidearm.

She was winging it at this point. If they hadn't gotten the word, she'd have to break cover and somehow convince Lori to warn them off. If somehow they had... then Kelly or Seventeen could be walking into a trap. Maybe both. Or they wouldn't show at all. There were so many variables to her plan that even her advanced mind struggled to keep up with all of the tangents, secure her lines of exit as well as the options for dealing with her supervisor.

Kelly waited several rooftops over, out of sight and away from any points of ingress to the target zone. She didn't want to be spotted early and waited for her signal to move in.

And all the while her mind was whirling, analyzing, calculating... and regretting.

Eventually, the comm unit in her ear activated. "Thirty, targets en route. ETA one minute."

The two Company Agents had set up remote cameras to detect an approach by the main streets. They didn't have enough to cover all of the rooftops as well, that was Kelly's job.

She activated her unit to respond. "Confirm, Seventeen." And then headed out across the roof. One minute away, Lori would already be in place. Butterflies settled in her stomach as if she were a raw recruit again, which gave her pause. Was she nervous? Anticipatory?

Maybe both?

Shaking her head, she continued. "Keep your head in the game," she murmured to herself.

The first two rooftops she surveyed were empty, but the third had a figure huddled against the parapet, overlooking the rendezvous point.

" _Ai ya, huai le_ (shit on my head)," she whispered to herself. They hadn't gotten word or had blown her message off as a hoax. The latter was highly unlikely considering what she knew of Keith, and the former was only slightly more likely considering the pains she took in her message routing to build in redundancies for the path to the _Favour_. Plus, if it had not been delivered within twenty-four hours, it would have picked another route altogether, riskier and more public, but almost guaranteed to get there.

So why was Lori at one of the most obvious sniper placements?

Kelly readied her tranq gun, creeping closer. Lori remained stationary without moving. And then she stopped, holding her breath, as her examinations took in the weapon Lori was holding.

It was Mike's old scoped hunting rifle. Not the Callahan.

Kelly smirked. _Nicely played._ They had placed a decoy. She hoped it wasn't booby-trapped as well, but just in case she took the rest of her approach in a manner resembling that of a bomb disposal expert. Which, actually, was one of her many talents, though a close second to her hacking skills.

By now the crew would be speaking with Seventeen. The Agent had prepared a conversational routine that should keep them occupied for precisely fifteen minutes, enough time for Kelly to either locate Lori or call the mission off. And as Seventeen was not dressed as an Agent, more like a wealthy merchant, hopefully, it would not raise their suspicions further.

If, that is, they had not already been forewarned.

Once certain the decoy was simply that, a decoy and not a trap, Kelly crept up to see what was transpiring below.

Keith was standing, relaxed, in front of Agent Seventeen, flanked by both Jess and Dani. Unsurprisingly, there was no sign of Sara, though if this were a normal op she would be in the shadows and within earshot, thus within the range of the sonic device.

Kelly sighed. This was it, the point of no return. Already resolved as to her course of action, though, she activated her comm and murmured into it, "Target neutralized."

The next few seconds seemed to happen in slow motion from her vantage point.

The unsmiling, gaunt woman withdrew from her jacket the sonic device and held it in front of her.

And then a shot rang out from the shadows at street level. A hole sprouted in Seventeen's forehead, and she fell backwards limply.

Kelly ducked down behind the parapet again. Sure enough, another flurry of shots rang out, and concrete chips rained down on her head. Smirking, she withdrew a datastick from her jacket pocket and placed it conspicuously on the decoy before sprinting away.

Three rooftops later, she paused for breath. "Getting old, Kelly," she murmured to herself. A decade ago she could have made it twice as far without even a break.

She withdrew her handheld from her jacket and punched in a series of codes. The first detonated an incendiary device Kelly had stashed near Seventeen's physical records in her personal ship's quarters. The second activated an EMP device she had placed next to the ship's computer on the bridge. And the last erased all trace of the subroutines from her handheld, even the online backups.

Shutting down her handheld, she calmly walked back towards the spaceport to find an open Cortex terminal in order to procure alternative transport back to Ariel.

* * *

Ariel. White Sun.

"I appreciate your reporting in person, Agent Thirty. Some details would be inappropriate to discuss over even a secure Cortex link."

Kelly was standing attentively in front of the desk of Agent Three, one of the senior Agents in the Company. He had the typical gauntness of most Agents, but his was extreme enough that even his fitted black suit hung limply across his shoulders. _Looks like the job is getting to him_.

Agent Three was sitting behind his desk, blue-clad hands clasped in front of him. The surface was clear of any clutter save a Cortex screen, keyboard, and a single silver stylus. Aside from the desk and his chair, the sparse office contained no other furniture, no decorations, not even a window.

Kelly stood precisely in the center of the room, one point four meters from the front of his desk. Her posture was rigid and her hands were clasped behind her back.

With her usual compartmentalization, she was easily able to squash down her panicked worry into a small corner of her mind. Meanwhile, the rest raced along frantically to anticipate what he might ask as well as review her story for any holes or possible inconsistencies.

"From your report," Three continued, "I understand that the mission was to recruit a group of suspected smugglers to infiltrate a criminal ring. Yet the target was never identified."

"That is correct," Kelly answered calmly. "Agent Seventeen did not relate to me the specifics of the operation. I can confirm she kept no details on the Company mainframe, instead trusting only in the ship's computer and printed flimsi."

"And why were you not privy to the details of your assignment?" Three asked without inflection.

"I assume it was because she did not trust me," Kelly answered equally.

Three studied her for a few moments. "This is your inference, or did you have concrete details from a conversation with Agent Seventeen?"

"The former, sir," Kelly replied, keeping her face blank. "I also inferred she had a general mistrust of any other Agents, hence the lack of communication with headquarters or mission details on the mainframe."

"I see," Three murmured. "And you had no contact with the crew? Agent Seventeen never mentioned the identities of any of the targets she was meeting with?"

Kelly ticked her eyebrow slightly. It was as close to expressing irritation as was appropriate for an Agent, especially with one as senior as Three. "As I mentioned, sir, I was not privy to the details of the operation. Agent Seventeen never revealed the identity of any of the targets. If I may make an analogy, she seemed to prefer to play her cards close to her chest."

"And your assigned mission objectives?" the unperturbed Agent questioned.

"I was to secure the perimeter," Kelly answered truthfully. "Check for likely sniper spots and neutralize any I came across. I found none."

Agent Three regarded her again silently for a moment before speaking again. "I am interested in the condition of your ship."

It was the question she had been waiting for. Still, it would be best not to appear too glib. "I can only offer hypotheses, sir. It is possible the smugglers were aware of the mission and disabled the ship. That seems to be the most likely explanation. Others include targeted retaliation by other enemies of the Company. Also, this being a Border world, it would be unwise to rule out leftover Independent terrorists if they were to discover either the ships identification or the true ownership of the docking bay we used. And then there are the criminal elements. There are certain arms dealers operating in that area who are very well informed and could have discerned our intentions there and actively thwarted us."

Three leaned back ever so slightly, a small tic emitting from the corner of his mouth. "You have given this considerable thought, Agent Thirty."

Kelly nodded firmly. "I have, Agent Three. I had plenty of available time on the commercial flight back to Ariel. And this part of the mission had perplexed me as well."

The Agent sitting at the desk blinked slowly, and then turned to his terminal, tapping a few keys. "I agree with your assessments, and we have determined to shut down the operation Seventeen was working on. It will be relegated to the archives. The Company appreciates your dedication and service to date. We have a new assignment for you, a solo one here on Ariel, following up on a reported sighting of the Primary Target. I have forwarded certain files to you, and granted access to the last mission details from Agents Nine and Twelve who were terminated nearby."

Kelly paused in her response. Agents seemed to be dropping like flies lately. _Granted, I'm responsible for two of them._ "Am I to assume the investigation of the Primary Target?" That was quite a task for just one Agent, normally that would be more appropriate for a pair of partners.

"Negative, Agents Four and Six are heading that investigation. We require you to ascertain the fate of Agents Nine and Twelve and determine if the Primary Target was responsible or if another player has made a move. You may have relevant experience, as their ship was destroyed and the computer wiped."

Kelly was speechless for a beat, as her brain scrambled to catch up. Did he suspect her story was bogus? In that case why even bother giving her more rope to hang herself? The Company was not known for its patience with internal matters. Or was he assuming that the two incidents might be connected? In any case, blank professionalism was the best face to present, as always.

"I will start immediately, sir, unless you have further instructions."

"Negative," Three said in dismissal. Kelly nodded once, turned on her heel and strode confidently out of the office and towards her quarters.

Ta ma de _(fuck me blind), I think I've gotten away with it._

* * *

 _Fortune's Favour._ Outbound from Beaumonde.

Dani was sitting in her chair with Lori snuggled into her lap, watching the screen in front of her. Keith, standing behind her and to the left, had just inserted the datastick into the unit, after checking as best he could for anything that would be harmful from his own handheld. As he had already watched the beginning of the vid recording, he had asked Maribelle to be on the bridge as well.

When the vid started playing, Maribelle gave a small gasp from over Dani's right shoulder as Kelly' face appeared.

Dani thought with some detachment that Kelly was not looking well at all. She was gaunter, as if she'd been neither eating nor sleeping well, and there were definite bags under her eyes. She seemed to be sitting in a very tiny cabin. Though there were no lights on, the handheld display that she was recording from gave off a little bit of illumination. Her skin looked wan and sickly in the dim light, and she huddled in front of her unit whispering as she made the recording.

"If you're watching this, then you successfully got my warning. Well, that or it all went to _diyu_ (hell) and I'm probably dead. But hopefully, you got away clean. At the least maybe you managed to put Lori somewhere else than usual to overlook the meet."

Kelly paused for a second on the screen, glancing over her shoulder, and then continued to whisper. "I apologize for not saying the message was from me originally, but I had to make sure you would heed it. The Agent leading this op is, well, _feng li_ (crazy). But I'll make sure, one way or another, this doesn't get back to you. Fortunately, she's a paranoid _biao zi_ (bitch) so I can destroy all the records in one place. But please, keep your eyes open in the future. Be careful. I don't..." Kelly's voice trailed off on the screen. She looked down at her blue-clad hands clasped in front of her, her voice becoming barely audible. "I've tried to keep Sara and Rain off of their radar. They've been interested in both, but I've done what I could to make both girls invisible. I'm not sure if I've been as successful with Sara."

Dani's blood ran cold at Kelly's last statement. She had to lean in to hear the recording's words now. "I know you won't believe me, but you're still my family. I'll keep protecting you as best I can, but eventually, my luck will run out."

She looked like she was about to say more, but just shook her head, reached out, and switched off the recorder.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Props to the immortal (likely because he's already one of the undead) Ozzie Osbourne for the title track, _No More Tears_.
> 
> Also, I have noted the term "Primary Target" several times. In case it's not clear, yes I am indeed referring to River Tam.
> 
> The fates of Agents Nine and Twelve are a subtle nod to the continuity of _The Firefly Chronicles_ (TFC) fanfic by **dayzejane**.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed the Kelly badassery! Thanks for reading!
> 
> Stay shiny!


	49. Episode 40: Ballroom Blitz

Inbound to Salisbury. Kalidasa.

Dani was leaning back in her captain's chair with her eyes shut, humming along to a tune playing from her console about someone "beggin' for thread," whatever that meant. It was difficult, sometimes, to decipher what some of the songs meant from ancient Earth-That-Was, so much of the colloquialism was lost to them today. Didn't mean she couldn't still enjoy the music, though.

Her thoughts drifted to the reason for their visit to Salisbury after they had just dropped a cargo off on the neighboring planet of Sho-Je Downs. Sara seemed to be getting a little better on her own, but after some effort, Maribelle had finally gotten ahold of their niece Emily. The Far Reach, an organization of medical professionals who worked mostly out on the Rim and Border planets as a non-profit group, had an outpost this way, and Emily had been embedded with them for six months now after having graduated from University on Ariel. While she'd been getting good experience and feeling quite fulfilled in her career field, she was more than happy to take an extended leave of absence from the Far Reach to travel with the _Fortune's Favour_.

And to do what she could for Sara.

A soft beeping on her console caused her to open her eyes. They were getting close to Salisbury, enough so that she could request a landing clearance. Dani sat up and reached over to switch her music off.

Before she could pick up the comm mike, a voice sounded from directly behind her. "Have a nice nap?"

Dani shrieked and leapt out of her chair, hitting the console with her thigh. That caused her to spin and, flailing her arms, drop down the steps into the avionics bay.

She lay there on her back, blinking up at the starry vista through the viewport. " _Gao yang jong duh goo yang_ (motherless goats of all motherless goats)," she groaned.

Keith's grinning face peered down at her. "Jumpy much?"

"I swear to Buddha I will space yer sorry _pigu_ (ass) at the first chance I get, ya _shee-niou_ (cow sucking)... _go tsao de_ (dog fucking)..."

" _Pigu_?" Keith laughed.

"Yes! _Pigu_!" Dani sat up, rubbing the back of her head where it had hit the deck. "Where's my gun?" she asked querulously.

"Swear to _Ji du_ (Christ), you used to be able to take a joke better than that," Keith smirked, leaning down to help her to her feet.

"Who, me?" Dani smirked back as she regained her footing. Keith's eyes widened, but before he could react Dani used her close proximity to deliver a swift knee to his groin. She left him, doubled over and groaning, as she returned to her seat. "I c'n take a joke jus' fine, _didi_."

Reaching over and taking hold of the comm, she left him with one final comment, smirk still firmly in place. "Really need to stop with the lurkin'."

* * *

Far Reach Outpost. Salisbury. Kalidasa.

Dani, Maribelle, and Julie wandered through the camp on the outskirts of the town of Wiltshire. The dusty tent city was teeming with people, many there to get help and others to do the helping. They had stopped to ask directions several times, but things seemed to be a bit chaotic and disorganized, so much so that they had ended up walking in a full circle, back to where they had entered the maze.

"This is ridiculous," Maribelle snorted. "Every place I worked at with Far Reach was well-organized and indoors. How can they keep things clean? Operate safely on people?"

"We make do with what we can," a cultured voice spoke up from behind the three women. Turning, they saw an elderly dark-skinned man with a close-shaven head of curly white hair, horned-rimmed glasses, and wearing a lab coat.

"My name is Dr. Abraham Butcher, I am the head resident of this outpost," he said, extending his hand towards Maribelle. "You are Mrs. Maribelle Bilkes, correct? Emily mentioned you were arriving today. I used to work with Dr. Julian, he had very nice things to say about you."

Maribelle smiled and shook the proffered hand warmly. "And how is Dr. Julian? Still based on Whitefall?"

"Indeed," he nodded, "and still just as cranky." He offered his hand towards Dani.

Dani smirked as she shook the Far Reach administrator's hand. "Dr. Butcher? Really?"

The man gave a good-natured laugh. "Oh, trust me, I've gotten plenty of ribbing about it. Pun intended. Are you with Mrs. Bilkes here?"

"Oh! Yes, my apologies!" Maribelle blanched, and proceeded to introduce Dani and Julie.

"Ah, Emily's mother! How wonderful!" Dr. Butcher gushed as he pumped Julie's hand. "We all love her very dearly here, she's been a tremendous help with so many of the poor, broken souls that pass through. We're very sorry to see her go, but she's always welcome back within our ranks. We get so very few psychologists in the Far Reach, you see, it's a rare gift to have one assigned to us."

"Can you take us to my daughter?" Julie asked politely.

"Of course!" the man answered, and he led them further into the warren of tents.

"So why all the tents, doc?" Dani asked curiously.

"Well, unfortunately, the building we were using was owned by the town over there," Dr. Butcher explained as he walked. "They decided to raise the rent, more than triple actually, figuring that the Far Reach could afford it. Being a non-profit group, however, our coffers aren't limitless. Rather than leave the planet altogether we set this up as a temporary solution. At least until we can get the Wiltshire town council to see reason." He offered them a smile. "Hopefully, that will be soon."

He stopped outside a tent much like the others and tapped on the flap covering the doorway. "Emily? You have visitors."

"Come on in!" Emily's voice sang out. Maribelle murmured her thanks to Dr. Butcher as the three women entered, only to be immediately swamped with hugs from Dani's enthusiastic niece.

"Mom! Aunt Maribelle! Aunt Dani! Oh, it's so great to see y'all!" Emily gushed, as she flung herself at each in turn. Dani noted that being out on the Rim had done wonders for the young woman, wearing away the softness from University and leaving her harder and leaner. The freckles across her nose and cheeks stood out sharply against her tanned skin, flush with excitement. She was a much different girl than from when she'd seen her last a year ago, except for the indefatigable enthusiasm.

The four women sat around a small circular table that was the only furnishing in the tent, aside from a small camp cot and another folding table serving as a desk, if the mounds of papers were any indication.

"Lookin' good there, _zhi nu_ (niece, brother's daughter)," Dani grinned. "Life on the Rim been treatin' ya well?"

"Well enuff!" Emily grinned back. "Been plenty busy, workin' cases an' all, an' I seem to be helpin' folk a'plenty!" Dani noted with humor that her Border accent, which had smoothed out somewhat during her stint at the University, was now stronger than ever.

"Are you sure it's not a problem, taking time off and coming with us?" Maribelle questioned closely. "We don't want to cause problems, even though Dr. Butcher seemed agreeable."

"None t'all, _gu ma_ (aunt, father's sister)," Emily replied cheerfully. "They all love me 'round here!"

"An' who wouldn't?" Julie smiled fondly.

The conversation drifted around as to her life there in camp, and some of the colorful folk that Emily had been dealing with.

"So, Aunt Dani," Emily finally said, leaning back in her chair. "I need to talk to ya first, 'fore I board and 'fore I start helpin' Sara out."

"Sure, Em, what d'ya need?" Dani asked curiously.

"Need it to be straight that if'n I agree to help her, she's my client. An' that means, whatever we talk about, it's just 'tween the two of us, 'less she concedes. Otherwise, she won' trust me none, an' the therapy we do wouldn't mean a thing, y'know?"

"Alright, I understand Em," Dani nodded. "I jus' want her to get better. You c'n still lemme know, like in general, how she's doin' and how well it's goin', yeah? Jus' not the specifics?"

"Absolutely," Emily grinned.

"Alrighty then, what're we waitin' fer?" Dani said, standing up from the uncomfortable camp chair and stretching. "Ready to fly?"

"You bet!" Her diminutive niece grinned as she rose, walked over to the cot and picked up a large duffel bag. Once she slung it over her shoulder it seemed to dwarf her meter-and-a-half frame, though she carried it with ease.

They walked out of the camp, Emily calling out goodbyes cheerfully to those she passed, though it seemed she had already taken her leave from most of the camp beforehand. They walked together down the path towards the landing fields on the other side of the town.

"It's gonna be nice having you along, sweetie," Julie smiled happily.

Julie's daughter nodded eagerly "And you, _gu ma_!" Emily exclaimed towards Dani, laughing excitedly. "I can't wait to meet yer wife!"

" _Ai ya, huai le_ (shit on my head)!" Dani laughed back, linking her arm with her niece's. "Plumb forgot you ain't met her yet!"

* * *

En route to Shinbone.

Lori moaned softly as she lay on her stomach across their bed, naked and with an also naked Dani perched above her. Dani was digging her fingers into her wife's back, giving her a deep massage after their morning workout and before Dani took over her bridge shift.

"So, you an' Em gettin' along?" Dani asked curiously.

"Mmmhmm," Lori murmured. "C'n tell she's a shrink, though, wit' all the questions she asks. Felt like I was gettin' grilled over dinner last night."

Dani laughed softly. "Just her way of makin' sure about ya. She's been like another _nu'er_ (daughter) fer me, I watched her grow up."

"Well, I like her alot. Gotta 'fectious laugh. Cute, too," Lori yawned contentedly.

"Hey now," Dani snorted, slapping her lightly on her freckled rear. "Don' be makin' eyes at my _zhi nu_ (niece, brother's daughter) none!"

Lori giggled. "Can't help it none if'n she's cute." She turned her head slightly to peer up at Dani. "She don' look much like ya, though, none of yer blood, obviously. An' I still like 'em tall and athletic. Like you."

"Oh really, like me?" Dani snorted, tickling her sides.

Lori laughed, squirming around until she was facing Dani and could pull her down to her. "Yeah, like you." Their lips met in a brief, sweet kiss. "In fact, I'd say there was only you," Lori murmured against her lips.

"Good," Dani murmured back, smiling. "'Cause yer the only for fer me, y'know."

There was a kick against the hatch above them. "Quit your make-out session and take your shift, _jiejie_ ," Keith barked. "I got things to do."

"He gots things to do," Dani grumbled. "More like some _one_ to do, an' I'm about to do some doin' mysel'."

Lori snickered, giving her lover's rear end a squeeze before pushing her off. "Go on, it's yer shift. We'll pick it up later."

Standing, Dani roamed her gaze across Lori's body, the expanse of freckles that filled her with such joy. "Oh I guarantee it," she breathed out lustily.

Lori laughed and made shooing motions at her. "Go on, _bang jiar_ (lover), you don' git I'll lose my resolve."

"Yer no fun, _lian ren_ (sweetheart)," Dani pouted as she pulled her clothes on.

"Don' worry none, I won' just lay about naked waitin' on yer return," Lori snickered again. "I'll get dressed an' join ya in a few."

"What's keepin' ya?" Dani asked curiously, one foot on her ladder.

"Ya got me all worked up, that's what's keepin' me," Lori smiled wickedly.

"Oh you... unfair, totally ruttin' unfair," Dani grumbled as she climbed up, Lori's laughter chasing her up towards the bridge.

The lanky captain stomped over towards her chair and dropped into it with a huff. Glaring over at her brother, she muttered, " _Si pi yan_ (damned asshole)."

Keith quirked his eyebrows. "I didn't even do anything this time!" he protested.

"What a load of _pi hua_ (shit, nonsense)," Dani grumbled. " _Qu si_ (go die / go to hell)."

" _Shenme ta ma de_ (what the fuck)?" Keith exclaimed, then raised his hands and stood up. "Know what, never mind, I'll let you be a grumpy _biao zi_ (bitch) on your own."

"I ain't grumpy!" Dani yelled at his back as he exited the bridge.

She turned towards her console, punching buttons irritably until her usual morning routine was complete. Satisfied her ship was running well, she flicked on her playlist and selected something to soothe her. Smiling, she let the music about a girl with a map of the world on her face play as she pulled up the details of their current job for review. The song always reminded her of Lori, and she liked to play it often before her red-headed lover had boarded the _Favour_ permanently.

Her previous irritability passed, forgotten, as she engrossed herself in the notes they had assembled. Their client was the newly-formed Worker's Union on the first moon of Paquin, called Shinbone. Seemed their tyrannical governor was dragging his expensively-clad feet towards the negotiating table for worker rights on the planet. He held all the cards, as it were, even with all the workers united. He could afford to stop the factories for a few days while the workers starved, and eventually the workers would be forced to cave. They weren't a violent bunch, and so preferred to work things out rather than resort to a revolution.

The crew of the _Fortune's Favour_ was hired as a last resort before said violence was the only option left.

Dani and her crew had been asked to kidnap the trophy wife of the governor, just temporarily, in order to get him to comply with their demands to talk. Not even to force better terms, really, just to bring him to the table. Which, she supposed, was a noble intention, even if the methods were suspect. The union had exhausted all other avenues, though. This was their last shot before armed insurrection broke out.

Dani sighed, leaning back and interlacing her fingers behind her head.

"Now there's the sound of heavy thinkin'," her wife jested as she walked in and sat in the pilot's seat, tucking her freckled legs under her. She was barefoot and wearing one of her usual short dresses, this one a dark blue.

"Feelin' better?" Dani snarked without rancor.

"Much," Lori said primly, then smiled. "Would it help any if'n I said I was thinkin' 'bout you the whole time?"

Dani sighed. "No, 'cause then ya just start gettin' me all worked up again." Lori giggled in response. "Anyways, remind me to apologize to Keith fer bitin' his head off. Might've been a tad irritable earlier."

"You? No!" Lori said in mock astonishment. "Perish the thought!"

"I c'n still find all yer ticklish spots," Dani deadpanned.

Lori just smiled back at her. "An' we'll discuss that later, beautiful. In detail."

They sat in contented silence for a while, Dani looking at the details for the Shinbone op that Keith had pieced together, and Lori staring out the front viewport.

"C'n I ask ya somethin'?" Lori murmured quietly, glancing her way.

"Sure, _zhi'ai_ (most beloved), anythin', you know that," Dani smiled, turning in her seat to face her wife.

"Does Em look like her?"

Dani sighed, leaning back in her chair and crossing her legs. "Change her hair from dirty blond to brown, add a couple o' centimeters, an' yeah, she's the spittin' image of Beth."

Lori gave a noncommittal hum and looked back out the viewport.

"Hey, whatcha thinkin' about?" Dani asked, leaning forward, elbows on knees.

"I was just wonderin'," Lori answered softly. "She _is_ really pretty, y'know. I jus'... havin' her here on board, does it make you think of her, like, more often?"

"Hey now," Dani murmured as she stood up. She sat on Lori's lap, which was something she rarely ever did. Lori wrapped her arms around her lover's waist, peering up into her eyes. Dani had to bend over to place her nose against Lori's freckled one. Bright green eyes met with warm light brown ones.

"You know I'll never forget her," Dani began quietly. "She was a part of my life some time ago, but a big part, an' I have her to thank fer two of my wonderful children. But she's gone now, I'm done mournin', an' I moved on."

Dani brought up her right hand to caress the cheek of her _zhi yin_ (soulmate). "Yer not a replacement. Yer an entirely dif'rent person, an' I love you with all my heart an' soul, okay? I see Beth when I look at Em, sure. But I do when I look at Rain or Cali, as well. Also Mike an' Maribelle. She was part of this family, bringin' us together, an' her blood flows in them. Don' make me sad none no more, I just smile at the memories. But you, _baobei_ (treasured one), you are my wife right here, right now, an' I will never take you fer granted. I love you."

Lori's tear-filled eyes were wide and staring. "Wow," she sighed and then hitched a breath. "That's the most I ever done heard you, well, talk about yer feelin's and such."

Dani smiled and kissed her gently. "Yer the only one I ever been able to talk with like that, _lian ren_ (sweetheart)."

Lori laughed happily, swiping her hand across her eyes. "I love you too, beautiful."

* * *

Shinbone, first moon of Paquin. Heinlein star. Red Sun.

The planet of Paquin and it's second moon, Clawthorn, had abundant vegetation and teeming wildlife. Unfortunately, terraforming didn't really take on Shinbone. It was a desolate and barren waste where people scrounged out a living as best they could, usually in the few factories that existed. Mostly there were those who had little, but at the top of the food chain, like the governor, there were extravagant lifestyles.

One of the most obvious representations of this latter fact were the fancy balls and parties that Governor Warren Buchanan liked to host. He would bring in celebrities and politicians from the surrounding worlds, even some from out-system, to attend. Often there were live bands, sometimes a rendition of old Earth-That-Was music. Once he even assembled an operatic troupe to entertain his guests.

Tonight was another of those nights, though the governor himself was more pleased than he had been in some time to score his latest guest. He waited impatiently at the foot of the stairs while the herald announced each guest's entrance, many who were regular sycophants, nodding to them in a friendly yet impatient manner.

Finally, his anticipated guests arrived.

The herald, a barrel-chested man with a loud, sonorous bass voice, announced, "Sergeant Major Keith Grant, retired, and his wife, Jessica Grant."

The retired special forces legend struck an imposing sight in his trim tuxedo. It did nothing to conceal his powerful figure as he strode confidently down the stairs, his piercing bright green eyes searching out the entire room in one sweep. No less imposing, however, was his wife, who rested her hand on his arm. She was slim and beautiful, her Asian features exotically magnetizing as she smiled towards the governor. Her long black hair was coiled into an intricate braid and hung down over her left shoulder. She wore a shimmering purple sheath, clinging to her torso in every way possible and leaving very little to the imagination.

The pair together were breathtaking, and every eye was focused on their entrance. Governor Buchanan, in his blue Core-tailored suit, felt rather inadequate. He was instantly set at ease though as the charming Mrs. Grant lightly clasped his fingers. "Governor, such a pleasure to finally meet with you. My husband and I were overjoyed to receive your invitation."

"Oh, the pleasure is all mine, I assure you," he said with as much debonair self-depreciation as possible. "I am so pleased you were able to attend!"

"We'd heard of your parties last we were on Sihnon," the retired Sergeant Major rumbled in a quiet baritone, smiling as he shook the governor's hand. "I understand you're a bit of a scholar on the subject of the Unification War?"

"Indeed!" the governor exulted, puffing up his chest. "I would love to discuss some of the things you were involved in if that were possible!"

"Of course," the large man smiled genially, "Let us mingle for a bit, and find some refreshment, but I'll catch up with you later. Tell you what I can, at least what's been declassified."

"Yes, yes, wonderful," Buchanan gave him a sly wink. "Please, do enjoy the party. The band is here from Persephone, quite the upcoming sensation, I assure you!"

The couple said their thanks and moved off to circulate.

"This is One, we're in," Keith murmured.

"Hey, I heard there's ice on St. Alban's, too," Lori snarked back.

"An' ya know, smog on Beaumonde," Sara giggled.

"Seriously guys," Dani laughed quietly. "Nobody missed an entrance like that, I hadda poke my head out at the commotion. Y'all are rockin' that shit, as Dev would say."

Keith barked a laugh, covering it up by pretending it was something Jess had said.

"How's my dress look?" Jess murmured as she snagged a glass of champagne from a passing server.

"You gots the eyes of every male on that tight ass of yers," Lori laughed. "Some females, too, an' not all outta jealousy. Hell, I think some of 'em are married."

"Oh yeah," Jess smirked. "Still got it."

"Gorram right you do," Keith grunted. "Everyone in position?"

"Ready an' waitin'," Dani confirmed.

"I'll need a few tics advance notice, but yeah," Lori replied.

"Got my eyes on target," Sara murmured excitedly.

"Alright then, let's do this," Keith said determinedly. He grabbed a champagne glass of his own and headed over to the governor, while Jess made a beeline towards the Governess.

Mrs. Elizabeth Buchanan was significantly younger than her husband, perhaps right around Jess's age, though she held herself with grace and elegance. She had long dark brown hair, coiled in ringlets down her back. Her dress was of the latest Core fashion, a pale yellow and dripping with sashes of a slightly darker shade. She was standing with a few older women who seemed to be clinging to every word she said.

Jess glided up and gave a small curtsy. "Governess Buchanan, a pleasure to meet you."

The Governess smiled widely. "You are Jessica Grant, yes? I am so glad you came over to speak with me."

"Of course, Governess, and please, call me Jess."

"Certainly, and you will do the pleasure of calling me Liz," she smiled in response, linking her arm with Jess's. "Do you have a minute to speak with me?"

"Of course!" Jess laughed lightly. "My husband is regaling yours with war stories. They just might take all evening."

Liz rolled her eyes as they moved away from the disappointed group of hanger-ons. "Well they might, Warren does so like his war stories." She lowered her voice to a conspiratorial whisper. "And thank you so much for rescuing me from those horrid women. If I had any real power around here I'd ditch them in an instant."

Jess chuckled at Liz's confession but then was bumped from behind by a small girl with brown curls in her hair.

"Oh no, I'm so sorry!" the girl exclaimed.

Jess was caught off-balance, teetering on her heels, and would have fallen were it not for Liz's grasp on her arm. Unfortunately, it sent the Governess sideways into one of the servers who had a single glass of wine remaining on her tray. Naturally, it spilled down the front of Liz's dress.

"Oh, no!" the server gasped, horrification spreading across her freckled face, which was blushing as bright as her short red hair. "Governess, I am so sorry..."

Liz looked around frantically. "Warren can't see," she wailed quietly. "He'll pitch such a fit, and then be embarrassed later, and... No, I have to change, quickly."

"Let me help you, Liz," Jess said firmly. "Here, you walk in front of us, closely, and shield the stain," she indicated to the server. "And you, little girl, please go ahead and open the door for us."

"Oh, thank you so much, dear, you're a life-saver!" Liz gushed, as the group moved out in close formation.

"Nonsense, Liz, this was my fault for being so clumsy. We'll get you ready in no time. Will this entrance take you upstairs?"

"Yes, eventually. We have to go through the storage room, should be deserted, and then there's a door to an upstairs staircase... I can summon one of my ladies-in-waiting from my room."

The small girl had gotten to the door and opened it wide, holding it for them. The server went in first, then Liz, and finally Jess. As Liz passed the girl she felt a small prick on her arm.

"What was..." Liz started to slur, suddenly having trouble walking.

"It's okay Liz, I've got you," Jess murmured, supporting her from behind.

Liz had enough time to see a tall and lanky female laborer in the storage room, unloading a hovertruck which had pulled up to the exterior door. And then the room swam around her, and she passed out.

"One, target is secure," Jess murmured as Sara closed the door behind them. Lori stood to one side, stripping off her server uniform and replacing it with a worker's uniform matching the one Dani was wearing. Sara remained by the door, peering through the crack to make sure nobody had noticed.

"Roger that, Three, no commotion," Keith murmured. It echoed slightly, so they assumed he was talking into his glass.

"This is Four, confirmed, no reaction yet," Sara whispered.

Between Lori, Dani, and Jess, they managed to roll Liz into a rug that was propped up against the wall and then carried her gently into the back of the truck. Sara ran over with Lori's discarded server uniform in hand and entered the back as well, hunkering down behind some empty crates, while Dani and Lori closed the door of the truck. Within a few seconds, the loading bay door was shut, the hovertruck was moving off, and Jess was heading back into the party.

"One, we're en route, just passed the gates," Dani reported.

"Three?" Keith murmured.

Jess walked up to him, slipping her arm through his. "Hi sweetie," she purred. "Having fun?"

Buchanan smiled at her, slightly star-struck by his conversations with Keith, and maybe just a little bit dazzled by the wattage of the smile Jess turned towards him.

The evening wore on, Keith sticking by Buchanan like a lawyer on an accident victim. Jess switched between entertaining the two men and strolling around the room, generally picking up the hostess duties and making sure everyone was having a good time. There were a few questions posed as to the whereabouts of the Governess, but all Jess could relate was that she overheard another guest saying she was indisposed. Eventually, the rumor circulated back to her that Liz had become drunk again and Buchanan had ordered her to her room to sleep it off. Jess smiled to herself. "One, time to wind it down."

"Agreed, it's late enough," Keith whispered back.

"Two, everyone settled?" Jess murmured into her glass of champagne. It was only her second one of the evening. One of the things she had mastered long ago was the nursing of a drink so it seemed she was always drinking.

"Affirmative, Three," Dani reported. Jess walked towards her husband again, weaving a little bit.

"I must apologize, but I'm feeling a little bit dizzy," Jess confessed with a slight pout. "Would you let me steal my husband back for a few minutes so that we might stroll around the grounds a bit? In fact, it might be best if we called it a night, husband."

"Of course, my dear!" Buchanan smiled grandly. "I do apologize for monopolizing your husband here so much. Perhaps we can meet up again this week?"

"That would be excellent," Keith rumbled genially and placed Jess's arm in his. They said their goodbyes and strolled out the front door with several other guests who were also leaving for the evening.

The couple got into their rental hovercar and headed out across town to the small safehouse the Union had reserved for them.

* * *

Undisclosed location. Shinbone. Red Sun.

Liz opened her eyes blearily. She had been changed into a comfortable set of exercise clothes and was resting in a bed. She sat up, confused.

"Oh, hi! Yer awake!"

The cheery voice had piped up from the corner of the room where a small girl was sitting cross-legged, drawing in a sketchbook. She closed the book and tucked it away in a large rucksack, along with her pencils, and stood up, yawning.

"Can't tell ya my name none, sorry. But c'n I get ya anythin'? Thirsty, hungry?"

The small girl looked familiar somehow. "Wait, I know you," Liz said softly, still shaking off the effects of whatever had hit her before. "You were at the party."

"Yep!" the girl giggled. "Sorry to say, we kidnapped ya. Oh, but don' worry none," she hastened to reassure her. "We're not gonna hurt ya or nothin', this's just to get yer hubby to the negotiatin' table, an' we're gonna let ya go soon enuff after that happens."

"Oh, no," Liz exclaimed frantically, "please you have to let me go!"

"Sorry, ma'am, no can do. We hafta keep ya here."

"You don't understand," Liz wailed, "this is my big chance! I can get away, escape off-world!"

The little girl just blinked at her uncertainly. She opened and closed her mouth a few times in perplexion. "Okay, I gots no idea what ta do here. Lemme talk to some folk, okay?"

"Please, please do!" Liz implored. "Oh, and if you don't mind, I am a little thirsty. And hungry, too."

"Sure thing!" the girl chirped and then held her hand to her ear. "One, this is Four," she started saying. "Liz's awake, she's hungry an' thirsty. An' there's a... well, a complication."

She paused for a second. "Well, she don' wanna go back to 'im." The girl winced a bit at whatever the reply was. "I dunno? She jus' don'!"

She was quiet for a few more seconds and smiled apologetically at Liz. "This might take a few tics," she whispered.

Liz nodded, almost fearful that she'd miss this opportunity.

"Oh, but-" the girl started, and then stopped as if interrupted. " _Tai-kong suo-yo duh shing-chiou sai-jin wuh duh pee-goo_ (shove all the planets in the universe up my ass)," she growled then, which made Liz blink in surprise. That wasn't the kind of language she'd expected from an adolescent girl. Nor did she expect her to be involved in a kidnapping. No matter, though, if she could assist her, she'd take any help she could get.

"Well, he c'n just _gun hoe-tze bee dio-se_ (have a shit-throwing contest with a monkey)," she grumbled. "Jus' cause he's the client don' mean we gotta do everythin' he sez."

She tapped her foot irritably, still listening. "Look, _Kaasan_ , I'm gonna bring her out." Pause. "Yeah, I am, we need to talk to her." Another pause. "Am too." Yet another pause, this one longer. She opened her mouth several times to speak but kept closing it again. Whatever argument was going on the other end, it was getting quite heated.

Suddenly the girl stood up straight, arms to her side, and yelled, " _Ni men dou bi zui_ (Everybody shut the hell up)!"

The girl, Four, smiled then. "I'm bringin' her out. You gotta talk to her. 'Kay?"

She nodded to herself then and tapped the comm unit in her ear. Smiling at Liz, she said, "Family, what'rya gonna do, right?"

Liz just nodded numbly and followed the girl to the door which she opened, leading out into a hallway. They walked down a flight of steps to another door. The girl opened it and ushered Liz inside.

She looked uncertainly around the room, recognizing most of them. There was the redheaded serving girl, the tall and lanky laborer, and...

"Jess?" she whispered. "You were in on this?"

"I'm afraid so," Jess smiled apologetically from her armchair. Her husband Keith stood behind her with his arms crossed, glowering at the only other man who sat in the room. Liz recognized him as one of the leaders of the newly-formed worker's union, a Mr. Sims she believed. He was a short, bristly man, but well-loved by the workers.

"Well, might as well go with the introductions," the dark-haired lanky woman sighed. "Since y'already know Jess and Keith, no use concealin' the rest of us. I'm Dani Grant, Capt'n of the _Fortune's Favour_."

Liz nodded, staring into the bright green eyes, and then glancing at the towering Keith. "He's your brother?" she asked, indicating the man standing.

"Yep," Dani smiled. "An' the gorgeous redhead there, she's Lori, my wife." Dani said it with a little bit of pride which made Liz think they were still newlyweds.

"An' then the dramatic one that brought you down, she's my _nu'er_ (daughter), Sara."

"Not bein' dramatic, jus' tryin' ta make y'all see reason," Sara grumbled. She was standing next to Mr. Sims and flipping a butterfly knife idly. The man on the couch started to ease himself away, eyeing the twirling blade warily.

"Sara, sweetie," Dani said softly, eyebrow raised.

"Hmm? Oh, right, sorry _Kaasan_ ," Sara murmured. She folded the knife up and tossed it over nonchalantly to Dani, who tucked it into a pocket.

"Look, this don't make a lick of difference," Mr. Sims said, jumping up and crossing his arms. "We're not runnin' a charity. Alls we want is Buchanan to sit down with us an' talk. We do that, we give her back to him."

"No, please," Liz implored, stepping forward and wringing her hands. "I've been trying to get away from Warren for years. He's got a terrible temper, he seems very nice and friendly but I'm just another trophy to him, a prize he won to be displayed! My parents arranged this marriage, I wanted nothing to do with it!" Her voice dropped down to a desperate whisper. "Isn't there any way you can just help me off the planet? That's all I ask, just help me disappear..."

Dani looked at her intently. "What didya do, 'fore marryin' Warren?"

"I was a waitress on Londinium," she explained solemnly, her long brown curls hanging forward. "Upscale restaurant called The Golden Bee. Warren came in one day when he was visiting, saw me and found out all about me. Did some courting of me, seemed nice enough... but then he talked to my parents, we weren't very well-off, and he gave them an honest-to-Buddha dowry." Liz looked around earnestly. "Folk just don't do that nowadays, not on Londinium, and not for lower-class folk like us! So they said yes, and I ended up here..." Her voice trailed off to a whisper.

Dani looked around at the others in the room. Both Lori and Jess gave her firm nods.

"Y'know how I feel," Sara grinned.

" _Didi_?" Dani asked quietly, looking at Keith.

The big man sighed. "Yeah, I'll back you _jiejie_ , you know I always will."

Dani smiled gratefully at him and then turned to the other man in the room. "Mr. Sims, I will guarantee that the Governor will return to the negotian' table, an' he'll get his wife back afterwards."

Liz's spirits sunk low in direct opposition to the happiness on Mr. Sims's face.

"Now, willya 'xcuse us please?" Dani asked politely.

"Of course, yes, I have to go get with the others, we're contactin' Governor Buchanan within the hour," he said happily as he practically bounced out of the room.

Dani turned back to Liz after Sims shut the door. "Now, sweetie, here's what we're gonna do..."

* * *

Buchanan's Mansion. Shinbone. Red Sun.

The ball that night, held a week after the last one, was a celebration of sorts, as well as a means to assure everyone that Governor Buchanan was still a man of power on the planet. The former was due to his wife being returned, unharmed. And the latter was a result of the numerous concessions he had to finally make once forced to speak with the Worker's Union.

Governor Buchanan paced the hall, preoccupied. He still hadn't been able to figure out how the kidnappers had gotten his wife away from him. He was furious with Liz at first but calmed down once she was returned. She wasn't at fault, and she came back to him willingly. He was a magnanimous person and willing to forgive her for making him look weak and providing leverage over him with the workers. She was back now, that was all that mattered, his precious image restored.

His ears perked up as he caught the name Grant from the herald. Smiling, he headed back over towards the entrance, grabbing hold of his wife's arm none-too-gently. "Come, dear, remember to stay close to me this time," he gritted out through his smile.

Liz walked along obediently. She wore a light blue dress tonight, and her hair was back in a simple ponytail.

Buchanan smiled widely in greeting as he let go of Liz's arm. "Sergeant Major, Mrs. Grant, how nice of you to join us again!"

"It's a pleasure once again, Governor," Jess smiled warmly. Tonight her dress was just as sheer and revealing, but in a peacock blue that dazzled Buchanan's eyes when the lights off of his floating chandelier hit it.

"Governor," Keith nodded, shaking the man's hand warmly. "I have a special treat for you tonight."

"Oh?" Buchanan's eyes widened, and he leaned in when Keith did.

"I talked some with my former commanders," Keith whispered conspiratorially. "And they agreed to declassify some items. But only for you, because you're such an avid historian. If we can find someplace private to talk for maybe an hour or so...?"

The man practically hopped up and down like a giddy schoolboy. "Oh, how marvelous! Yes, I know just the place, my study is right this way..." He trailed off as he glanced at his wife, loathe to let her out of his sight again.

"Don't mind us, boys," Jess smiled, taking Liz's arm in her own. "We'll just be out here chatting and circulating with the crowd."

"Really, Warren, I'll be fine," Liz smiled reassuringly.

Buchanan nodded and hastened off with Keith towards his private study.

"Not too fond of that dress, are you?" Jess murmured, eyeing the approaching Lori.

"God, no, I hate this color," Liz replied smiling, seeing a small girl with brown curls out of the corner of her eye, circling in behind them.

"Well," Jess smirked, "say goodbye to that dress in three... two... one..."

Three hours later, all of the crew was back aboard the _Favour_ , along with a new passenger who was on her way to start a new career as a waitress at O'Toole's Pub on Aberdeen.

* * *

En route to Aberdeen. Kalidasa.

Dani knocked softly on Sara's bunk door. She waited for her daughter to answer before opening it and hopping down the ladder. She saw that Sara was seated cross-legged on her bed drawing intently in a sketch book.

"Where'd you get that, _nu'er_ (daughter)?" the lanky captain asked.

"Rain had it," Sara answered, looking up and smiling. "She didn' use it much anymore, not since she was much younger. Said I could have it along with a pencil set."

Dani nodded as she walked over to perch on the edge of her bed. "You mind if'n I take a peek?"

Sara shrugged but smiled. "I'm not all that good at it, really. But Em sez it helps me some, to relax an' express mysel', and stuff."

Dani looked down at the picture Sara was working on. She could easily tell it was the galley. The entire crew was seated around the dinner table, including Emily in her seat next to Maribelle on the end. Everyone was laughing and having a good time, a perfect reflection of her favorite time of day. "I think it's beautiful, sweetie," she murmured, impressed. "So yer time with Em, doin' well for ya so far?"

Sara nodded. "Yeah, it is. I'm already gettin' better at dealin' with it all, gettin' a better handle on myself, who I am, y'know?"

Dani smiled and nodded back. Then she leaned over, planting a kiss on her forehead. "Alright _baobei_ (treasured one), I'll see you later. Love you."

Sara smiled softly. "Love you too, _Kaasan_."

After Dani left, Sara turned back a page to the other piece she was working on before the knock on her hatch. It was a large skull superimposed over a girl, head down so her features were obscured by the hair draped across her face. She had shivs in her extended arms, out to the sides, and they were dripping blood.

She was kneeling on a pile of corpses.

Sara started working on another corpse, wanting to get the detail on the wounds right.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cred to the original singers of the cover title, _Ballroom Blitz_ , goes to the British rock band, The Sweet. Though, to my chagrin, the copy in my playlist was performed by Tia Carrere for the _Wayne's World_ soundtrack. Stop laughing at me.
> 
> Music list includes _Beggin' For Thread_ by Banks and _Suddenly I See_ by KT Turnstall.
> 
> Many many thanks to my awesome Betas, including **Silvana_Crowe** , KellyConelly, and **CaliopeGrant** , you guys rock.
> 
> Stay shiny!


	50. Episode 41: Tourniquet

Primal Scream Club. Londinium. White Sun.

The dance club was a throbbing, gyrating mass of humanity, young and scantily-clad bodies thrust up together and jostling each other in a frenzy of motion.

For someone of Kelly Connely's height, just barely over a meter and a quarter, it was pure hell.

She couldn't count the number of times she had an ass or crotch thrust in her face. It was difficult enough to keep track of her target without the added distraction of dodging body parts. _Of course, the_ nao huo cuo huai dan _(annoying little bastard) would pick a club to evade into_. But this was what she did, track down enemies of the Alliance and the Company. And she was _not_ letting this _piyan_ (asshole) get away from her.

As she made her way across the floor, she reflected that Dani would have loved it. They exclusively played old Earth-That-Was tunes with a pulsing beat. It seemed to be the trendy new thing on Londinium nowadays. That, and hyping up on the designer drug White Sand beforehand to intensify the experience.

The drug dealer she was pursuing would normally be beneath the Company's notice, except that he was pushing bad product on unsuspecting teens, one of whom had been a Company exec's daughter. Had been, before she overdosed in a horrific manner.

Kelly paused in her pursuit as her ears registered the current music. It was hauntingly familiar...

_I got a certain little girl she's on my mind  
_ _No doubt about it she looks so fine  
_ _She's the best girl that I ever had  
_ _Sometimes she's gonna make me feel so bad_

Kelly was taken back to one evening, maybe nine months ago, sitting on the bridge with Dani. They had just finished dinner, and the younger girls had escaped to watch a vid while Maribelle was reading a bedtime story to her boys. She and Dani had sat there for awhile, listening to this song and laughing about mundane things...

" _I'm so happy you came along with us, Kelly," Dani murmured, smiling. "We've missed the_ diyu _(hell) outta you, the girls and I."  
_ " _I'm glad to be here too, sweetie," Kelly smiled back. "It's good to be part of the family again."  
_ "Bi zui _(shut up)," Dani laughed. "Yer always part of our family, girl. Even when yer not here, yer part of the family. Nothin' in the 'Verse is gonna change that..."_

Kelly shook herself out of her reverie. _No time for that_. She saw the flash of a neon blue jacket up ahead and dove through the crowd.

 _Gotcha_. He was hunched over, trying to use a public Wave terminal, but his card had been canceled by Company operatives already. He was frantically trying it again anyways.

Kelly slipped by him in a fraction of a second and was gone again. The pusher stood there for a moment, and then dropped the receiver, blood dripping from his nose. He staggered forward into the wall and then slumped against it, leaving a bright red trail down towards the floor.

 _Another junkie OD'd, nothing to worry about_ , Kelly thought grimly to herself. She exited the building, trying vainly to block the lyrics from the song playing behind her.

_Hush, hush  
_ _I thought I heard her calling my name now  
_ _Hush, hush  
_ _She broke my heart but I love her just the same now_

* * *

Ariel. White Sun.

Kelly walked towards the conference room with giddy anticipation. Having closed out the case satisfactorily on Londinium, she was to be assigned to the Primary Target investigation. This was the big time, finally. The escaped woman, who amounted to a psychic assassin, had evaded them for quite some time. Who knew for sure the extent of the damage she was causing, loose among the population of the 'Verse? She was dangerous, far too dangerous for the Alliance military to handle ( _Like they would know how to handle this delicate a situation_ , she scoffed to herself), and the brunt of the Company's assets were beginning to be brought to the forefront.

After the disastrous failure of Agents Nine and Twelve, another pair of Agents, Four and Six, had headed up the investigation. While they pursued leads, the Company had planned a trap to hopefully lure the Primary Target out of hiding. Agent Eleven was lead, and they also requested that Agent Thirty, Kelly, join him.

Arriving at the conference room precisely on time, Kelly knocked on the door firmly. "Enter," a voice called.

Kelly walked in, closing the door behind her, and sat across the table from Agent Eleven. She'd worked with him on a few assignments in the past, but it had been a number of years since she'd seen him. She noted that he had not aged well at all. She'd previously assumed he was slightly younger than herself, but either she was mistaken in that assessment or he had aged greatly on the job.

Eleven sat across from her, his blue-clad hands folded in front of him. The first thing she noted was that his bright blue eyes had lost none of their intensity. His sharply pressed suit hung loosely on his frame, and his skin seemed stretched across his skull. He was completely bald, whereas years ago he had sported a tuft of black hair on top of his angular head.

Appearances aside, Kelly knew Eleven was efficient and ruthless, a man who left no stone unturned. He was, however, a firm believer in the Company, and felt they could do no wrong.

In short, the perfect Agent.

"Thirty," he intoned in a sonorous voice at odds with his withered appearance.

"Eleven," she greeted him politely.

"We have an opportunity," he started, turning the Cortex unit on the table around so that she might see. "The Company has set the bait, and we are to close the trap."

"Excellent," Kelly murmured, peering at the screen. "They believe she is on a Firefly transport, then? Those are fairly common."

"This is true," Eleven nodded. "But they have narrowed it down. We are not privy to the details."

"Very well," Kelly leaned back as a few questions whirled about her brain. _Does the Company still suspect me? Do they suspect Eleven of something? Maybe the both of us, and this is a test? Or perhaps a set-up?_ She shuffled the paranoid musings off to another compartment of her brain so that she might concentrate on the briefing. _It's not paranoia if they're really out to get you_ , a little voice whispered. She sent it to the same destination without flinching.

"Have we determined our role?" Kelly asked, looking back up.

"Indeed, we have general directives but are given great latitude in execution. Here is what I propose." Eleven tapped a few keys and the display changed. Kelly leaned forward again. _Gorram eyes are getting worse. About time I made another laser appointment with the ophthalmologist._

"Local Federal garrison to be co-opted from the planet the moon orbits..." Kelly murmured as she read along. "Alliance cruiser _IAV Endeavor_ to remain on standby on the far side..." She looked up again. "The location, Ugarit, was selected because of certain criteria?"

"Indeed," Eleven responded, a small tic at the corner of his mouth the only indication of his satisfaction. "We cannot landlock the ship or they would suspect. Instead, we have selected a small moon without a control tower, out on the Rim. It should put them at ease. The garrison from New Canaan consists of several platoons, we will request two. One to back us up, and another to close in behind."

"And the bait?" Kelly asked, mild curiosity lacing her words.

"Not our concern," Eleven rebuffed without rancor. "All we know is that it is enticing enough they should take it."

* * *

Ugarit, moon of New Canaan. Blue Sun system.

Kelly stood attentively in the small room, hands behind her back. She was armed with her trusty Astra sidearm, tucked into a shoulder holster. She didn't mind not handling the sonic device, she never cared much for them, though like all Agents she had the implants that rendered her immune. Hopefully, though, this would not be an extended firefight. One of the drawbacks of her little sidearm, while deadly accurate and fitting her petite hand perfectly, was that it only carried six rounds. She had another magazine behind her back, that gave her a total of twelve rounds. But, she supposed, that was why they had the soldiers along.

She glanced over the top of Agent Eleven's head as he sat at the only table in the room, intently reviewing the data coming in from the satellites nearby. Several soldiers stood around in their dark purple bodyarmor, negligently leaning on their assault rifles as if they were walking sticks.

Letting out a quiet sigh, she resisted the urge to roll her eyes. These soldiers were undisciplined and sloppy, the dregs of the Alliance military to end up all the way out here on the Rim. In fact, they reminded her of some of the pirates she'd taken down many years ago with Agent Twenty-Two.

"Thirty," the seated Agent murmured. "We have a track incoming, matches that of a Firefly. No reading on identification, but that should be our target."

"Can we confirm that any better, Eleven?" Kelly asked.

"Negative, but it's arrival fits within the target window, and it is approaching the target landing area." Eleven stood up and looked over at the slovenly soldiers. He quirked an eyebrow, which for an Agent was like a scowl of disapproval. "Lieutenant, get your men into position."

The one officer assigned to them nodded and started kicking his men into order.

Eleven looked steadily at Kelly, and the corner of her mouth ticked. _Yes, they were of the same opinion, but what else did they have to work with?_

With one squad lined up in the hallway behind them, the Agents stood ready outside the door to the meeting room that the Primary Target should arrive in. Eleven watched his handheld intently, the display showing the camera they had concealed outside the room while holding the sonic device in his other palm. Kelly had her Astra pistol held at the ready.

"Lieutenant, are you in position?" Eleven murmured into his comm unit. After a beat, he looked up and Kelly and nodded, confirming the perimeter soldiers should be hidden but ready to close in.

Kelly had checked in with the _Endeavor_ some time ago, they were also on standby and would wait on either her or Eleven's word to move in and block any exit.

"They are approaching," Eleven murmured. He paused, gave a slow blink, and then nodded.

The two Agents walked calmly through the door, Eleven holding the sonic device up in front of him and Thirty covering the group with her pistol.

Only it wasn't the Primary Target at all.

It was Dani, Keith, Jess, and Sara.

"No," Kelly breathed, horrified. Then, louder, before Eleven could activate the device, "No. Agent Eleven, this is not the Primary Target. This is a mistake."

The four crewmembers stared back in shock, hands frozen near their gun handles. They had an idea what the device in the taller Agent's hand could do, but didn't know enough to try and draw on them. They had brought their main long guns along, but they were all still slung across their backs.

Kelly looked into Dani's eyes. She hadn't seen her in two months, but she hadn't changed, really. The fire from her bright green eyes said she'd never go down without a fight, and her hand crept closer towards her Ares sidearm.

Kelly shook her head fractionally, a panicked look in her eyes, and Dani froze her hand again. Keeping her gun still covering the group, she turned her head slightly towards her partner. "Eleven, this is a mistake," she repeated.

"Are you saying the Company is wrong, Thirty?" Eleven murmured, his thumb poised over the device trigger.

Her mouth dry, Kelly nodded very slightly. "An error. Possible miscalculation. But I can assure you, this is not the Primary Target."

Eleven peered intently at Sara. Noticing the attention, Dani slid over to cover her daughter with her body, lips peeled back in a snarl.

"Subject seems to be the correct age. Perhaps a little young, but it has been some time since adequate surveillance has been obtained," Eleven mused. The corner of his mouth gave a tic. "We must be certain. The true Primary Target can withstand the sonic device and merely be incapacitated. Others are dispensable."

"Eleven, no," Kelly began, a very slight trace of emotion creeping into her voice.

"Thirty, I am beginning to question your loyalty to the Company," Eleven murmured, as he began to press the button down.

Time froze. Kelly's mind expanded to encompass all her memories associated with this family, her friendship with Maribelle and Beth, the first time she met Dani and knew in her heart this was the perfect woman for Beth, holding Rain and then Cali when they were born, when they were babies, watching them grow up. The pain and genuine heartache from Beth's loss, the joy and happiness she felt when Dani found love again with Lori. The warmth and feeling of belonging from her adoptive family, the only one she ever really knew...

As time started back up again, Kelly knew her decision had already been made. It had been made for some time, really. A part of her wondered why such a profound shift in being did not resonate further across the 'Verse. There should be something earth-shattering to reflect the breaking of one's moral code so thoroughly.

Externally it seemed as if Kelly didn't hesitate at all in turning her gun on Eleven and shooting him in the head.

"Run!" she screamed at Dani and the others, and she took off back through the door she had entered from.

Immediately after opening the door she was confronted by the ranks of soldiers piled up haphazardly to support the Agents. They were starting to stir after hearing the shot, but Kelly didn't give them the chance to react.

The first soldier in line she shot immediately through the throat, and the second one in the armor seam under his arm as he raised it to adjust his helmet. Both started to collapse, blocking the view of the ones behind.

She slid over the falling corpse of the first soldier and delivered two more rapid shots to the throats of the next two soldiers in line. She had to give them credit, they were reacting quickly and starting to unlimber their guns. _Should have already had them at the ready, but I appreciate the fact that you didn't_. Kelly continued her slide, kicking out at another soldier towards the right to send him back into one particularly alert one who was already raising his gun. Another snap shot brought down a soldier on the left, and she worked the release quickly to eject the spent magazine.

Kelly whirled, crouched down, using the soldier she had kicked as cover. A shot whistled by her ear, and then three more hit the soldier she was crouched behind with wet sounds, and he slumped forward, dead. Keeping her spin in motion, she withdrew her fresh magazine, slapped it home and worked the slide.

Jamming her gun into the chin of the soldier behind the one she had kicked, she sent her next bullet upwards into his helmet. His rifle fell limply towards the floor, but she used her foot to catch it before it hit the ground and sent it hurtling forward into the faceplates of the next two soldiers in line. It wasn't enough to damage either, but it did throw off their aim and allow her to send another two shots to their throats. _I'm glad the Alliance never fixed that weakness in their armor I warned them about five years ago_.

More gunfire was coming down the hallway from the last few remaining soldiers as they started panicking, spraying bullets indiscriminately at the tiny woman in the black suit who was moving through their comrades as if they were paper. She felt a couple of impacts against her chest, the bullets stopped by her blue body armor, and grunted in pain. _That's at least one cracked rib_. She dove forward into a roll, sending three more shots forward as she came to a crouch, dropping three additional soldiers and emptying the last rounds from her trusty sidearm. She could hear, now that she was closer, the panicked babbling of the last two soldiers over their comm devices about the _feng li biao zi_ (crazy bitch) who was attacking them.

On her way to her feet, Kelly grabbed a service pistol from one of the non-commissioned officers that she had already neutralized. It was large and clumsy but at least she'd have more bullets. She tucked her empty Astra back into her shoulder holster. _Sentimental_. She brushed off the thought. So she loved her gun, it was her one real possession.

She charged towards the end of the hall, raising her borrowed gun in her left hand but merely wounding them in the inside elbow of each right arm where there was another gap in their armor. _That will let them still call down reinforcements_. One tried to transfer his gun to the other arm, however, so she jumped up, using a corpse as a springboard, and delivered a kick to his helmet, stunning him.

She slipped past and into the next hallway, the sound of pounding feet sounding behind her over the screams of the two she had wounded. Kelly transferred the service pistol over to her right hand and ripped the tie from her throat, letting it flutter to the floor behind her.

Her plan of gaining their attention was working spectacularly well.

Sliding around the next corner on her knees and one hand extended backwards, she sent another pair of shots towards the group of soldiers that were heading in from the left hallway. Only one was a kill-shot because of her movement, but they all ducked back or dropped down for cover. She took the opportunity to spring to her feet again and continue on down the hallway and away from the combatants.

Her luck ran out as she sprinted towards the end of the corridor. She didn't make the next doorway before shots started pelting the wall ahead of her. She felt a sharp pain in her left arm and it went numb, blood splattering against the door she was heading towards. _Through-and-through, likely shattered the humerus. That's going to be problematic. How did these backwater grunts get armor-piercing ammo?_

She slammed into the door with her right shoulder, spilling into the stairwell, but not before another bullet took a chunk out of the left side of her neck. _No vertebrae affected, I'm still mobile, and I don't think that hit the esophagus or trachea. Keep moving_.

She pushed herself up towards the door to slam it shut, but before she could a small silver cylinder skidded across the floor past her. "Oh _ta ma de yuangu_ (for fuck's sake)," she snarled and leaped up the steps to curl into a ball, protecting her head and neck with her uninjured right arm as best she could.

The resulting explosion from the grenade hurled her against the stairwell wall and bounced her up onto the next landing, her body armor absorbing most of the shrapnel. _Just broke the cracked ribs, might be another one too. Hurts to breathe_. She'd lost her gun, but still staggered to her feet and grimly ran up the metal steps, wincing in pain the whole way as she clutched her wounded left arm in her right hand. Her ears were ringing, and she felt blood dripping down from her nose, likely her ears as well.

Soldiers filed into the stairway, shooting upwards in a vain attempt to hit her. The gunfire sounded as if it were coming at her underwater. She made it up three flights to the roof entrance, winded and about to pass out from the pain. Slamming her foot against the door, it popped open and Kelly took two steps in, turning to close the door behind her.

Another grenade sailed out towards her.

Reacting quickly, she caught the cylinder with her right hand, tossed it back down the steps, and slammed the door shut, dropping to the ground and leaning against it. The explosion actually pushed her forward a centimeter or two.

Kelly shook her head resolutely, sending blood droplets spattering around her, and she staggered to her feet, heading for the roof parapet. _Maybe the next roof over would be close enough to-_

She stumbled then, falling to one knee. _Get up, Kelly. Get moving, get up, get moving_...

Kelly fell the rest of the way down, rolling towards her right. Her left arm was still hanging uselessly, though she was beginning to get some feeling back. That was a very unwelcome development, and she gritted her teeth against the pain that blossomed from her upper arm.

"Wish my ears would stop ringing," she whispered to herself. Now there was an annoying whine accompanying the ringing. That didn't make sense to her, but maybe she ruptured an eardrum. _Could be_ , she thought wryly. _This is more damage than I've ever sustained before_.

"So what now, Kelly?" she murmured to herself, almost delirious from the blood loss and massive trauma she'd taken. "Threw everything away, didn't you? How did I end up here..." But she knew, really. A pair of bright green eyes belonging to one particularly _feng li_ (crazy) captain floated in front of her. "I hope you can finally forgive me, Dani," she whispered.

Her head turned at the slamming of the door as it bounced open against the roof. Soldiers were charging up, rifles at the ready. There were only four of them left, but that was four too many. She tried to roll over and get to her feet, but her broken body betrayed her and refused her efforts. She closed her eyes briefly as the annoying whine increased, but then opened them again. _I'll die with my eyes open, thank you._

To her amazement, the four soldiers rapidly dropped to the rooftop, blood spouting from their bodies. _Gunfire? From where? Am I hallucinating now?_

And then the sky darkened as a shuttle, the source of the high-pitched whine, slipped overhead and settled to the roof. A hulking figure jumped out and ran over to Kelly. Large, strong hands grabbed ahold of her and slung her over his shoulder.

She gave a shriek of agony from her shattered arm being jostled and the impact to her broken ribcage and immediately blacked out.

* * *

 _Fortune's Favour._ Outbound from Ugarit.

Kelly blinked her eyes open. She was staring up at the ceiling of what appeared to be a small ship's infirmary. In fact, she was back on the _Favour_. Her hunch was confirmed when both Maribelle and Dani came into sight.

She took a brief inventory of herself. Her armor was gone and she was in a loose gown instead. Lying on the infirmary bed and restrained, her arms were unable to move. She did note that her neck had been bandaged and her entire left arm was in a cast. _Restraints must be around the cast_ , she decided.

She was still in pain, though.

Maribelle picked up on her involuntary wince. "Drugs wear off?" she inquired neutrally.

Kelly nodded.

" _Deng yi miao_ (hold on a sec)," Maribelle murmured, and moved away.

Dani stared down at Kelly, conflicting emotions swirling behind her eyes. "Are you a danger to my crew?" she whispered.

"No, I'm dead now," Kelly whispered back. "I ever show my face on an Alliance world and I'm dead. I stay in one place, they find me, and I'm dead."

Dani made a noncommittal sound and leaned back. "Well, good thing we keep movin' then, huh?" She turned, then, and walked out of the infirmary.

Kelly closed her eyes, tears falling freely, as Maribelle gave her another smoother. She gladly welcomed the darkness that overtook her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _Tourniquet_ is the sixth track from the album Fallen by the very excellent group Evanescence. I adore Amy Lee's haunting melodies.
> 
> Other music creds go to _Primal Scream_ by Motley Crue (As my Beta reader **KellyConelly** says, "...This is a great name for a club. If there isn't one somewhere there should be."), and _Hush_ by Deep Purple.
> 
> And welcome back Kelly! Wondered if I could top the last round of badassery, but I think I might have managed it. I was aiming for a feel like that of the church scene from the _Kingsmen_ movie (awesome, by the way, if you haven't seen it yet).
> 
> So, as always, review if you can, and thanks for reading!
> 
> Stay shiny!


	51. Episode 42: Drag The Waters

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **TRIGGER WARNING** for mention of **rape**.

En route to Athens. Georgia system.

Dani stirred in her sleep, tightening her arm around Lori. Something had disturbed her, something on the edge of her consciousness...

She bolted upright, realizing there was a figure sitting cross-legged at the foot of the bed.

"Hello, _Kaasan_ ," Sara's voice whispered. Only Dani could tell this didn't sound like Sara at all, she had a whisper that sent ice and fire flowing through her veins all at once, seeming to trigger a fight and flight response at the same time. She clenched her sheets in her fists, trying not to tremble with the effort to remain in place.

"Are you... Shrike?"

Next to her, Lori sat up as well with a gasp. Dani reached out a hand to grab onto her arm tightly and keep her in place.

The girl at the end of the bed clapped her hands lightly as if in glee. "Oh, you figured it out right away! I always knew you were a smartie. This'll make things much easier." She unfolded herself gracefully and flowed onto the floor to walk around, her movements lithe and fluid like that of a panther from Earth-That-Was.

A predator.

"How are you here?" Dani whispered hoarsely.

"I figgered somethin' out, while I was sittin' alone in the dark," Shrike mused, her words dripping like venom in their bitterness. "She won't let me out much anymore, but I figgered I c'n get control when she's sleepin'." She spun and graced the two women with a manic smile, sharp as a razor. "Ain't that wonderful?"

"Shrike... please don' do anythin' on the ship... to my family," Dani pleaded quietly but firmly.

The girl in Sara's body threw back her head and gave a peal of laughter. It was so similar to Sara's laugh but instead brought to Dani's mind images of bloodthirsty Reavers for some reason.

"Oh, _Kaasan_... you don' have to worry none about me," she grinned, teeth shining white in the dim light. "You neither, Red. Y'see, I know Sara, how she'd react if'n I were to hurt another of ya. She'd kill herself right away, an' then I won't be 'round neither." Dani's eyes got wide at the revelation.

"So, no, won't be no hurtin' of family. This is jus' me, stretching my legs, as it were. I jus' wanna let y'all in on the secret." She giggled again, the sound scraping along Dani's spine.

"Why are you tellin' us?" Dani asked.

"'Cause, an' here's the best part, you can't let Sara know 'bout it!" The girl hopped up and down on her toes, immensely amused. "If'n ya tell her, she'll never sleep again!" Then she stopped as if listening to an unseen voice. "Well, she's startin' to stir. Better get back into her bunk. Mebbe we'll talk again, yeah?" With that, she scrambled back up the ladder, no sound at all to betray her passage.

"I'm gonna have nightmares now," Lori whimpered.

"C'mon, _wo de ai_ (my love)," Dani said grimly. She got up and pulled on a few clothes, leaving her feet bare.

Lori complied, throwing on one of her dresses without bothering to fish for underwear. "What're we doin'?"

"May not be able to tell Sara, an' I agree with that, but we can fer gorram sure tell Em. Now's a good as time as any, when everyone else's asleep."

The couple padded down the hallway and then the stairs, barefoot and holding hands. Lori was still shaking slightly from the experience.

Dani left her in the lounge and walked a few more meters back to the rear quarters, climbing quietly up the ladder above Mike and Julie's room. Though her attempt at silence was likely a moot point over Mike's loud snoring. _Sounds like a gorram freight train in there_.

"Em?" she whispered quietly, tapping on the door. She heard a rustling and then it slid open a couple of centimeters. Her niece peered out blearily, hair a tangled mess.

"Hrumerf?" Emily asked in a confused mumble.

"Sorry _baobei_ (treasured one)," Dani chuckled. "We gotta talk. Join us in the lounge when yer ready."

"Ermgeherd," her niece replied, and slid the door shut.

Laughing softly, Dani walked back to join Lori on the couch, snuggling up to her tightly.

"She gettin' up?" Lori asked skeptically over a wide yawn.

"Hope so, I'll go check in a few if she ain't moved any."

It was only a matter of seconds, though, before the door slid back again and Emily climbed out and down the ladder from her bunk, taking care where she stepped.

"Whazzup _gu ma_ (aunt, father's sister)?" Emily asked, scratching her tousled head. Dani held back a snicker at Emily's sleeping attire. It was a skimpy nightie that left very little to the imagination. She caught Lori's open-mouthed stare and reached over, gently closing her jaw.

"So, Em," Dani began. "We had an... interesting visit tonight..." She trailed off at the sound of another door sliding open.

Maribelle walked over from the other side of the crew quarters, looking concerned. "Hey, what's going on?"

Dani laughed softly. "Sorry to be so, um, loud."

"Yeah, well you were kind of broadcasting strongly there," her empathetic sister-in-law murmured, walking up to the lounge. "Okay if I sit in?"

"Yeah absolutely," Dani replied, looking around at the others for confirmation.

Meeting only sleepy nods, Maribelle eased herself into a chair. "Em, sweetie, aren't you cold?"

"Nah," Emily replied, smiling. "Almost never get cold."

"Well, your girls're sayin' otherwise," Dani grinned, eyeing her niece's protruding assets and tossing her a throw blanket. "Here, at the least you c'n stop givin' my wife palpitations."

The other girls snickered at Lori's discomfiture. "I'm not... aahh, _bi zui_ (shut up)!" the freckled woman blushed.

Still grinning, Dani leaned over a planted a wet kiss on her lover's lips. "Alright then," she started again, "as I was sayin', we had a visitor tonight..."

After her tale was finished, the other two women sat there thoughtfully while Dani wrapped her arms around Lori. Her wife was shaking again after hearing about the visitation once more.

"So, I know this's gonna sound strange," Emily began, hitching the blanket up on her shoulders, "but when was the last time ya had Sara out on a mission where she could kill someone?"

Dani looked at Emily, blinking a few times."Um. Awhile? We're tryin' to keep her away from that..."

Maribelle, however, was nodding thoughtfully. "So Shrike hasn't been able to get out, and she's feeling constrained. That's why she's acting out now, even with the new medication."

Lori looked over at Maribelle. "Thought ya weren't all that familiar with the head stuff?"

Maribelle smirked back. "Kids."

"Oh, yeah," Dani laughed. "Okay, I'm followin' ya now."

"Right," Emily nodded eagerly. "So let her out, let her exercise some, as it were. Give Sara the chance to do what she's done before, an' Shrike might be more, well, satisfied."

Dani sighed, rubbing her eyes tiredly with one hand. "Yer right, it sounds strange. But it makes a whole mess of sense, too." She stood up, still holding Lori's hand and pulling her to her feet. "Alright, thanks for the talk, girls. I'll have a word with Keith, see what he thinks, an' get her more involved-like."

"With that note, I'm heading back to bed," Maribelle yawned, stretching. "See you in the morning."

"Oh, yeah," Emily exclaimed. "Been meanin' to ask, c'n I join yer _tai chi_ sessions?"

"Sweetie, it's not an invite-only shindig," Dani laughed as she headed up the stairs with her wife in tow. "We'll see ya there, if'n ya c'n still get up in a few hours."

* * *

Athens. Georgia system.

After dropping off their cargo, the ground team headed to a local bar for Jess to drum up some business. They weren't sure of the local temperament, so Cali was left behind, much to her disappointment.

The bar was a bit run-down but clean and sparsely populated at this early hour. Surprisingly it also had no name. Everyone just called it "The Bar," and that seemed to be good enough for the residents of the small town.

In the corner of the establishment, there were a couple of card games, seven-card stud poker from the looks of it, going on that Sara was watching with interest. One, in particular, was catching her eye as she looked on, grinning.

"What'rya so amused at, _baobei_ (treasured one)," Dani murmured over her drink.

"Big fella over there with the funny hat," Sara said, indicating the large man wearing a bowler hat a size too small for his head. "He's been cheatin', but he's not bad. Don' think the others are catchin' on."

Just then one of the other players threw his hand down in disgust. "That's it, I'm out," he said as he rose from his chair with a huff. The big guy grinned and looked around the sparsely populated bar, seeing Dani looking on. "Hey there, lil' lady, care to join in? We're short a hand. No-limit."

Dani eyed the rather large pile in front of the man, and the smaller piles in front of the other two. Looked to be a goodly number of credits, but not enough that would hurt too badly to join in. "C'n you beat 'im?" Dani whispered to Sara.

Her daughter looked up with wide eyes and then grinned. "Oh yeah. I c'n beat 'im."

"Dani..." Jess murmured warningly.

"S'okay, Jess," Lori interjected with a wink. "She c'n take 'im."

Sara grinned at the show of confidence as she rose from her chair with Dani to walk over to the table.

"Tell ya what, boys," Dani said casually, "I'm not much of a player, but my _nu'er_ (daughter) here is pretty decent. I'll bankroll her."

The man barked out a laugh. " _Ni zi_ (little girl), you think you c'n play wit' the big dogs? I don' think so."

"Well," Sara drawled, "if'n yer afraid of lil' ole me, I s'pose it won't hurt yer rep _too_ badly..."

The man gave another booming laugh. "Alright, girl, I like yer spunk. Have a sit."

Dani bought enough chips to get Sara started, and then pulled a chair over. She spun it around to sit on it backwards and settled in to watch the show. The rest of the crew moved over with their drinks and ordered up snacks to enjoy the entertainment as well.

After an hour Dani decided that they should really pay a visit to the casinos on Persephone. Sara cleaned up. Keith answered her whispered question to assure her Sara wasn't cheating so far as he could tell. "But she's really good, so I don't know if I could even tell if she were."

The other two players were barely holding on as Sara was obviously concentrating on the big man. He had taken his bowler hat off some time ago and loosened his collar, scowling in concentration as the little girl sitting across the table took him to the cleaners.

Eventually, there was a very decent-sized pot in the middle. It was enough to put the big man back on his feet if he were to win it, and he obviously felt confident in his hand. His four cards showing were a three of clubs, three of spades, seven of spades, and nine of spades. Dani wasn't sure if he were going for a full house or a flush, but either one was a decent hand if he weren't bluffing.

"Fifty," he grunted, pushing in his last five chips.

Sara glanced down at her cards. She had mostly garbage showing, a four of hearts and another of spades, a six of clubs, and a ten of hearts. She pushed in fifty of her own, and then, grinning, added another ten. "Raise ten."

The big man growled low in his chest. "That's not playin' fair," he grumbled.

The other two players at the table shrugged simultaneously, having bowed out early on in the hand. "Way I recall it," one of them said nonchalantly, "you did the same thing to the last guy."

"Fine," he snarled, reaching into his rear pocket and pulling out a crumpled sheet of paper. "I'll call with this. Genuine treasure map."

"Really?" Sara asked skeptically. "A treasure map? Ya 'xpect me to buy that?"

"You sayin' I'm lyin'?" the man asked dangerously.

Sara glanced back at Dani, who just shrugged her shoulders same as the other two men had. "Up to you, _nu'er_."

Sara sighed and turned back to the table. "Well, okay, just the once then. Check."

The man turned over his cards, grinning widely. He had a ten of hearts, a Jack of spades, and a King of Spades. "Flush, King high," he said triumphantly.

Sara quirked her eyebrow. "Not bad," she said dryly, flipping her own cards over.

Four of clubs. Four of diamonds. Ace of diamonds. "Four fours," she smirked and raked the pile towards her.

The big man gaped at her incredulously, clenching his fists in front of him.

"Now' fore you start to thinkin' 'bout losing yer temper," Sara commented nonchalantly as she started stacking her chips up, "do keep in mind my family sittin' behind me that might take exception to ya."

He glared over at the other four _Favour_ crewmembers, all of whom were wearing almost identical smirks. Grumbling under his breath, the big man left the table without further incident and exited the bar.

"That was nicely done," one of the men chortled.

"Well, he _was_ cheatin', after all. I'm jus' better at it," Sara replied nonchalantly.

The two men looked at each other, and then back at Sara. Dani tensed in her seat, but Sara forestalled any confrontation.

"So how much was yer ante? I'll pay ya back now."

Both men shared a laugh. "That's... right generous of ya, _ni zi_ (little girl)," one of them smiled.

After she was done doling out the chips, she took her stack over to the bar to cash herself out, and then returned to Dani with the money and map in hand.

"That's all yers, _nu'er_ (daughter)," Dani grinned. "You c'n pay me back the ante, but the rest belongs to ya."

Sara grinned widely. "I oughta do this more often!"

Lori laughed, linking her arm with Sara as they headed back towards their old table. "Only if'n I get to join in next time!"

"Oh yeah, we'll take 'em all on!" Sara chortled, sitting down. She pulled out the map and unrolled it, peering at the contents. "So what's all this then," she mused.

She was still looking it over when the others ordered another round of drinks, and eventually peered up at Dani.

"Hey, _Kaasan_ ," she began. "Y'all called yerselves Browncoats, right?"

"Yep, both Lori an' I," Dani answered easily.

"An' did y'all have, like, a fleet? I mean, 'sides the unarmed ones you flew?"

"Sure," Dani replied thoughtfully. "Had a bunch, mostly converted bulk freighters with slapped-on guns an' missiles an' such."

"Gunboats?" Sara asked, peering at the map again.

Dani frowned. "Yeah, usually the smaller transports, like ours, had the same done, bolted on some guns an' missiles an' they could take on the bigger Alliance ships. Why are ya all interested in this, sweetie?"

"Well," Sara began, leaning back in her chair, "would it be of interest to find a whole mess of mothballed gunboats that were bein' kept around for the Browncoats to use again someday?"

" _Wai sheng nu_ (niece, sister's daughter)," Keith interjected, "are you telling us that map is for the lost Echo Base?"

"Oh! Yeah, it sez that right here," Sara murmured, glancing back at the map.

"The what now?" Lori asked Keith curiously, glancing at Dani who shrugged back.

"Echo Base," Keith said musingly as he looked over Sara's shoulder. "Rumored to have been a stash of old gunships, mostly Firefly Mark III's, fully armed and armored. They were hidden away after the Battle of Sturges, along with a lot of other arms. Captured Independents confirmed it's existence but nobody knew the location..."

"Till now!" Sara said triumphantly.

"Well, hold on now," Keith said cautiously. "This has some of it... the start of the trail, and where to find more... and then the last location relative to the final clue..."

"Wait, so this's a treasure hunt _an'_ a scavenger hunt?" Sara asked, eyes sparkling. " _Niubi_ (fucking awesome)!"

"Seems that way," Keith grinned, leaning back again.

Sara tossed her map onto the table and climbed up on her chair to stand over the rest of her family's heads. "I'm hirin' the crew!" she shouted triumphantly. "We're goin' on a hunt!"

"An' what're we gonna do with a mothballed fleet of gunships?" Dani asked, laughing. "I mean, don' wanna burst yer bubble _nu'er_ , but those ships ain't gonna sell for much, compared to what it'd take to retrieve 'em."

"Not necessarily," Keith interjected. "Alliance has been looking for this stash for some time. Pretty sure they still have a standing reward listed for verifiable evidence of the location."

Sara's crestfallen look immediately reversed itself. "Right! Let's go, Capt'n, we gots treasure ta find!" She hopped down amongst the crew's laughter and rolled the map back up, sticking it in her waistband. She grabbed her roll of banknotes and stuffed it into a pocket, the obvious bulge showing.

"Alright, folks, ya heard our client," Dani smiled. "Let's get a'movin'."

The five crewmembers walked out of the bar and towards the landing pads. They didn't get far before they were confronted by several armed locals, led by the large man who had lost the map to Sara.

"Well," Lori sighed. "Can't say I'm surprised."

"Nope, not 'specially," Dani grinned.

"I want the map back, an' my money," the man snarled. "In fact, all yer money will do jus' fine. But I'm gonna gut the lil' smartass there fer sure"

Keith glanced at the others. "So, how do we want to play this?"

"Sara, you up to some action?" Dani asked cautiously.

"Yep," Sara smirked. "Kinda lookin' forward to it, actually."

"Right then," Dani directed towards the man confidently, thinking back to Emily's advice. "Here's the deal. You an' my _nu'er_ , one on one, blades only. No holds barred. Loser's side walks away."

The big man barked a laugh. "Oh yeah, that'll work fer me." He handed his sidearm to the thug next to him and pulled out a very large knife. "C'mere you lil' _biao zi_ (bitch). Time ta bleed."

"Dani, are you sure about this?" Jess whispered worriedly as Sara handed her pistol and the map to Lori.

"Have a lil' faith, Jess," Dani murmured back. "This'll be good for her."

Sara stood there in the middle of the street, looking up at the man who towered twice her height over her. A slow smile spread across her face. "You ready for this, _piyan_ (asshole)?" she asked with a dark giggle that sent chills up Dani's spine.

 _God Em, I hope yer right 'bout this_ , Dani thought with a slight trace of worry for her daughter.

For a man his size, he moved fairly fast, but it wasn't nearly fast enough. By the time he lunged downwards with his enormous knife, Sara had pulled out both shivs and slashed twice, tumbling to the side. The man looked down, stunned, as blood ran down both thighs from the wounds. He whirled around to catch the small girl, but she was already moving behind him, digging her shivs into his back, using them to climb up. He reared backwards, screaming in pain, as Sara reached the top to slide one lithe hand around his throat, opening it up ear to ear.

The man's scream cut off suddenly with a gurgle as he stumbled forward, wide-eyed, and fell flat on his face, dead. Sara rode the body down and hopped off lightly, wiping her blades on his torso before returning them to her sleeves.

"Well, boys," Dani smirked to the other incredulous armed thugs. "'Less you wanna be next, ya might wanna be on yer way now."

To a man, they turned tail and ran as if pursued by the shades of hell itself.

Sara calmly retrieved her items from Lori and the group resumed their walk, though Jess looked at Sara a little bit askance.

"So how d'ya feel, sweetie?" Dani asked casually. "Good to stretch yer legs a bit?"

"Yeah, _Kaasan_ , it did," Sara responded slowly. "I mean, not like I gotta do it all th' time or anythin', but I feel like... I dunno, a kinda pressure lifted? I don' think I'm explainin' it right..."

"No, _nu'er_ , I think you said it jus' fine," Dani said with satisfaction.

* * *

Inbound to Hera. Georgia system.

"So, this is weird," Lori commented, sitting in the nav seat.

"Yeah, shoulda figured somethin' like this would pop up," Dani sighed.

"How d'ya mean, _Kaasan_?" Rain asked from her chair. "Is it this abandoned base we're headin' towards?"

"Sorta," Dani said distantly. "It's near where we ended the war. Never thought I'd see this battlefield close up again. 'Least it's not the same base as the one I spent time in the brig at, this one's an army one, not sure why'd it be there, but that's what the map sez."

"Well, alright," Rain said nonplussed. "Want me ta take us in?"

"Sure _nu'er_ , you got this," Dani smiled over at her.

Rain picked up the mike. "Hera control, this is Firefly transport _Fortune's Favour_ , requestin' clearance to land."

"Roger that Firefly transport, cleared for pad eighteen, follow the beacon down."

Rain steered the ship to line up with the assigned beacon. "So, how's Aunt Kelly doin'?" she asked casually as she worked the controls.

Dani glanced back at Lori. "She's doin' better," she finally answered. "Gonna take awhile to heal."

"Been a week since we picked her up, she still confined to the infirmary?"

"Yeah," Dani replied to her daughter, eyeing her curiously, "but I don't think she could move much even if'n she wanted to. She took a whole lotta damage."

"An' what're we gonna do with her once she heals?" Rain asked, a trace of tension in her voice.

"Hey, sweetie," Dani said softly. "What's on yer mind, huh? Ya know ya c'n tell me, right?"

Rain sighed heavily as she adjusted the levers for the thrusters, pivoting them downwards as they approached the field. "I jus'... she's my Aunt Kelly, y'know? An' I know she did a lotta bad stuff, but she did some good stuff too, right? She saved yer lives a buncha times, an' ya said she was tryin' ta keep me off the bad guy's radar... I jus' don' think she's a bad guy herself anymore."

"Have you been talkin' to her?" Dani asked quietly but without accusation.

"No, but I've been hanging' out in the lounge when Aunt Maribelle's been in there," Rain replied a little sheepishly. "An' she don't feel like a bad guy, 'kay? She jus' feels... I dunno. Sad."

Dani sat there, lost in her thoughts, as Rain brought the _Favour_ down for a smooth landing. Finally, as the ship settled down on her landing pads, she stood up and placed a hand on Rain's shoulder.

"I really wanna believe her, _baobei_ (treasured one). An' I wanna believe she's not a danger to any of us. An' I do trust yer judgment, really." She paused for a beat. "Mebbe after we finish this job, we'll all sit down for a chat. Figure what we c'n work out. 'Kay?"

"Jus' give her a chance, _Kaasan,_ " Rain replied softly.

"I'm tryin', _baobei_ ," Dani whispered before leaving the bridge. "I'm tryin'."

Lori had already walked back towards the shuttles, and Dani caught up with her there. The ground team, minus Keith, seemed to be standing around the airlock for shuttle two.

"Um, what's goin' on, folks?" Dani asked curiously.

Jess shrugged. "Keith couldn't get green lights. Mike is in there now looking."

The mechanic in question emerged then, shaking his head and followed by Keith. He spied Dani and chuckled ruefully. "Sorry to say this, Dani-girl, but two's shot. Busted thruster. Gotta take it to a shop, nothin' we c'n fix here."

" _Ai ya, huai le_ (shit on my head)," she cursed. "Guess we c'n take it to Osiris, Tom'll give us a decent deal on the repairs." She let out a sigh and turned around to face the other side of the ship. "Well, guess we're in for a bumpy ride. Let's get shuttle one movin'."

* * *

Abandoned Independent Forward Base Tango. Hera.

Dani stumbled out of the shuttle on weak legs and fell to the ground as Lori exited behind her. The two collapsed in a heap.

"I think my insides are jelly," Dani moaned.

"I c'n still feel the floor vibratin'," Lori moaned back.

Sara walked out, shaking her head. "Y'all are such babies. It weren't all that bad."

Dani lifted her head to glare at her daughter. "If'n that's so, why ain't Keith an' Jess come out?"

Sara shrugged as she walked towards the lone building that remained on the base. "Mebbe they decided to take a nap."

"Ya gonna let her show us up?" Lori asked from the ground.

Dani let her head fall back again. "Thinkin' 'bout it."

Lori snorted. "C'mon, _bang jiar_ (lover), can't let her have all the fun."

"Oh, fine," Dani groaned as her wife helped her to her feet.

Their walk became less staggered and more normal as they approached the three-story building. Sara was stopped, peering curiously around, and looked back at their approach.

"Someone's been here recently," she commented.

"Huh," Dani replied intelligently. _I think my brain's still a lil' mushy_. "Well, you take the lead, _nu'er_."

"You got it," Sara grinned as she slipped inside.

The inside of the building looked to be pretty well ransacked by looters since the end of the war so many years ago. All the windows had been broken out, and the doors kicked in. They moved through the levels of what appeared to be a typical military office building, searching each room, but there was very little left. There was an elevator which didn't work anymore and a stairwell on one side of the building leading up all three levels. Each floor had a central hallway with rooms opening off on each side, and a pair of trashed bathrooms on every floor as well. The second floor contained a lunch room, but even the sink had been removed from there.

Finally, on the third floor, they came across what had been a file storage room. It was located on the far end of the hall from the staircase, and it was trashed as well. Filing cabinets were still there but overturned with files dumped on the floor everywhere.

Against the wall was one solitary filing cabinet still standing. Dani bent over to inspect it.

"Looks like it's secured to the wall... got some dents in it from hammers." She stood back up. "These look like normal locks to y'all?"

"Nope," Lori smiled. "Looks like they wanted ta keep it pretty gorram secure."

Sara looked at the cabinet curiously. "Some of that looks fresh, y'know? Mebbe the same folk who were here recently?"

"C'n you scout about real quick, sweetie?" Dani asked as she activated her comm. Sara gave her a nod and scurried off. "One, this is Two. Would appreciate yer presence on the third floor. Anytime yer willin' an' able, 'course."

"Two, ever been told you sound like Mom sometimes?" Keith grunted over the comm.

"Bite yer tongue, _didi_!" Dani exclaimed. "I've shot folks fer lesser insults!"

Keith barked a laugh in reply. "We're on our way."

"Never heard ya talk much 'bout yer parents," Lori commented curiously.

Dani sighed. "Didn' really get along with them as much as Keith did. He could do no wrong, sometimes. Y'know? An' after I moved off to Jiangyin, we jus' talked less an' less... an' then after I joined up, they stopped altogether."

"They still alive?" Lori asked softly.

Dani shook her head. "Gorram shame, but they never got ta meet their grandkids." She shrugged. "Their loss. I gots a lotta family, not gonna mourn the ones who didn't want me none."

Lori just gave a noncommittal grunt but was spared further comment when Keith and Jess arrived.

"Is Four out scouting?" Keith asked curiously as he approached the filing cabinet. Jess turned to stand guard at the doorway, peering down the dark hall.

"Yep," Dani answered. "Said there were recent marks, mebbe someone nearby."

Keith nodded and withdrew his tools. "Pretty gorram complex for a military office building," he murmured in a quiet baritone as he set to work.

After maybe fifteen minutes he was able to pop the lock. It took more effort to wrench the drawers out as the frame had become warped from the abuse. Once they did, the three crew members started going through the musty folders.

"Looks mostly like troop movements and such," Lori said, flipping through her stack.

"Yeah, that an' supply requests," Dani commented, dropping another stack to the floor.

"Got it," Keith grunted, pulling one folder out and letting the rest drop back into the cabinet. He held it up for the others to see. It was clearly marked on the outside, 'Echo Base', in large letters.

"Well, that's kinda obvious," Dani said dryly.

Keith flipped it open and began to read. "Yeah, I see it... okay. Oh." He stopped suddenly and glanced up at Dani.

"Um, what is it, _didi_? Yer makin' me nervous with that look of yers..."

Keith sighed and closed the folder in his hands. "It's the next stop, where the trail leads. Silverhold."

Dani sucked in a breath. She'd not really avoided the planet on purpose, but truth be told, she'd not been on the planet since her abduction. And she supposed Jess had a hand in that too, as none of their cargo had sent them there.

She cleared her throat as Lori slipped her arm around her waist, squeezing gently. "Well, we haven't been there since... Yeah. It's been a spell." She glanced up at Jess, who was watching her warily.

Jess gave a nod, confirming her suspicions. "Yes, I've been avoiding it. Thought you might tell me if you were ready."

"Well," Dani sighed. "Guess now's a good a time as any."

"You sure 'bout this, beautiful?" Lori whispered, concern in her voice.

Giving herself a shake, Dani started towards the door. "Let's jus' get movin'. We c'n talk 'bout it on the ship, yeah?"

"Okay, _wo de ai_ (my love)," Lori murmured, still holding on to her wife and walking with her.

They had just reached the first floor again when Sara's voice came over the comm. "Four here, got someone pokin' around the shuttle. Looks like an ex-military-type o' fella."

"Alright Four, hang back and keep him in sight, we're coming out now," Keith murmured, drawing his sidearm at the same time everyone else did.

The four crew walked out of the doorway warily, seeing only the one man standing near the shuttle hatch. He was a fairly tall man, just a bit shorter than Dani or Keith. He wore the ubiquitous long brown duster so common among ex-Browncoats, pushed back to reveal his Moses Brother's service pistol, but his hands remained at his sides. Dani could see he wore service trousers and boots, and a simple black tee shirt on top.

He gave an easy grin as the four approached, guns drawn but unthreatening. "Howdy," he drawled. His clean-shaven face was weathered from the suns of a hundred worlds, and his hair a sandy blond kept fairly short.

"What c'n we do fer ya, _pengyou_ (friend)," Dani asked.

"Well, I'm sorta hopin' we c'n help each other out. Y'see, I'm a bit of a historian, an' I been searching around for clues to a lost bit o' lore. Been camped out here for a day now, trying to get into a certain cabinet up in that building, an' y'all got the looks of folk that managed to get it open." He laughed ruefully. "If'n ya did, ya saved me the trouble of headin' back to town fer explosives, I was plumb outta patience."

Dani felt a little silly holding her gun out when the man seemed to be the peaceable sort, so she holstered it. After some hesitation, the others complied as well, though Keith kept his hand on his. "So, then, what 'xactly are ya lookin' fer?"

"Well, I 'spect same as y'all are. Echo Base?" the man grinned. "Oh! Dangit, where are my manners. I'm Bill. Bill Hicks."

Dani stepped forward, shaking his hand, and introduced the team. She noted that Sara was still staying out of sight, so she didn't remark on her presence.

"Now then," Keith murmured, "what do you know about Echo Base?"

"Same as most folk, I reckon, only I gots a lil' more insight. See," Bill grinned at them, "I'm a bit of a subject expert, as it were. Been hired by a wealthy collector, wants ta track the cache down."

"Subject expert?" Jess asked curiously.

"Right," Bill nodded amiably. "Used to be a Browncoat, as y'all might have noticed. Worked in supply, an' I seen a few of the missives that referred to the place. I know it exists, an' I gathered 'nuff clues to lead me here." He smiled disarmingly again. "So, we want to pool resources? I c'n let y'all in on the take if'n ya like."

Dani raised her eyebrows and looked around. Lori seemed to favor the idea from her smile, but Keith was looking very intently at Bill. Or, rather, at his chest where a tattoo was peeking out over his tee shirt.

"You said you were supply?" Keith asked in his quiet baritone.

"Tha's right," Bill chuckled. "Jus' a clerk, really."

"Interesting tattoo for a clerk," Keith smirked. "Looks to be a flaming drop-pod and crossbones, right, Marine? One Hundred and Second Battalion, Force Recon. I know all about you _hun dans_ (bastards), some of the most rabid pro-Independents around. Still are, aren't you?"

Bill's easy-going facade faded as Keith talked, to be replaced by a scowl. "Right, ya got me there, _huoban_ (buddy). An' I'm noticin' yer tattoos as well, I'm guessing Alliance Spec Ops, right?" Keith nodded, hand still on holster but not drawing his gun. The tension ratcheted upwards as all five of them waited for someone to break and start with the violence.

Bill smiled hard. "Look, it don' hafta be this way. I c'n see some of y'all are Browncoats. My employer, he's got a hankerin' for the good ole days, an' is part of something special. Y'all c'n be part of this, too. Whaddya say, move on over to this side an' we all win."

Dani snickered. "Obviously ya missed the details some, if'n ya ain't figgured the big guy here is my brother."

"Alright," Bill sighed as he pulled out a small device from his coat pocket. It had a rather large blinking button on it. "Now, I didn' wanna hafta resort to this, but since y'all are bein' unreasonable, here it is. I gots an explosive device in the ground at yer feet. Same one I was gonna use on the cabinet, I lied a bit 'bout that, already had it an' ready to blow the _lun dong shi_ (piece of crap) in there up. But now, I need the paper y'all gots. So hand it over."

Dani glanced over at Keith, and they shared a nod. "Take him, Four," Keith murmured.

At that, a knife came whistling down from the roof of the shuttle, straight through the wrist of the hand that Bill was holding the detonator with. He yelped in pain as the tendons were severed and he lost his grip, the device tumbling to the ground.

A second later he was flat on his face as Sara landed on his back, driving her blade into the base of his skull.

She rose, dusting herself off and cleaning her blades after withdrawing them. "Didn' seem so tough t'me," she smiled.

"Nope, ain't nobody as tough as you, _baobei_ (treasured one)," Dani grinned as they headed into the shuttle.

* * *

Silverhold. Red Sun.

Rain had been looking sideways at her _Kaasan_ all day, noting her tenseness. She didn't ask about taking the _Favour_ on down to the surface of Silverhold, just went ahead and did the landing herself. She noticed that Dani hadn't really made any comment at all since she sat down earlier, just brooded out the viewport.

Keith walked onto the bridge and stood behind them. "It's time, _jiejie_."

Dani gave a nod and got to her feet. Lori and Jess had both walked in, concerned looks on their faces. "I need... _didi_ , c'n y'all hit the next spot without me? I gotta go back to... there."

Lori gave a soft cry and walked over to hug her wife tightly. "You don' hafta do this, _zhi'ai_ (most beloved)."

"Yeah, I do," Dani said softly into her lover's red hair.

Lori looked up then, her warm brown eyes burning fiercely. "Then yer not doin' this alone."

"Right," Keith agreed, and Jess nodded as well. "We're all going with you. We can hit the spot later, there's no rush."

Dani gave a sniffle, her eyes filling with tears. "Thanks, y'all. It means the 'Verse to me, really."

"An' yer a _lan ren_ (loon) fer thinkin' we'd let ya go alone," Lori smiled, sniffling as well.

"Alright then, let's get this done," Dani said determinedly.

* * *

Warehouse District. Silverhold City.

"I dunno if'n I c'n do this," Dani whispered, standing in front of the door. The five crewmembers had entered the derelict building, both Keith and Sara leading them up unerringly to the room where they had found Dani just over a year ago. She was trembling slightly, and Lori grabbed hold of her hand, squeezing.

"I toldya 'fore, you don' hafta, _lian ren_ (sweetheart)," Lori murmured. "We're here for ya, but nobody's gonna think less of ya none if you turn around now."

Dani gave a slow, shuddering exhale. "Yeah, I might think less of mysel'," she murmured and reached forward to push the door open.

" _Little_ suka _(Russian: bitch), you think I play here? Let me show you how serious Yuri is. Hold her down over the desk, boys..."_

The voice echoed down from the past, and Dani gave a gasp. She was shaking like a leaf, and could almost feel the ghost of intense pain between her legs at the memory, but took a step forward anyways. Lori was clinging to her hand, providing an anchor, though she still felt herself being swept backwards in time.

_Everything was red, the pain wouldn't stop, everywhere on her body was pain, she was bleeding and he kept hitting her and hitting her and it wouldn't stop, oh God please make it stop just kill me now please please please..._

Dani gave another startled gasp as a small hand slipped into her other one, Sara grabbing hold and providing another anchor. Then Jess and Keith stepped forward, each one laying a hand on one of her shoulders. She took another shuddering breath.

 _It's in the past, it's all in the past, that_ wang ba _(son of a bitch) can't hurt me no more..._

She realized she was standing over a pair of bloodstains on the dusty floor. In front of her was the only remaining furniture in the room, the desk. Dani took a deep breath and stared at it, hard. _It's just a desk._ _Just an object. It has no power over me_. To her relief no more visions or voices flashed across her consciousness, and her breathing settled down into a normal rhythm.

"Okay," she nodded, giving a tremulous smile. "I'm okay, thanks y'all. C'n I... see where he died?"

"Right here behind the desk," Keith rumbled as walked around the furniture to stare at the ground. The others let go of her too, except for Lori who still clung to her reassuringly.

Dani walked over to stand next to her brother and looked at the large stain on the floor. It seemed darker than it should, somehow, as if it could reflect the blackness of the evil man's soul whose life was ended there.

"Only time I ever wished I was a man, so's I could piss on his grave proper-like, as it were," Dani murmured with a small twitch of her lips, almost a smile.

"Could do it for you," Keith offered.

"Nah, s'okay," Dani grunted, turning to leave. She stopped, though, next to Sara in the middle of the room. Her daughter was staring at another bloodstain on the far side. "Who died there?" Dani asked curiously.

"You almost did," Keith answered in a quiet baritone.

 _Sweet Buddha, the stain was even larger than Yuri's_... And then she really noticed Sara, who was standing there with her hands wrapped around her middle, rubbing her arms, unable to look away from the stain.

"Oh, honey," Dani whispered brokenly and leaned over to wrap her own arms around the small girl. "I keep forgettin' that this is jus' as hard on y'all as well. I'm sorry _nu'er_ , you too _didi_."

"I ju's got you as a Mom, and then almost lost you again," Sara whispered back, a tear trickling down her cheek. "An' this was one of the times I really let... her... out, willingly. I had to get you outta here."

Dani turned Sara around so she was looking in her eyes instead of the stained corner, cupping her daughter's face and wiping the tear away with her thumb. "An' you know I'd do the same for you, right? Nothin' in the 'Verse would keep me away, an' I'd go to any lengths. Any. You know that, right? So there ain't nothin' to be ashamed of."

Sara nodded and smiled up at Dani. "Izzit okay if'n we leave now?"

Dani smiled back at her, grabbing hold of Sara's and Lori's hands to walk out of the room, closing it behind her forever. She didn't look back, but did call out over her shoulder, "How 'bout you _didi_ , you alright?"

"More than," Keith grunted, his arm around Jess and walking behind them.

An hour later, the crew was back on the ship, having found the next clue rather easily. It was in a public records office, of all places, and had a rather simple code that revealed their next destination.

Dani was just as happy to leave the planet behind, though she no longer felt haunted at the thought of Silverhold. _Guess that's what ya call healin'_ , she mused thoughtfully to herself, on the bridge again. _Someday mebbe I'll talk ta Em about it. Someday_.

* * *

Ithaca. Georgia system.

The planet Ithaca had a large moon called Priam circling it, but it was close enough in size and mass to make them more like a double-planet. It was an oddity in the 'Verse, to be certain, to see another planet looming so close by in tandem orbit.

The ground team didn't dwell on it much as they assembled in the cargo bay. Ithaca was a populous planet, but fairly rural. Rain would bring the _Favour_ in to drop the team off and then head towards a clearing nearby that didn't seem to be owned by anyone.

"Touchin' dirt in three... two... one..." Rain's voice came across the ship's intercom. Then there was a slight bump, and Dani hit the door release. They were out in a flash, Cali closing the doors behind them and the _Favour_ sailing back off again.

"Right, this should be an easy one," Keith rumbled as he led them into the forest. "Bunker entrance is right through here."

"Ooohhh, spooky forest," Lori grinned humorously.

"Mebbe the bunker's haunted," Dani grinned back.

"The ghosts of past supply officers, worn down by their heavy burdens," Jess sighed dramatically.

Sara giggled, skipping ahead. "An' they lie in wait fer unsuspectin' folk like us, so's they c'n eat our souls!"

Keith gave a labored sigh. "I need to do more solo missions."

* * *

Independent bunker ruins. Ithaca.

"Well, that was boring," Sara commented dryly as she dusted the cobwebs off her shoulders.

"An' no ghosts, sorry hon," Lori smiled. "But 'leastways we got what we needed."

"We know the final spot now, right _didi_?" Dani asked curiously.

"I think so," Keith said slowly as he peered at the sheet in his hand while they walked along. "I'll need the original map, I think there's some coding here. But yes, looks like it should be in the Motherlode asteroid belt."

"We're jus' skippin' all over the place," Dani laughed. "Georgia to Red Sun to Georgia an' then back to Red Sun again. Better be a decent reward to cover fuel costs!"

Sara froze suddenly, her head cocked to the side. "Company," she whispered.

The team stopped, unlimbering their long arms and straining to hear. From their right, they heard a branch crack and some rustling to their left.

"Move, now," Keith ordered, and the group took off again rapidly towards their landing zone.

"Home, this is Two," Dani panted into her comm. "I think we're gettin' a bit of local color, could use a pickup right soon."

"Sorry Two, was jus' about to reach out to ya. We gots a bit of a problem ourselves," Rain's strained voice came back.

"What?" Dani barked, picking up her pace. Just then shots started whizzing by as the pursuing groups caught sight of them. Keith stopped, dropping to one knee and raking the forest to either side with his assault rifle. There were several startled yelps, the bandits obviously not expecting heavy automatic return fire, and they dropped to the ground. Spinning back to his feet, Keith raced back after the ground team.

They reached the clearing and headed towards a small outcropping that would provide them some shelter. Behind the ridge was an indentation, maybe an ancient meteor crater that was now overgrown with grass. The team threw themselves down, sticking their guns up over the edge and waiting to see their targets approach.

"Home, say again," Keith rumbled urgently. "What's the trouble?"

"Well, seems like we gots these bandit-type folk out here, an' they set an explosive charge against the hull. Sez they're gonna blow a hole if'n we don't let them in an' give 'em the map."

"Map?" Dani growled. "Must be the same _si pi yans_ (damned assholes) that Bill was workin' with."

"No worries," Rain responded with forced cheerfulness. "Mike an' Cory already loaded up in shuttle one, an' they're headin' towards ya. Y'all get back here an' c'n deal with these _bendans_ (idiots)."

Just then they heard the shrill whine of a shuttle approaching. Dani looked up to see the approach, but could immediately tell something was wrong. The shuttle was visibly wobbling now, worse than before. " _Gao yang jong duh goo yang_ (motherless goats of all motherless goats)," she groaned. "I _thought_ it was shakin' worse the last time!"

Then there was a loud snap, and the port wing went flying off, smacking the side of the shuttle on the way. Smoke started to pour out the side, and it began to spin towards the ground.

" _Ai ya, huai le_ (shit on my head)!" Lori yelped as it started heading their way.

They didn't have any chance to get away, with bandits in front and a shuttle descending on their heads. Fortunately either Mike or Cory managed to regain some semblance of control and it veered to the side, down into the depression to land with a loud crunch of metal.

Dani was off and skidding down the slope, frantically racing to reach the shuttle. "Oh God, please be okay, please be okay..."

As she reached the bottom, with Sara on her heels, the hatch popped open and smoke poured out. Two coughing forms stumbled out to retch on the ground.

"Mike! Cory! Y'all alright?" Dani shouted in concern, sliding to a stop and grabbing hold of the filthy Mike.

" _Qiang bao hou-zi de, qing wa kao de liu mang_ (monkey raping, frog humping son of a bitch)!" Mike gasped. "That was a close one, Dani-girl!"

"Gorram right!" Cory sighed, rolling over onto his back. "Nice flying, _huoban_ (buddy). I don't think I could have pulled that off."

"Ah," Mike said diffidently, waving away the praise. "Weren't nothin', ya coulda done the same easy. 'Fraid it ain't gonna fly again, though."

"Ruttin' hell," Dani groaned. "An' now the _Favour_ is all alone."

"They gots guns, an' they're smart," Mike reassured Dani as he spat out a black wad of phlegm. "Have some faith, Capt'n."

"Two, we're coming down," Keith reported into the comm. "This position isn't working, they're going to flank us and take away what little cover we have. Can we shelter inside the shuttle?"

Dani looked over at the smoke pouring out of the shuttle's hatch. "Um, no can do, One. But we can hide behind it. 'Least until they flank us again."

Keith sighed. "Best we can manage. We're just going to have to hold out."

"Who _are_ these _piyans_ (assholes)?" Sara asked irritably as she helped Cory to his feet to get into cover.

* * *

 _Fortune's Favour._ Ithaca. Georgia system.

Cali, Rain, and Emily were by the ramp controls, holding their guns nervously and trying to decide on their next course of action after having been told the bad news by Keith. Cali was all for a commando sneak around the side, exiting from the top airlock. Rain preferred to let them in and then deal with them. Emily, clutching the Beretta sidearm she borrowed from her mother, who was hiding with the boys to keep them calm, was asking if they could just copy the map before handing it over, when Maribelle entered the cargo bay.

The blond ship's doctor wore her heavy Nova pistol on her belt and strode determinedly from the ship's aft. She stopped next to the three younger girls.

"Go ahead and open it," Maribelle said, her voice hard with tension.

Cali reluctantly pressed the button to open up the ramp, and six rough-looking men strode up and inside, a couple of them with guns out but not pointing anywhere just yet.

Before they could say anything, a soft but commanding voice rang out from behind the assembled _Favour_ 's crew, "You picked the wrong ship, boys."

Glancing over their shoulders, the girls saw Kelly standing there, tiny and barefoot in a hospital-style gown. Her left arm was in a sling and a large white bandage swathed the side of her neck. Her right hand was concealed behind her back.

The group of men laughed raucously. " _Shenme ta ma de_ (what the fuck) is this?" the man in front asked humorously, glancing around at his buddies.

Her hand moving in a blur, Kelly whipped her gun out and around, cleanly shooting down five of the men standing there, right between the eyes.

There was a moment of shocked silence as the bodies hit the deck in crumpled heaps. " _Ta ma de_ (fuck me blind)," Rain murmured reverently.

The last man standing, the apparent leader who had spoken up before, recovered and went for his gun, but before it could clear the holster Kelly put another bullet through his kneecap. He let out a short scream of pain, collapsing to the deck as his gun skidded away from him. Kelly calmly dropped the empty magazine from her gun and then transferred it to her left hand in the sling, holding it by the barrel. "Reload," she murmured in a quiet voice.

Maribelle threw her a new magazine, and Kelly caught it deftly. She inserted it into the magwell and grasped her little Astra with her right hand again. Jamming the butt of the gun against her thigh to secure the mag, she flicked the slide release to send it forward and chamber a new round as she limped over to stand in front of the prone man.

"Who sent you," she asked in a quiet and emotionless voice, pointing the gun down at him.

" _Qu si_ (go die / go to hell)," the bandit snarled, glaring up at the diminutive woman with hate-filled eyes.

Kelly calmly transferred her aim to his other kneecap and fired again. The writhing man howled again in pain.

"Who sent you," Kelly repeated in the same inflectionless voice, sounding almost bored.

He lay there, grimacing in pain and shook his head determinedly.

Another shot, this time to the right elbow joint, shattering it beyond use.

"Yeaaargh, alright, alright, you _feng li biao zi_ (crazy bitch)! Roberts! Paul Roberts, right-hand man of Baron Cromwell here on Ithaca!"

Kelly nodded slightly, and then delivered a final shot to his forehead. She clicked the safety on as she turned towards Maribelle. She limped over to her friend and handed the gun to her, grip first.

"I'll be in the infirmary," she said quietly, and slowly made her way to the back of the cargo bay.

"Right," Maribelle murmured, gazing at her retreating back. She gave herself a shake and then turned back to the other three girls, still staring in shock. "Let's go, ladies, we need to get these bodies off the ship so we can get moving. Keith can get the bomb off the hull once we pick them up."

Rain, Cali, Em, and Maribelle proceeded to haul the bodies off of the ship as quickly as they could.

"Hey, _jiejie_ (older sister)," Cali whispered while they worked their grisly task.

"Yeah, _meimei_ (little sister)?" Rain whispered back.

"Aunt Kelly's one _huaidan biao zi_ (badass bitch)."

" _Zhe ta ma de_ (fuck that)," Rain said wonderingly as she glanced over her shoulder at the rear doorway that Kelly had walked through. "She's a real _sharen bu zhayan_ (stone cold killer)."

As Emily and Maribelle pitched the last body out of the airlock, Rain slammed her fist down on the controls to raise the ramp and seal things up.

"Right," she said determinedly. "Cali, get yer _pigu_ (ass) to the engine room. Aunt Maribelle, stay here an' work the controls. Em, with me. We gots a crew to rescue."

Cali gave a whoop of glee, racing off to the rear stairwell. "Yes! Time ta be big damn heroes!"

"C'n ya do this?" Emily asked worriedly as she jogged up the steps behind Rain.

" _Biao jie_ (older female cousin, mother"s side), watch an' learn," Rain grinned over her shoulder.

She dropped into her pilot's seat and buckled herself in. "Strap in, Em," she ordered. Her wide-eyed cousin complied, sitting down in Dani's chair.

Rain reached up and pulled down the mike. "Engine room, you all set _meimei_?"

"Ready when y'are, _jiejie_!" Cali came back excitedly.

"Alright," Rain exhaled, centering herself. _You c'n do this_. Flipping another switch, she addressed the ship. "All hands, we're liftin' off. Brace yerselves, it might get a tad rough." She replaced the mike in the holder and pulled the lever to rotate the engines into takeoff mode.

"Here we go," she said softly. _I'm comin',_ Kaasan. She eased the thrust levers forward and the ship started to gain altitude. Rain took her hand off the levers to flip a switch on her console.

"Alright, Em. I jus' transferred the personal comms to yer station. See the unit above yer head, with the mike?" Emily nodded, looking up. "'Kay," Rain continued. "Flip switch number three, that'll give you the others. We're Home, you wanna talk to Uncle Keith, he's One. So flip the switch an' then say, 'One, this is Home, gimme a sit rep.'"

"'Sit rep'?" Emily asked curiously as she picked the mike up.

"Situation report," Rain explained, leveling out the _Favour_ and heading towards their crew's last known location.

"Right," Emily said determinedly. She flicked upwards with her hand and spoke into the comm firmly. "One, this is Home, sit rep please."

"Home, we're pinned down," Keith came back immediately. "Still at last location. Zero in on our comms. Bandits on ridge overlooking the wreck of shuttle one."

"Tell 'im 'affirmative'," Rain said absently as she peered at her scanner. _Should be comin' up on their position in jus' a few seconds_...

* * *

Ithaca. Georgia system.

Dani huddled behind the wreckage that was currently sheltering her. She couldn't get a decent bead on anyone, they kept popping up and down like gorram gophers from Hera. _Why anyone thought it'd be a good idea to re-engineer lil' burrowing c_ _ritters is beyond me_ , she thought idly.

She could see Lori trying to ease herself into a better position with only limited effectiveness. To get there she'd have to expose herself to more gunfire. "Five, keep yer head down darlin'," she yelled over the pinging of bullets off of the metal around them.

"I'm tryin', Two," Lori responded testily. Just then a shot ricocheted off of the strut next to her head, and she jumped back, landing back behind the shuttle wreckage again with a yelp.

"Five, you okay?" Sara called out anxiously.

"I'm fine, jus' bruised my bum," Lori laughed sheepishly.

Just then the team heard Emily's voice over the comms, and Keith's reply. Lori crawled over to Dani's position, snuggling in next to her. "Is Rain flyin' in fer a pickup?" Lori asked.

"Seems like it..." Dani trailed off as she heard, in the distance, the whine of a Firefly's engines.

Just as Emily's answer of "Affirmative" came over the comm, Dani looked up to see a welcome sight. Rain was bringing the _Favour_ in at almost treetop-level, skimming the surface. She adjusted the engines at the last minute to halt almost on top of the bandits encircling them, causing several to tumble out of position from the engine wash. Lori quickly brought her rifle up to her shoulder and, peering through her scope, added her fire to Keith's and Jess's in taking out all the targets of opportunity.

After maybe ten seconds, Rain smoothly pivoted the ship around, sliding the _Favour_ sideways and circling the shuttle crash to settle in behind while the ramp lowered. They could see Maribelle at the controls to the bay doors gesturing frantically.

"Everyone, inside now!" Keith barked, and they all scrambled madly for the safety of the ship. Once everyone was aboard, Keith turned to Maribelle and gave her a thumbs up. "Home, we're all aboard, let's get out of here!"

"Roger that, One!" Emily's voice called back excitedly.

Laughing, Dani leaned over to store her shotgun in its usual alcove behind the door controls. "I gotta say, that was impressive as _diyu_ (hell)," she said, and then paused, looking at the floor. "Um, Maribelle, why're there bloodstains on my deck?"

"Long story, Captain," Maribelle smiled somewhat wearily. "We'll get to it later."

"Right..." Dani replied, shrugging as she headed up towards the bridge, Lori behind her.

When she got there, she saw Emily bouncing in Dani's seat excitedly, and Rain grinning broadly from hers as she brought the _Favour_ towards another safe place to land. Spying the lanky captain, Emily spun around to face her.

"Aunt Dani! That was so _niubi_ (fucking awesome)!"

"You're tellin' me!" Dani laughed. She leaned over behind Rain and gave her a peck on the head. " _Nu'er_ (daughter), that was incredible. Couldn'ta done it better mysel'."

Rain looked up at her with a smile that lit up the bridge from the wattage.

"Alright, y'all have the bridge. Next stop is, well, I dunno fer sure, _deng yi miao_ (hold on a sec)..." Dani grabbed the mike in front of her that Emily had replaced and flipped the switch for the ship's intercom. " _Didi_ , where we goin' next again?"

"Asteroid belt," Keith replied. "I'll be there in a minute to give the coordinates after I look at the original map again. It's in the Motherload, though, so you can head for Red Sun. Also, I heard from Maribelle who's behind this mess. I'll put in a call to the local Feds on our way out."

"Right," Dani said lightly as she replaced the comm. "So head on over there after he an' mebbe Mike get whatever it is scraped off of our hull, an' Keith'll set ya straight in a few."

"Wait, you're jus' leavin' me in charge still?" Rain asked curiously.

"Sure," Dani grinned. "The two of ya gals gots everythin' under control. 'Sides," she said, grabbing Lori's hand, "my wife has a sore bum that needs attention."

"Any excuse ta get inta my pants," Lori giggled as they left the bridge.

Dani could hear Emily laughing. " _Wo kao_ (holy shit), are they always like that?"

"Every ruttin' chance they get," Rain groaned good-naturedly as she settled the _Favour_ back down again..

* * *

Motherlode Asteroid Belt. Red Sun.

"So," Dani said humorously.

"Yep," Lori replied, smiling slightly.

"I jus' don'... I don' get it," Sara practically wailed despondently.

Keith and Jess stood there, arms around each other and at a loss for words.

They had finally reached the final coordinates, and sure enough, there was a hollowed-out asteroid at the end. It was air-tight and even had good atmo inside. They found a docking port and eased on in, Keith disabling what security they came across. After about a kilometer's walk to the core, the hallway spilled out into a cavernous room. It could easily have held an entire fleet worth of ships.

Only it was empty.

"Where're my ships?" Sara shouted out angrily, her words bouncing off the walls.

"I'm sorry, _nu'er_ (daughter)," Dani sighed, ruffling Sara's head affectionately. "Mebbe they were already stolen, or they never made it here."

"We did see some store rooms on the way," Jess commented as the group turned to leave. "I think there were some rations inside."

"Ew, rations that old? They were nasty even when fresh," Lori said as she wrinkled up her nose.

Sara stopped at the doorway and turned once more to face the room.

"Worst. Treasure hunt. EVER!" she screamed and turned in a huff to follow her family back to the ship.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whew, that was another long one! Maybe I should have broken it up into two parts, but oh well, there just wasn't a decent place to do so.
> 
> Title track is by the excellent and ground-breaking heavy metal group Pantera. Killer guitar and bass chords. Perfect music to write to.
> 
> Stay shiny!


	52. Episode 43: Wanted Dead Or Alive

New Omaha, second moon of Deadwood. Blue Sun system.

"C'mon, Jess, you c'n do this in yer sleep," Dani huffed as she jogged along the ridge. She kept glancing over her shoulder, both to make sure Jess was keeping up and checking for signs of pursuit.

Jess didn't answer, just kept shambling forward in a stumbling sort of run, her injured leg obviously paining her. _Just a little further, make it into the forest, we c'n slip away_...

And then disaster struck as Jess's leg gave out. She slipped, sliding off the ridge and towards the freezing river flowing below.

" _Cao_ (fuck)!" the woman yelled as she scrambled for a handhold. Dani turned and lunged for her, but her fingertips just barely brushed Jess's as she slid back and over the edge, tumbling into the churning waters ten meters below.

"Jess!" Dani screamed.

* * *

Six hours earlier.   
Inbound to New Omaha.

The planet Deadwood and it's two moons, the large Haven and the much smaller New Omaha, were fairly dry and cool. They were on the furthest orbit from Blue Sun, though it came close to the protostar Burnham every fifty years or so, causing massive storms and floods. That was still a good five years off, though.

All three celestial bodies were mining communities, somewhat poor and rough. Haven was known for its independent consortium of mining companies, while Deadwood was mostly run by the Blue Sun Mining Corporation.

New Omaha, however, could be best described as a collection of robber barons.

"I have a bad feelin' about this," Lori murmured from behind Dani.

The lanky captain leaned back and extended her hand to clasp her wife's. "I know, _wo de ai_ (my love)," she replied. "I'm not happy that y'all have the more dangerous assignment, neither."

"We're taking as many precautions as possible," Keith rumbled from the nav seat. "Both parties will be armed, we're only responsible for the shipment of medicine."

"Right, but yours goes into a town right next to this Douglas bandit chief," Dani protested. "An' we're not allowed our long guns! How's our sniper gonna support ya without a sniper rifle?"

Lori gave a soft snort. "Reckon I c'n flash some leg an' distract the bad guys or somethin'."

Dani chuckled, squeezing her freckled lover's hand. "Stop that, yer distractin' my outrage."

"Look, ladies," Keith began earnestly. "The governor is putting on a show of force. We're going to be surrounded by soldiers, and have a representative from the governor's office with each group. We go in, deliver the medicine, and get back out while the political guys make nice."

"Why is it you can't take yer big guns?" Rain asked curiously from her pilot's seat.

"This governor, he's tryin' to crack down on crime and banditry," Dani explained with disgust. "So instead of disarmin' the bandits, he's not allowin' folk on-planet with anythin' bigger'n a pistol. _Bendan_ (idiot)."

"Well, he _is_ a politician," Lori commented.

"Yeah, s'pose the _shen jing bing_ (insanity) goes with the job," Dani smirked.

"So how are they enforcin' it?" Rain asked, still confused. "I mean, yeah we're settin' down at the government compound an' all, but there's no other landin' tower, ships could land wherever they wanna, an' bring along whatever they wan', or give guns to these bandits."

"An' right there, _nu'er_ (daughter)," Dani laughed, "ya just proved yer a whole mess smarter'n the politicians."

* * *

Governor's Compound. New Omaha.

"So what's the name of the town we're headin' towards?" Dani asked the Alliance soldier standing guard over the military ground truck they were loading the crates into.

"Chalco," he responded tersely, scanning the distance for threats.

Dani just grunted as she slung the last crate in and walked over to where the others were waiting for orders to move out.

" _Lian ren_ (sweetheart), my bad feelin's gettin' worse," Lori said as she approached.

"I'm with ya love, this is a _sou zhu yi_ (rotten idea)," Dani complained as she took Lori's hand. " _Didi_ , didya see how the soldiers are fidgety as _diyu_ (hell)? An' this is their center of power!"

"Yeah, I see it _jiejie_ ," Keith sighed. "We'll just keep our eyes open. You too, alright? Check in every hour. Everyone got their survival packs?" He question was greeted by a chorus of affirmative responses. "Right then. Let's move, they're signaling it's time."

"Roger that, One," Dani sighed, straightening her shoulders. _He's right, we gots a job to do, no use complainin' any further_.

Dani gave Lori and Sara a tight squeeze, and even Keith, though he protested it. She cautioned each to watch their _pigu_ (ass), and Jess did the same.

Then they were off down the road in separate directions.

"Home, this is Two, you readin' me?" Dani asked as she bounced on her seat inside the truck next to Jess.

"Go ahead, Two," Rain answered immediately.

"Make sure yer all locked up tight, alright?" she said, worry filling her voice.

"Don' worry 'bout us none, _Kaasan_. Uncle Mike's standin' guard at the door with his _da pigu_ (bigass) rifle. Figgured if'n he can't take it off the ship, he c'n guard from the inside. Door's locked good an' snug."

"Alright, _baobei_ (treasured one). I'll see you again soon. Love you," Dani murmured.

"Love you too, _Kaasan_."

* * *

Chalco. New Omaha.

They pulled up into the town center, and the soldiers filed out nervously. There were only four of them, plus the driver, but this town was in the center of what should be a safe zone. The landowner of this valley was a supporter of the governor and as such received gifts and the like, including the medicine they were dropping off.

The governor's representative, a man who hadn't even introduced himself to either Dani or Jess much less said any other word to them, climbed out of the front cab and stood in the middle of the street, hands on hips. "Where are they?" he asked imperiously.

"Uh oh," Jess murmured as she set her crate down outside the truck.

"Yeah, this could be bad," Dani murmured back, setting her own on top of Jess's. "One, how do you read?"

"We're almost... the town, Two," Keith replied. The distance caused their connection to be staticky but more or less audible. "How... going there?"

"Bad feelin's now gettin' to us as well," Dani commented.

"...again, Two?" Keith's voice was getting more distant.

" _Ta ma de_ (fuck me blind)," Dani growled as her connection faded to a static hiss. "One? You copy?"

"Um, Two?" Jess said nervously.

Dani looked up to see that just about every window lining the center of town had opened and an armed man was poking a rifle out of each one, aimed at their group.

" _W'rin bu lai_ (things never go smooth)," Dani sighed, raising her hands high as Jess did the same.

A group of four men strode down the street towards them. The one in the lead, a lean man with a pockmarked face and wearing worn paramilitary fatigues, stopped with his arms crossed. "All yer guns, on the ground, now," he ordered.

The soldiers complied immediately. Rolling their eyes, the two _Favour_ crew members did so as well. The four bandits moved in, scooping up weapons.

"Oh, these're nice," the pockmarked man smirked as he picked up Dani's beloved Ares pistol and Jess's little Beretta. "Not the usual soldier fare. Spacers?"

Dani nodded. "C'n we get a receipt for those?"

The man laughed uproariously. "I like yer sense of humor, girl. Might jus' let the two of ya live for a spell. I see you've got comms as well, hand them over." He was still chuckling after the women obeyed and as he moved around the truck towards the governor's representative.

"Dani?" Jess whispered urgently.

"Get ready to bolt, alleyway right next to ya," Dani whispered back. "When I say go, you run like _diyu_ (hell), y'hear?" Jess nodded slightly, her body tense.

"Do you know who I am?" the politician was saying.

The pockmarked man held out Dani's gun and shot the representative through the head. "Dead," he answered.

"Go!" Dani yelled, and the two women took off in a sprint.

Fortunately, the soldiers thought escape was a good idea as well, so the bandits concentrated on them first, gunning them down before they could leave the square. A few shots pinged off the pavement and the surrounding buildings as Dani and Jess headed for safety. Dani used her longer legs to keep up with her sister-in-law, who was a dozen years younger than her and in much better shape, fear lending them speed. But, just before reaching the end of the alleyway, a shot hit Jess in the lower leg, passing through and leaving a spurt of blood across the ground.

" _Ta ma de_ (fuck me blind)!" Jess screamed, tumbling to the ground. Dani hardly paused at all in grabbing her by the back of her light jacket and hauling her to her feet.

"Don' stop Jess, we gotta keep movin'! Get yer _pigu_ (ass) up!"

Jess panted in pain as she hobbled along, the distant shouts of bandits getting closer. Looking down Dani could tell they were leaving an easily-tracked blood trail. _Gotta get her bandaged, fast_.

"Move it, girl! Ya gonna let me beat ya? I'm never gonna let ya live it down!" Dani goaded as she slipped an arm around Jess's waist.

" _Ni ta ma de_ (fuck you)," Jess hissed painfully. "Not going to happen."

"Then move!"

They jogged unsteadily together to the edge of town. The cooler temperature outside the heated truck was slightly uncomfortable before but was getting worse as they moved away from the buildings and concrete which had trapped the day's heat from the sun.

"C'mon girl, you c'n do this, almost there..."

And then they were hobbling across a short expanse of grass and into the woods. Dani paused and looked behind them. No bandits had shown up yet, but it was only a matter of time. She seriously doubted they'd let the two women live after witnessing the murder of a governmental official.

She pulled Jess along until they got to a fallen tree, and then let her collapse to the ground while she pulled out her emergency kit. Each member of the _Favour_ 's ground crew carried one when they went into rural areas now per Keith's orders. It contained several items of use in a very compact form, including an emergency blanket, a firestarter, a mini flare, a pocket multitool, and, most importantly, a small first aid kit, among other things.

Dani ripped the latter out of her pouch and rummaged for the large compression bandage. Taking out her combat knife she quickly sliced open Jess's pant leg to expose the wound in her calf.

"Oh, hon, that's not hardly a bug bite there, is it?" Dani murmured with concern. "I got's nothin' to clean it with, a wound that size, so I'm jus' gonna hafta stop the bleedin'."

"Do it," Jess groaned as she dug into her own pouch. She pulled out some pain pills and popped a couple into her mouth.

"Should be another pill in there, kinda'n adrenaline pill," Dani commented as she wound the bandage around her leg. "Might be red or orange."

"Yeah I see it, clear little package," Jess murmured. She popped that one in her mouth too and dry-swallowed the lot. "You looked in the kit before?"

"Nope," the lanky spacer grinned as she tied the bandage off. "Survival trainin' from the war. Standard flight kit, I recommended them to yer husband. Smaller and lighter than the big ones he wanted fer field use."

"Right," Jess replied. She stood to her feet and tested her weight. "Gorram if it isn't working already. I can move."

Dani glanced around the tree and saw some bandits cautiously emerging from the town, searching. "Well, hope ya c'n at least jog, 'cause we gotta go fast again."

The two women set off at a slow and easy lope, Jess's a bit more awkward as her gait was off-kilter. "Dunno why they're bein' so careful lookin' for us," Dani mused as they ran. "They took our guns. Mebbe they think we got some backups?"

"Who knows," Jess panted. "I'll take any help we can get."

Dani really wished they still had their comms, even if they couldn't reach Keith's team they might still have been in range of the _Favour_. As it was, things happened so fast nobody even knew yet what befell their party, and wouldn't until they failed to return.

They broke out of the woods then and came across a raging river that wound its way down towards the foothills. The immediate area was fairly open though another more dense patch of forest lay ahead.

"C'mon, Jess, you c'n do this in yer sleep," Dani huffed as she jogged along the ridge bordering the river, heading for the forest. She kept glancing over her shoulder, both to make sure Jess was keeping up and checking for signs of pursuit.

And then Jess took her tumble into the water below.

"No, no, no," Dani moaned, searching frantically for the slim woman. The air was more frigid now that she had stopped moving, and she was sure the temperature of the river was far worse, having come from the mountains.

Finally, she spied some rocks downriver where a number of fallen trees had come up against them, forming a breakwater of sorts. She took off in a dash, racing down to where she could climb towards the site.

"Jess!" she screamed frantically as she reached the logs. She carefully stepped out onto the slippery branches, testing her steps. "Jess!"

She almost slipped right off when a hand reached out and grabbed her leg. "Oh, thank Buddha!" she exclaimed as she grabbed Jess's frozen hand. She hauled her out of the water and practically carried the soaked woman to the shoreline. Her own boots got wet, but fortunately, not much got inside, and she kept her footing the rest of the way.

Once there, she turned the chattering raven-haired girl around so she could carry her on her back. "Jess, grab on sweetie, I'll get us back up."

Her sister-in-law couldn't answer her, she was shaking so badly. _She's only got a few minutes before hypothermia sets in, gotta get her to warmth, fast_.

As she climbed up the bank, one hand keeping Jess's weak grasp around her neck secure, she felt a breeze against her cheek. As she reached the top, she turned to see dark storm clouds approaching.

" _Hao yun bu lai, huai yun bu jwo_ (good luck don't come, back luck don't leave)," she groaned.

It was a race now, not just between her and the onset of hypothermia, but against the oncoming storm. Unfortunately, the latter was moving quickly, and Dani saw a few flakes of snow drifting down in front of her face.

Then they were into the woods and the light dimmed immediately. The storm started in now, more snow blowing past her face. She kept peering around, looking for anything that would help. There were several rock outcroppings but nothing that would shelter them...

And then she saw it, just off to the right. An opening in the side of a rocky hill, hopefully, a cave. She made a beeline for it just as the snow began in earnest.

Entering the gap she saw it was indeed a cave, deep enough to enclose them and leave room for a fire. " _Niubi_ (fucking awesome)," she breathed as she set Jess down.

She bent over to hold the pale woman's trembling head in her hands, focusing her attention. "Jess, I need ya to strip down, okay? Get these clothes off. I'm gonna get firewood, cover us up, and start a fire. Alright?"

Jess gave a rapid nod, teeth still chattering, and fumbled at her clothes. Dani raced back out to scoop up some fallen branches. Fortunately, they were plentiful in the forest, and plenty dry still. The snow was starting to come down even harder now, but she managed to get the firewood inside and pull over some larger branches with foliage attached to conceal their refuge.

Turning back into the cave, she saw that Jess had only managed to get her boots, tunic, and bodyarmor off. She was fumbling with her trousers still, unable to work the clasp with her numb fingers. Dani noticed with concern that her skin was a pasty white, at odds with her usual Asian heritage complexion, and her lips were turning blue.

"Okay sweetie, lemme help," she said gently, moving the frozen woman's fingers away. She stripped Jess's pants off, then her socks and underwear, leaving her huddled on the floor shivering as she pulled the thermal emergency blanket out. She unfolded the silvery material quickly and wrapped Jess up in it as best she could. Fortunately, the floor of the cave was soft dirt and would be somewhat comfortable.

Once her sister-in-law was settled, she got the fire started. It was a tenuous thing, but at least it was warmth that Jess badly needed. Then she got the blanket out of Jess's kit and strung it up across the entryway, securing it with bits of adhesive and leaving a small space at the top for the smoke to escape. _Hopefully, nobody'll be lookin' for us in this weather, but at least that'll trap the heat inside_.

Then she stripped her own clothes and bodyarmor off until she was stark naked and crawled into the makeshift sleeping bag with Jess.

"What... are... you... doing?" Jess chattered.

'Gettin' you warm," Dani murmured as she enveloped Jess in her limbs. She tried to get as much body contact as possible to warm the shivering woman and get her core temperature back up. She had Jess's back to the fire, and snuggled her head into her chest.

"Just... want... me... naked," the freezing girl joked weakly.

Dani laughed softly. "Don' flatter yerself none. Yeah yer hot an' all, but yer my brother's wife. More like a sister to me. Anyways, not my type."

"Lori?" she asked succinctly.

"Yep, my type exactly," she sighed, figuring on keeping a conversation going to put the shivering woman at ease after their perilous escape. "Soft in all the right places, an' hard in all the other right ones. Acres an' acres of freckles, red hair, curvy..."

"Now... getting... me... excited," Jess laughed shakily.

Dani giggled. "Sorry. I do tend to go on an' on when she's concerned."

"Hey... Dani?"

"Yeah, sweetie?"

"Really... happy... you... found... her."

Dani smiled, stroking Jess's wet hair which seemed to be finally drying out some. "Me too, _meimei_. Me too." She shifted her body a little, noting that Jess was starting to warm up some, but her extremities were still icy. "Here, move yer arms down in 'tween us... Oh! No, not there, hon, little to the side, I know ya can't feel 'em none, but yer hands're not somewhere ya want them..."

* * *

Forest cave. New Omaha.

Dani woke the next morning, sleepily taking note of her surroundings. She was warm and snuggled into a blanket in a cozy little cave, and her arms were wrapped around...

Not Lori. Actually, it was Jess. And she was spooning her sister-in-law, with her hands wrapped around her front, and holding on to her much smaller breasts like she usually did when waking up in bed with Lori.

Her sudden intake of breath did not go unnoticed. "It's okay, sweetie," Jess murmured. "I figured this was just how you would normally be with Lori."

"Um, yeah, 'xactly," Dani blushed as she withdrew her hands gently. "Sorry anyways. Dunno why it didn' register, yer a lot smaller, even more than me. Er, sorry 'gain."

"No worries, hon," Jess giggled. "I'm local chapter president of the itty-bitty titty committee."

Dani choked back a laugh. "They're not all _that_ bad. I'm like a B cup, what're you, A?"

"Mmmhmm," Jess murmured sleepily. "Like Keith always says, 'more than a mouthful is too much.'"

"Oh God, I didn' need that image in my head none!" Dani groaned.

She noted though that Jess's color had improved dramatically. As Jess turned her head, she also saw that her lips had returned to their normal color as well.

"How's yer limbs? C'n ya feel all of 'em?"

"Yes, seems like it. No fingers or toes lost," Jess giggled again, wiggling back into Dani. "I can kind of see the attraction here. Women are much softer than men."

Dani laughed and pushed the other woman away. "None of that, now, _meimei_. Not my type, 'member?"

"Oh, I'm just teasing you," Jess grinned as she sat up, clutching the blanket to her chest. "My clothes are dry enough, I think. Thanks for spreading them out."

"All that survival trainin' paid off. Funny how some things stick with ya, 'specially the body-warmin' part."

"How so?" Jess asked as she pulled her clothes over towards her.

"Well, most of the other crew I flew with were all men. So's I always hadda think 'bout if'n this ever happened, I'd be snugglin' up with a guy." Dani wrinkled her nose. "Not at all appealin'."

Jess laughed while pulling on her underwear and pants. "So you've never been with a guy?"

"Nope, never," Dani replied, pulling her own pants on and pushing back down the bad memories of her ordeal on Silverhold with less effort than it used to take. "An' you never been with a girl?"

"Nope, never," Jess smiled. "I'm still going to take you up on your idea, though, about the Companion. You really think Keith would go for it?"

Dani let out a peal of laughter. "Oh, _meimei_ , you know how guys are. It'd be a fantasy come true."

"I like how you're calling me _meimei_ now," Jess smiled after she pulled her shirt on.

Dani grinned. "Well, it's either that or _bang jiar_ (lover), since we shared a bed."

Jess laughed. "Okay _jiejie_ , I'll settle for that then."

They pulled their boots over to put on, but Jess wrinkled her nose up. "Ugh, mine are still a little wet."

"Hmm," Dani mused. "There's some salve in our kits. 'Tween the two of us should have enough for both feet. Insulate 'em, keep 'em from crackin'."

"Okaaayy," Jess drawled. "Worth a shot."

Dani had both tubes of salve out and was rubbing them onto Jess's feet before pulling her socks on. In the back of her mind, she realized this was a little more intimate than she was used to with another woman other than her wife, so she tried to keep the conversation going to stem off her embarrassment.

"So, Keith, that's your type of guy, huh?"

"Oh, _diyu_ (hell) no," Jess laughed. "Not at all."

" _Ni zai jiang shen me pi hua_ (what the fuck are you saying)?" Dani asked incredulously.

Jess laughed again. "No, in University I liked them cute and dumb. Smart guys usually felt intimidated by my own greater intellect," she said modestly.

"So what happened with Keith?" Dani asked curiously as she pulled Jess's socks on over the balm. She thought it strange they'd never had this conversation before.

"Finally found someone who could keep up with me," Jess grinned. "And the full package didn't hurt. If you know what I mean."

"I _so_ do not need ta hear 'bout my brother's package, neither," Dani groaned, tossing Jess's boots towards her. "Here, let's look at yer bandage 'fore we head out."

Dani pulled the tattered pants leg aside to see what remained of the bandage. It was pretty ragged as well, so she carefully pulled it off. Jess gave a hiss of pain as she did so, revealing a nasty-looking puckered hole still oozing blood.

"Well, good news is the dip in the river likely cleaned it out," Dani commented, pulling a fresh bandage out of Jess's pack along with some antibiotic. "We'll see how well ya c'n walk on it today."

"I can walk," Jess winced. "Don't think I can run, though." She looked thoughtfully at the ceiling of the cave. "Unless I'm being chased by folks with guns. I think I could manage a run then."

"Good ta know," Dani laughed as she tied the bandage off. "Right, let's gather stuff up and head on out."

The thermal blankets couldn't really fold up again into as small a package as before, but they were small enough to stuff into their pockets, so they brought them along just in case. Jess took her last pair of pain pills out of her kit and popped them in her mouth, dry-swallowing with some difficulty. Dani was wishing she'd thought to gather some snow last night for water.

Exiting the cave, they were astonished to see that most of the snow had already melted away in the sunlight of the new day. "Muddy, but not too bad," Dani murmured. "Less tracks than in snow, anyways."

"True enough," Jess commented as they headed out. "So, this general way?"

"Good as any," Dani smiled.

* * *

Unknown village. New Omaha.

They crouched at the edge of the woods, carefully examining the village in the distance.

"So, did Keith's extra-special survival kit include binoculars?" Jess asked casually through chapped lips. All their balm had been used on her feet.

Dani sighed. "Yeah, I think they did."

"That would have been nice."

"Oh, _bi zui_ (shut up)," Dani grinned, then winced in pain as her lips cracked. "C'mon, might as well get a lil' closer. Don' seem like all that many folk are up an' about."

Dani had to support Jess as her pain pills had worn off by now. They only had the four in Dani's kit left and wanted to conserve them in case they needed them later. Seeing children outside in the village ahead, they remained hopeful this wasn't one of those times.

They limped together across the field and towards the outer houses. The village seemed to be a little run-down, but there was little debris or ruins to be seen, so hopefully there hadn't been much fighting here. A group of children playing outside a house spied their arrival and fled inside.

"Well, guess we'll see what kind of a reception we can get now," Jess murmured, wincing in pain.

Before Dani could reply, two women and a man came out of the same house, carrying rifles. They did not immediately point them at the pair of women, however.

"That's a lil' encouragin'," Dani whispered as they continued to hobble closer.

"Who are you?" One of the women barked out when they were within speaking range.

They halted their progress, Jess leaning heavily against her. "I'm Dani. We're spacers, our convoy was ambushed by bandits," Dani explained. "My sister-in-law here, Jess, is wounded. C'n y'all help us?"

The woman, gaunt-faced and lean with stringy blond hair, squinted at them. "Where were ya ambushed?"

Dani and Jess shared a glance. "Chalco," the lanky captain finally answered. "We were deliverin' medical supplies for the governor. Had soldiers with us, but they all got offed."

The three villagers bent towards each other in discussion for a minute. It didn't seem to be an argument, so the women waited as patiently as possible, out of other options at the moment.

Then the first woman turned back to them. "The leader of these bandits, c'n ya describe 'im?"

Dani nodded. "Lean fella, pockmarked, wore an old military-style outfit."

"Abrams," the woman spat out as if the word had left a foul taste in her mouth. "Y'all come with us, we'll get ya fixed up proper."

Within an hour they had been hydrated, cleaned, and freshly clothed to hide their spacer origins. They were sitting at a small wooden table, devouring bowls of some sort of vegetable soup, while Jess had her leg up on another chair with the pants rolled up to the knee. The village doctor was examining it before she rebandaged the wound, and Jess winced as it was cleaned out again.

"Yer very lucky," the doctor commented dryly. "It's not infected none. I'll leave ya with a bottle of pills, keep ya on yer feet."

"Much obliged, doc," Dani smiled. Jess nodded gratefully in agreement.

The woman, who had introduced herself as Pearl, was leaning up against the wall in her kitchen. "We c'n give ya some supplies, weapons an' such, but we don' have much. We've been fightin' that warlord Douglas an' his dog Abrams for a spell now. This is our refuge. Don' wan' no trouble comin' down on our heads."

"An' we don' wanna bring it down on ya, neither," Dani reassured her. "We're grateful as _diyu_ (hell) for what ye've done fer us, but we'll be pushin' on as soon as we c'n. D'ya know of a place where we c'n get to a Cortex unit?"

Pearl sighed as she pushed herself off from the wall. "Closest real town is La Vista. Gotta warn ya, though, Douglas controls it, keeps a whole mess of his bully-boys there. We gots some contacts inside, though. Rebels, as it were."

"Again, we're much obliged," Dani smiled.

Jess nodded again, swallowing her mouthful of soup. "Truly we are. I don't know how we'd have survived much longer if you hadn't taken us in."

"Well, jus' make sure ya keep yer pretty lil' mouth shut," Pearl snorted in response. "Core accent like that's a dead giveaway here 'bouts."

"S'alright, I c'n do enuff talkin' fer the two of us," Dani mumbled around her spoon.

Just then the front door to the house banged open and a disheveled young man rushed in. "They're here!" he hissed urgently.

"Abrams?" Pearl asked, brow furrowed.

The boy nodded frantically. Dani jumped up to help Jess to her feet. "We'll head out the back, into the woods..."

"No," Pearl said firmly. "Ya won' make it even half a klick. We'll take care of this _piyan_ (asshole) once an' fer all. This's the first time he's shown 'is ugly face in our town, now we gots the advantage. Stay put."

She strode towards the door, whispering instructions to the boy, who nodded and ran off again as she exited the house.

"What do we do, _jiejie_?" Jess asked, eyes wide.

"You stay put, like the woman said," the doctor replied before Dani could. She was tying the bandage off with deft hands. "Trust in these folk."

"But-" Dani started. Her response was cut off by a bellowing voice. She recognized it as being from the pockmarked man, and even though the door was closed she could make out his voice, but not the words.

"What's he sayin'?" Dani asked, straining her ears.

"If'n it's like the other villages they like ta bully, he's tryin' to take hostages and threatenin' to burn the place down if'n he don' get his way." The doctor stood up nonchalantly and gathered up her supplies. "I'll need to leave ya soon, I'm sure there'll be some bullets holes that need closed after this."

Dani and Jess shared a helpless look. And then shots rang out, a flurry at first, and then sporadic gunfire until it trickled off to an eerie silence again.

"Right, I'm off," the nameless doctor informed them. "Y'all stay put now, right? I mean it."

"Will do," Dani replied. She sat back down, feeling as if she could wring her hands with worry. _What if we got folk killed over us?_

Within a few seconds of the doctor leaving, Pearl returned. Dani leapt to her feet again. "Is everyone alright? Nobody got hurt, did they?"

"It's alright, girl," Pearl laughed. "Taken care of, only a couple'a injuries, an' we got them all kilt, includin' Abrams, thank Buddha. Hope his black soul rots in _Diyu_ (hell), the _hun dan_ (bastard)."

The two crew from the _Favour_ shared a relieved sigh.

"Alright then, let's get y'all ready to head out," Pearl said firmly.

Both girls were delighted to find that Abrams and his thugs still had their sidearms on them. However, their comms were missing. The villagers provided them with enough food and water to make it to the next town, as well as warmer coats and wooly hats that would help them blend in, not to mention keep them much warmer.

"I can' thank y'all enough," Dani murmured as she enveloped Pearl in a hug as they went to leave.

"It's our pleasure, hon," Pearl laughed gently. "Y'all just make sure ta get back to yer ship now, hear?"

"We will," Jess promised as she took her turn with a hug. "And we'll never forget your kindness."

They waved their goodbyes and set off down the road towards the town, address for an underground arms dealer in hand.

* * *

La Vista. New Omaha.

Many hours later they crested a rise and saw the town ahead. In reality, it was more like a small city for this moon. La Vista had several tall buildings, some as high as ten stories, and it spread out for a couple of kilometers. The forest came right up to the edge of the town, where smaller residences lay.

"Alright, I think we should get off the road now before we come across some of Douglas's men," Jess stated nervously. She took another two pain pills with a swallow of water from her bottle. Dani noted worriedly that it had only been two hours since her last dose.

"Leg botherin' ya more?" she asked gently as they headed into the woods.

"A bit," Jess replied. "I want to make sure I'm able to move fast if we need to."

"Least we're not defenseless now," Dani smiled, patting her beloved Ares pistol in its holster, for maybe the hundredth time since they started out.

They crept cautiously around the perimeter of the town until they found a larger building, perhaps a warehouse, that looked to be abandoned. Dani motioned to Jess, and they silently walked forward, keeping their eyes open for any movement. It was near evening, dinnertime for most folk, and they encountered no obstacles as they entered the unlocked back door of the cavernous structure. As Dani suspected, it looked like an old storage building.

"Let's head to the front, mebbe we c'n find a window to see outta," Dani whispered.

The two women snuck forward but were soon startled by a querulous voice. "Whatddya doin' in my home?"

Jess stifled a squeak as Dani spun, her hand on her gun. A man dressed in rags was huddled against the remains of a busted wooden crate, surrounded by debris. "Sorry, _pengyou_ (friend), we're jus' passin' through." She paused. "Hey, we're lookin' for an old _huoban_ (buddy), c'n ya point us in the right direction?"

The scruffy man peered up at her blearily. "Whaddya give me fer helpin' ya?"

Dani rummaged around in her rucksack that Pearl had given her. "Got a handful of Fruity Oaty bars," she offered tentatively.

The man's eyes lit up in glee. " _Ta ma de_ (fuck me blind), thas' better'n booze, _ni zi_ (little girl)! Hand 'em over, I'll point 'im out fer ya."

Shortly thereafter the women were heading down the street towards the other side of town. They tensed up with every person that passed them but noticed the townspeople did the same. "Are we sticking out as strangers, or are they just suspicious of everyone?" Jess whispered.

"I think the latter. An' keep quiet _meimei_ , no talkin' til we get to this Whistler fella, alright?"

Jess nodded wordlessly and kept her arms wrapped tightly around her middle as she walked.

After another hour the sky was beginning to darken somewhat but they had arrived at their destination. It was a door next to a pawn shop which was already closed. There was an intercom next to it, dingy and beat up but still serviceable.

Dani pressed the button, and after a few beats, a gravelly voice answered. "Yeah?"

"Lookin' for a man named Whistler," Dani answered quietly. "Pearl sent us."

There was another pause. The women glanced at each other, wondering if this was a dead end. But then the door buzzed and unlocked, while the voice came back. "C'mon up."

They climbed the narrow, rickety steps to the second floor where they found a heavily-reinforced door already cracked open. Dani eased her way through, looking around cautiously, and Jess entered behind her.

The room was cluttered with workbenches and tables, shelves and boxes. It seemed to be part storage area, part workshop. It was dimly lit, but Dani could see a lit cigarette trailing smoke from the ashtray on a desk at the far end.

The door closed behind them, and the girls whirled around to see a man holding a shotgun pointed in Dani's midriff. He was grizzled, with long grey hair and matching stubble. The man had a squint that said he'd seen more than his share of horrors, and that little would faze him anymore. He gave them a sardonic smile, nodding towards them. "Guns on the floor, if'n ya don' mind."

Dani and Jess slowly withdrew their firearms and laid them on the floor, standing back up just as slowly with their arms raised.

"No need fer that," the man answered with a gravelly chuckle. "Jus' wanna check yer bonafides. Ya say Pearl sent ya? From which town?"

"We never did rightly learn the name," Dani replied. "They helped us out. Saved our skins. Said ya might be able ta help us the rest of the way. Are you Whistler?"

"I am," he grunted. "Rest of the way, where?"

"To our ship," Jess responded earnestly. "Please, can you help us contact them?"

Whistler gave another grunt, shaggy eyebrows raised. He lifted the shotgun up and rested it against his shoulder. "Right, accent like that yer sure not one o' Douglas's folk. Pick yer guns up, an' c'mon."

The two crew members complied while Whistler lurched towards the desk. Dani noticed that he had some sort of leg brace on that hindered his movement.

As he sat down, he noticed Dani's curious look. "Took a round to the knee some years back, me an' my brother got ambushed while sellin' our wares to a town nearby. I made it out. He didn'. S'why I do everythin' in my power to get back at that _wang ba_ (son of a bitch) Douglas. If'n he's after ya, I'll help ya."

Dani nodded as she sat in a stool that Whistler indicated. "Fella by the name of Abrams ambushed us, part of a government convoy deliverin' meds. Tracked us when we escaped, but Pearl and her folk put an end to 'im."

Whistler barked a laugh as he took a drag off his cigarette. "Best news I heard all month. Now, what kin I do fer y'all?"

"Two things," Jess answered, as Dani was having difficulty breathing over Whistler's smoke. He quickly apologized and put it out, waving away the fumes. "First, we need some ammunition and extra magazines for our sidearms, if you have them. And secondly, we need to contact our ship for pickup."

Whistler peered at their sidearms as they held them out. "Sure, I c'n help with that. Got a few boxes o' both forty cal fer the Ares, an' nine mil for the Beretta. An' I c'n do ya one better."

Grinning, he lurched to his feet again and took a few steps towards the storage lockers along the near wall. He opened a few up, rummaging around. He pulled out a pair of boxes of ammo, one of each caliber, and then another handgun. It was an exact copy of Jess's.

"The 101-T model was real popular fer the ladies," he answered Jess's incredulous look with a chuckle. "I got a box of 'em in awhile back, this's the last one I got left. Only gots two extra mags, though, but that should give ya one reload fer each gun."

"C'n ya use two guns at the once?" Dani asked her sister-in-law curiously.

Jess nodded slowly, brow furrowed. "I think so. Keith made me do offhand drills, so I can shoot almost as well with my left hand. Never tried dual-wielding before, though."

"Jus' shoot one gun atta time," Whistler advised as he handed her the gun. "Let's ya cover more area, too, but don' jus' fire 'em off willy-nilly, yeah? Still gotta make each shot count."

He found an extra three magazines for Dani's pistol, and while the girls set to reloading their guns with the ammunition Whistler provided, he took Jess's shoulder holster harness over to his workbench. He had another shoulder holster, this one for lefties, that was a close enough match, and stitched the two together.

Jess had her coat off and slipped the harness over her shoulders, buckling them down onto her belt, and slipped both guns in. "You are ruttin' _huaidan_ (badass)," Dani grinned.

"That y'are, girl," Whistler nodded. "Now, fer the second thing y'all wanted. I got a unit, but it's text-only, and jus' transmits, no receive. I use it ta report on troop movements an' such. There's an organization herebouts, keeps us fightin' Douglas, but I'm not gonna give ya any more details on it, if'n ya don' mind."

"No worries," Dani reassured him. "We understan' completely."

Soon thereafter they had a message sent to the _Favour_. It indicated the town they were at, and that they were going to be at the top of the tallest building they could find within a half hour with a flare from their survival kits lit.

The girls gave Whistler their sincere thanks and headed off back downtown.

They made it nearly three blocks before they came across a group of bandits.

"There they are!" one of them shouted as they hauled out their rifles.

"Well, _cao_ (fuck)," Dani said sardonically as she whipped out her sidearm and dropped the first pair of goons. "That didn' take long."

Jess had both of her guns out and was alternating them, sending bullets with a fair degree of accuracy into the group, sending them diving for cover. "Think the homeless pop turned us in?"

"Could be," Dani grunted, sending another bullet into the eye of a bandit who was slow in scrambling away. "Let's go, alleyway here. That's gonna bring 'em all down on our heads."

The two women charged down the trash-strewn passageway, dodging refuse and splashing through puddles of water and other liquids that were best not examined closely.

"Closest tall building?" Jess panted, looking upwards.

"Yeah, at this point not gonna be picky," Dani huffed back. They ran out into the street and almost bowled over another pair of bandits who were charging forward.

Dani sent the female sprawling and then shot her in the head as she started to rise. Jess just pushed the man away with one hand while shooting him twice in the gut with the other.

They hurdled the fallen bodies to head into what looked to be an apartment building, maybe seven stories high. It had no sign outside it, but fortunately, the doors were unlocked.

A few steps inside the building they found out why it was unlocked. There were several armed bandits lounging around the lobby, rifles stacked casually against the wall as they drank and smoked. Every head turned at their entrance.

"Um," Dani said intelligently. "Hi?"

One of the bandits recovered and started barking orders. Dani shot him in the face without hesitation and ran towards the stairwell, Jess on her heels.

"Did we just run into some sort of barracks for these _hun dans_ (bastards)?" Jess shouted as she pounded up the steps behind Dani.

"Looks like it!" Dani yelled back, scanning ahead for targets.

"Nice choice, _jiejie_! Well done!" Jess laughed sarcastically.

" _Qu nide_ (fuck off) _meimei_!" Dani laughed back with a trace of hysteria.

They made it three flights up before the door above them banged open and some more thugs spilled out. The stairway below them was beginning to fill with shouting men and women, all very armed and very angry.

Dani kept running, shooting as she went, dropping bandits with abandon. The others at the doorway let out a yelp and dived back.

"Reloading!" Dani yelled as she veered off to the wall and slowed. Jess scampered past her, sending bullets into the doorway that had been blocked open by bodies.

They continued on up, trying very hard not to slip on the bloody steps, and got to the fifth floor before they heard the top door open up. Several men filed out, all carrying modern and deadly automatic rifles.

"Oh, _ta ma de yuangu_ (for fucks sake)," Dani yelled, shouldering the next door open and rolling inside the hallway. Jess tumbled right over her as they both avoided the chattering hail of bullets. Screams and complaints from below told them that the men above them weren't being too careful of their targets.

"Must have an elevator," Jess panted as she stumbled to her feet. Her leg was beginning to show a small stain as her wound reopened and seeped through the bandage.

Dani drew her lips back in a snarl at the sight. "Hang on, _meimei_ , we're almost there. Jus' gotta find another stairwell."

Jess limped along behind her, training her guns both behind and then to the side as they crossed passageways. At the end of the hall was another door marked 'exit'. Before they could reach it, however, it was thrown open and a pair of women ran out, rifles blazing.

Dani leaned against the right wall, stretching her gun out and killing both bandits. Behind her, Jess gave a shout as she started opening fire as well. The lanky captain looked back to see several other bandits filling the hallway from where they had originally entered. Behind them was a door marked 'maintenance'. Dani tried the handle but it was locked.

"Keep their heads down!" she yelled as she stood back and kicked in the door. Fortunately, it was fairly flimsy and gave way quickly. "Inside!" Dani barked, and Jess rolled backwards. As she went to follow, the stairwell door closest to them banged open again and another bandit jumped out, firing rapidly. Dani felt a sting in her left shoulder and then her arm on the same side as she jumped into the room.

" _Ching-wah tsao duh liou mahng_ (frog-humping son of a bitch)!" she gritted out painfully from the floor, holstering her pistol and clutching her arm where it was bleeding.

Jess leapt back up and slammed the door shut, looking around the room wildly. There were heavy lockers next to the door, and she darted to the side, straining to pull them over and across the door.

Dani stumbled to her feet to lend what help she could, and between the two of them managed to topple it over. They collapsed back against the second locker, taking shelter as bullet holes started to appear in the walls and door.

"Well, it was a good run, _jiejie_ ," Jess sighed as she rummaged for bandages and Dani pulled her bleeding arm out of her coat. Fortunately, they had picked up a decent first-aid kit from the village, and she quickly had Dani's arm patched and a bandage wound tightly to stop the bleeding. Her shoulder wound seemed less severe, just a graze, and Jess concentrated on getting it sealed up and covered.

"Not done yet, _meimei_ ," Dani groaned against the pain. Her eyes roamed around the room. There was a window, but they were too high up and too far from the roof, there was no fire escape...

And then her gaze turned upwards to the ceiling to the ventilation grate.

"There," she breathed.

Jess looked up incredulously. "Can we fit?"

Dani crawled over, testing the strength of the shelving unit underneath. "With yer A's an' my B's, we'll make it happen. Soon as the fire lets off, climb on up and get it open, 'k?" She shrugged off her rucksack to the floor.

No sooner had she spoken than the gunfire cut off suddenly. "Y'all surrender now," a rough voice called out, "an' we'll make sure yer injuries get taken care of, alright?"

Dani nodded to Jess, and she scrambled upwards after discarding her own rucksack and coat, quickly popping open the grate and shimmying upwards.

As she stood to follow, Dani called back. "How d'we know ya jus' won' shoot us when we come out?"

She jumped upwards then after shucking off her bulky coat the rest of the way, ignoring the searing pain in her arm as effectively as she ignored the false platitudes that the bandit was giving them. The duct was a tight fit but angled upwards until they came to a junction from what Jess reported.

"Which way?" she hissed over her shoulder.

Dani tried to picture the building layout. They had started out heading towards the center, so the edge of the building should be... "Right!" she hissed back.

Jess wiggled forward as best she could. They almost missed the shaft leading upwards, but Dani called her back when she noticed it above Jess's legs. Wiggling backwards was much harder than forwards, but they managed and started to climb up just in time. The bandits must have realized they were in the ducts finally and started to fill the ceiling with holes. Fortunately, by this point, they were in a wall space and none of the gunfire reached them.

Another two stories up and they had reached the top floor. There was heat radiating from the left branch as they reached the top, and both girls were sweating. "Heat source?" Jess asked over her shoulder. "Might be furnace room."

"Usually on the bottom floor," Dani groaned with the effort at holding herself up. "But yeah, try it."

Jess wiggled forward like a snake until she got to the next grate. "Ow!" she exclaimed. "It's way too hot to open! Can we turn around so I can kick it?"

"Here," Dani answered, pulling her hat off with her right hand and extending it forward. "Use our hats like mittens."

Jess reached backwards, fumbling around until she had hold of the proffered wooly headgear. It took her a few short seconds to bang the grate open, and then they were inside a sweltering central airway.

"Looks like the hot air gets pumped up here," Dani panted as she pulled herself inside and slumped wearily to the floor.

"Odd design, but whatever," Jess commented. "There's a maintenance hatch over here, you stay and I'll try it."

"Be careful, _meimei_ ," Dani murmured.

Jess worked the handle quietly as possible. Fortunately, it was well-oiled and opened without a squeak.

" _Wo kao_ (well fuck me / holy shit), finally something goes right for us!" Jess exclaimed. "Doorway to the roof access is right here!"

Dani rolled to her feet with a moan. "Alright," she panted, head hanging down. "Lemme take some pain pills first. How long has it been?"

"Since we sent the message?" Jess asked as she handed the pills and her water bottle over. "One hour."

" _Jingcai_ (brilliant)," Dani mumbled sarcastically around the bottle. She swallowed her pills and shook her head determinedly to clear her head. "Well, here's hopin' they can still see us from somewhere. Let's do this."

They exited the sweltering room and into a barren hallway. Sure enough the door directly across was labeled for roof access, and it was unlocked. They cautiously opened it and peeked out together, guns at the ready.

"Looks like we got here first," Jess murmured.

They exited the building, closing the door gently behind them. Just as it was about to shut, Dani heard another door bang open somewhere down the hall. " _Nao huo cuo huai dans_ (annoying little bastards) are startin' ta _qi si wole_ (piss me off)," she growled, holding onto the handle. It seemed to be of a heavier metal than most of the doors they had encountered, so she hoped it might hold up under some gunfire. "Jess," she yelled, "light the flare!"

Jess pulled her flare out and lit it. The sky was completely black now, and it illuminated the rooftop in an eerie red glow.

"C'mon guys, be there, be out there somewhere," Dani pleaded quietly. The door she was holding shut shuddered as the bandits arrived and tried to break it down, evidently not realizing she was merely holding it closed and that it wasn't locked.

"Have we gots anythin' to barricade it?"

"Nothing!" Jess answered, frantically searching around. "I can't move any of this stuff, it's bolted down!"

Just then Dani could hear, over the muted thuds of the bandits, a very welcome whine of a very familiar engine.

"Well, look at me listenin' to that beautiful sound," Dani crowed.

And then the _Favour_ was soaring overhead, ramp down and with both Keith and Lori standing ready with their rifles. Sara was crouched in between them, her little gun held upwards. "C'mon!" she screamed at them.

Dani nodded at Lori and let go of the door handle. They both dashed towards safety.

She heard the door slam open behind her but Dani didn't hesitate. She tucked her head down and kept running forward as Keith and Lori opened fire, their accurate shots discouraging any pursuit.

Halfway there Keith barked, "Down!" and the two women hit the deck, covering each other up in a tight hug. They heard the muffled _whump_ of a flash grenade behind them, and then they were scrambling to their feet again, helping each other up to continue their sprint.

As she reached the ramp Dani slipped. Her left arm shot out without thinking to catch herself, but it collapsed, unable to support her. She felt a tug on the back of her shirt as Jess picked her up and hauled the both of them into the bay to collapse on the deck, panting hard.

Their labored breathing turned into a giggling fit as they stared at each other and clasped hands. They were absolutely filthy from their duct crawling, hair disheveled, and sweat streaks making their faces look like they were striped. Both were bleeding somewhat profusely.

But they were alive. And they made it home.

And then their spouses were there enveloping them in hugs as they set their rifles aside. Sara closed the door up as the ship headed up into orbit, and then she joined in on the tackling.

"Oof! Hey, bleedin' here!" Dani complained, laughing.

Their respective spouses ignored their pleas and kept hugging them desperately. Smiling, Dani looked over at Jess, still clasping her hand.

"We did it, _meimei_."

"That we did, _jiejie_ ," Jess replied affectionately.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title track is, as you might have guessed, from Bon Jovi. I refuse to bow to criticism. I grew up listening to Jon Bon Jovi. He is the man.
> 
> Easter egg note: Might recognize Whistler from the _Blade_ series.
> 
> I actually inserted this episode in before the mega-epic one I was working on due to personal reasons. Came to me as I was napping on my commuter train. Though it turned out to be of a more epic length than I anticipated. Next one, though, is gonna be pretty gorram epic in length and story, so it's definitely a two-parter. Consider "Part I" like a season finale. (I like the word 'epic', can ya tell?)
> 
> Oh, well. Hope y'all enjoyed! Stay shiny!


	53. Episode 44: If You Want Blood, Part I

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **WARNING:** Contains some violent and potentially disturbing imagery.

En route to Ariel. White Sun.

"So are we ever gonna get a shuttle to replace number one?" Lori asked curiously.

Dani leaned back in her seat at the head of the dining table. "Thinkin' 'bout it. Mebbe wait till we get out to the Border systems, cheaper than the Core, yeah? 'Least we got number two fixed on Osiris."

Maribelle smiled over her coffee cup. "Still smells like a mortuary in there, though."

" _Ta ma de diyu_ (fucking hell), is that what the smell is?" Dani asked. "Was my gorram shuttle used fer hauling 'round ruttin' dead folk?"

"Okay, I'm not gonna ride in it no more now," Lori said, wrinkling her freckled nose.

Kelly joined in the general laughter of the other women. Dani glanced down at her once-close friend. _Still a friend? Still part of the family?_ She was tentatively trying to incorporate Kelly back into her life and the lives of the crew, and reconcile with the fact that Kelly was no longer an enemy. She had betrayed them, yes, but then redeemed herself. And now she had nowhere else to go.

It had been a month since Kelly was brought back aboard the _Fortune's Favour_ , broken and bleeding. Most of the crew seemed to have taken well enough to her again. Maribelle was still cautious around her but included her in conversations and such. Dani could tell that her brother still didn't trust the former Agent fully, but it was hard to earn back his trust once it was broken. _Mebbe the same c'n be said of me_.

Dani did note that Sara was conspicuously absent whenever Kelly was around. She'd sat down with her daughter a week ago and tried to explain how things now were. Sara had accepted it, but she said that it was too difficult to look at her still. Her other side, Shrike, would try to come to the surface whenever she saw Kelly, remembering the fight in the courtyard that one day, seven months ago now.

And since Kelly was mostly healed up, though her left arm was still in a sling, now she could visit the galley. It made for some awkward moments when Sara would suddenly get up and leave, but Kelly seemed to understand.

Emily walked into the galley just then and cleared her throat quietly. "Kelly, c'n Sara talk to ya fer a minute?"

The room went silent as all conversation stopped. Kelly looked up from her place at the table, startled, but nodded slowly.

Emily looked behind her and gestured for Sara to walk in. Dani's middle daughter padded in on sandaled feet to sit at the table across from Kelly without looking up. She sat there for a few beats, fidgeting and adjusting her dark blue dress, but didn't say anything yet.

Kelly looked over at Emily with her eyebrows raised, as if to ask whether or not she should say anything.

Emily shook her head slightly as she sat down and leaned towards Sara. "You don' hafta do this if'n yer not ready, hon."

"No, I need to," Sara whispered. She looked up at Kelly then, staring intently at her for awhile. Her breathing sounded slightly labored as if she were either girding herself up or trying to calm herself down. It slowed after a minute and she swallowed nervously. "I... heard you were tryin' to help me, an' Rain... keepin' us outta sight... an' I jus' wanna say, um, thanks."

Kelly nodded, smiling softly. "I owe you an apology, sweetie, from that courtyard."

Sara shrugged slightly. "S'okay. I've gotten better 'bout it." She looked down at the table again. "I'm gettin' better now. An' I think I c'n look atcha without seein' ya as an enemy now, so mebbe we c'n eat together and stuff?"

"I'd really like that," Kelly murmured.

Sara glanced up again with a smile. "'Kay." Then she got back up again and headed down the rear hallway towards the engine room, likely to hang out with Cali.

Kelly, Maribelle, and Dani shared a meaningful glance and then turned to Emily.

"What jus' happened, Em?" Dani asked cautiously.

Emily smiled as she stood up from the table. "Healin'. She really is gettin' better, _gu ma_ (aunt, father's sister)."

Dani got up and hugged Emily tightly, tears of gratitude in her eyes. " _Dao xie, zhi nu_ (thank you, niece [brother's daughter]). _Dao xie_."

* * *

Ariel. White Sun.

The ground team stood outside the upscale bar where they were to meet with a prospective client, looking around curiously. "We expecting a setup?" Jess asked, noting the lack of ground traffic.

"Never expect a setup, but never discount the possibility," Keith rumbled.

"Should be our motto," Lori snickered. "Wan' me to grab a vantage point, One?"

"Yeah, might be a good idea," Keith murmured. "Four, scout around please? Let us know if you find anything even a little out of the ordinary."

"On it!" Sara piped up cheerfully and then scampered around to the alley that circled the block.

Dani noted that Sara's disposition seemed to vary greatly, but she was more often than not in a better mood when on a mission as if the enhanced activity gave her focus. _Need to 'member to ask Em 'bout that_.

The remaining three crew members entered the bar cautiously, hands on the butts of their guns.

It was dark and gloomy inside, but they didn't see anything suspicious. After pausing at the doorway to scan the room intently, Keith gave a grunt and started forward again towards the bar. He put in an order for three beers and tipped generously. "There a man by the name of Bertram here?"

The bartender scooped up the credits and nodded over towards the rear of the room, where a solitary man sat nursing a glass. He was huddled inside his overly large coat like it was a shelter from the rest of the patrons, obviously uncomfortable being there.

"Right," Keith murmured. "Should have figured that." The three headed over to the table and sat down facing the man.

"Mr. Bertram?" Jess asked as she had offered to speak with the jittery man first.

"Yes, that's me. You are the crew I'm meeting, I presume?" he answered in a rich, cultured voice at odds with his jittery manner.

"That's correct," Jess replied, and introduced themselves.

"What I need is simple, _pengyous_ (friends)," the man began quietly without preamble. "I have some items I need to move without attracting attention. Are you able to do so?"

Jess glanced at the others before responding. "Well, Mr. Bertram, if it's a sensitive cargo we're willing to help within reason. There are some items we're not willing to move."

Bertram took a sip from his glass and wet his lips nervously. "Human cargo?" he asked in a whisper.

Jess's eyes flashed dangerously. "Again, that depends. Are we talking willing or unwilling cargo?"

The man looked at her intently for a beat and then gave a nod. "I see. My apologies, I think I have wasted your time here."

"Well, at least we cleared that up quickly," Jess responded, trying very hard to conceal a disgusted sneer. The _Favour_ 's crew got up and walked rapidly out of the bar without further comment until they reached the street again.

" _Ang zang de yukai gou shi_ (filthy piece of shit)," Dani growled.

"Not disagreeing with you there," Keith rumbled. "Wonder if we need to better stress such things beforehand?"

"Difficult to do, hon," Jess mused. "We're willing to move _some_ illicit cargoes, but we have some lines we don't cross. And, fortunately, we're all in agreement on those."

Keith sighed slightly. "Four, Five, we're done here, you catch all that?"

"Roger that, One," Lori replied. "On my way down to ya now."

Keith paused a beat. "Four?"

There was no answer.

"That's odd," Dani frowned. "She never turns her comm off..."

"Five, when was the last time you had eyes on Four?" Keith asked, searching over the heads of the crowd streaming by.

"Not since she went down that alley, One," Lori said anxiously. "Want me to head back up, see if'n I c'n see anythin'?"

"Affirmative," Keith ordered briskly. "Three, head down the alley that Four did. Two, next alleyway over, go around the block. I'll stay out here and look around."

They broke apart, Dani racing ahead frantically, her heart starting to beat faster with worry. She reached the next alleyway and started walking slower. It reeked of rotting garbage and stale piss. There were a couple of huddled forms, obviously homeless folk sleeping off binges. The dim sunlight that filtered down gave her just enough illumination to see that there was no evidence of a struggle as she walked towards the end, carefully searching the ground and walls.

"This is Three," Jess called back tensely. "I found her comm unit. Signs of a struggle, no blood... Wait, I see a discarded tranquilizer dart. It's been expended."

"No..." Dani whispered, the walls of the alley beginning to spin around her. She started to run back towards the street, stumbling as she talked. "No no no no, _didi_ they took her, they took her Keith, oh God we have to find her, we gotta get her back!" Her voice had raised to a panicked shout by the end.

" _Jiejie_ , calm down," Keith urged over the comm. "We'll find her, alright? Who do we think took her?"

"We're here again," Dani moaned, unconsolable, stopping at the entrance to the street and looking around frantically. The towering buildings loomed overhead, silently bearing the full weight of Alliance judgment upon her. "Ariel, where they took her last time, it's them again..."

By that point, Lori had gotten back to the ground and reached her. She ran up and wrapped her arms around her wife as Dani started sobbing hysterically. "Hush, _wo de ai_ (my love), we'll get 'er, y'know we will..."

Dani jerked her head up suddenly, dashing her tears away with a fist. "Wait. Kelly."

"Right," Keith said, following her sister's train of thought as he walked up. "Let's get back to the ship and see what she can tell us. We'll gear up there, full load out."

"You sure, hon? Here on Ariel?" Jess asked cautiously, jogging out from the alley Sara had disappeared from. "We're on a Core world!"

"And while we head back, I'm going to make a few calls," Keith continued determinedly. "Got a couple of favors I can still call in. We won't be interfered with, at least not by the local Feds."

* * *

Undisclosed lab. Ariel.

Sara awoke groggily. Her mind was a tangled mess of jumbled thoughts, struggling to remember what happened last. She shunted that all aside, though, and her senses snapped into focus as she realized her current predicament.

She was sitting in a chair, her arms and legs restrained. And she was naked.

Trying to control her panic, she struggled while looking around wildly. The only other furniture was another chair facing the one she was sitting in, which her attempts didn't seem to budge. _Must be bolted down_. There was a large mirror on one wall, and she could see the reflection of herself, bruised from where she fought back before they must have drugged or subdued her somehow. She'd never looked at herself naked before really, and it unnerved her. She could also see cameras in the corners of the ceiling, and unwilling tears started to flow down her cheeks from embarrassment. She felt exposed, unable to cover up. And, she could admit to herself, she was becoming frightened beyond reason.

A doorway she had not noticed before opened up. It was seamless with the wall and there were no controls, no door handle on this side. An old man walked in, grandfatherly-looking with neat white hair and steel-framed spectacles, wearing a lab coat.

Sara was stunned, recognizing him from the lab on Ariel that she and Cali had escaped from. "You," she breathed.

The scientist was carrying a handheld device, evidently recording their session, and murmured into it as he shut the door behind him and walked forward. "Subject has recollection of the last time we met. Appears agitated on first awakening." He looked over at Sara as he sat down in the chair facing her. "Hello, dear," he said, giving her a smile that was intended to be kind and reassuring. All it did was creep her out even further, sending shivers of dread up her spine.

"Please," she whispered. "C'n I at least have some clothes?"

"Interesting," the man murmured. "Subject has greater desire for clothing than escape or comfort. Analysis was correct on subjugation technique."

He smiled at her again, ignoring her request. "My name is Dr. Norton. And we are going to be spending much time together. Now, I realize you may think you can escape, or be rescued, but I assure you it is futile. I'm going to find out everything I can from you. We've done this many, many times." He looked off distractedly, and Sara realized he was starting to ramble. "Previous subjects were selected primarily for their mental and psychoactive capabilities, but that simply hasn't gone well. So no, we're going to work solely with the physical now."

He focused back on Sara, smiling gently again. "We're going to find out what makes you tick, and then, unfortunately, shave off all that lovely hair of yours before surgery. And, eventually, you will be the perfect killing machine for the Alliance. You'll be an instrument of the greater good. Isn't that lovely?"

Sara stared at him in horror, hot tears blurring her vision. "No..." she whimpered.

"Now then," Dr. Norton said, sitting back and consulting his handheld, "let's talk about the planet Shadow, shall we?"

* * *

 _Fortune's Favour._ Ariel.

As soon as they returned to the ship Dani had grabbed ahold of Kelly. "Please, please help me get her back, Kelly," she whispered desperately.

"It's okay, Dani," Kelly reassured her as she led her over to the dining table. "I'm going to help any way I can. Let's all sit down first, alright?"

Some of the crew had already assembled with worried faces. Besides her other two daughters, Mike and Maribelle were present at the table. Cali and Rain, in particular, looked ready to race out into the city in search of their sister, but Lori came up behind them and enveloped both sisters in a warm hug, whispering reassurances into their ear, before sitting down beside Dani and gripping her hand tightly.

Dani was grateful for her wife's calm because she felt as if she were about to crawl out of her skin.

"Right, so here on Ariel I know of a few research centers that could have done this, based on what Cali told me while you were on the way back," Kelly began as she took her seat. She folded her hands in front of her, gathering her thoughts. "I have a feeling I know which one, but it was pretty top-secret when I was still involved. They might have moved it since my disappearance, I don't know. It was involved with the research and modification of a dangerous person the Company has been heavily invested in retrieving."

Keith nodded grimly. "It's a place to start. You have the location for us?"

Kelly nodded back, pushing over her handheld. "I marked it, as well as a likely backup location if they moved operations. But you have got to be careful. Though this is a government facility, Blue Sun will be funding and protecting it. That means more Agents, as well as plenty of soldiers."

"We'll be ready," Keith said. "I'll assemble all of our armor-piercing ammunition. I spoke with a friend on the local federal force here, and he's going to run interference for us. Put out a notice that there's going to be a training exercise, and ignore calls from certain facilities. I'll update him when we leave as to the exact addresses." He looked around at the rest of the assembled crew. "We're going out fully loaded, but in case this gets back to the ship, you have to be prepared to run. Get off-world and rendezvous somewhere."

"Aberdeen," Dani whispered. Keith swiveled his head towards her.

"You think that's wise, heading back there if we're avoiding attention?" Keith rumbled.

Dani sighed. "No, you're right, we can't bring this down on the O'Toole's. Where then?"

Jess snapped her fingers. "I've got it. That hollow asteroid in the Motherlode, Red Sun. Plenty of space, we can bring supplies and hide out if need be."

"Right," Dani nodded. "So if we give the signal to run, or if you don't hear from us within, what, five hours, bug out and meet us there. We'll get a transport somehow and meet up when we can." Her words had become unnaturally crisp as the stress brought her Bernadette accent to the fore.

"I'm not leavin' you, too," Rain said firmly.

"You will," Dani replied just as firmly. "You're the pilot now, you listen to Mike, he's in charge when we head out. He says to go, you go. _Dong ma_ (understand)?"

Rain set her jaw stubbornly, causing Dani to sigh. She smiled gently at her eldest child and tried to ease the tension in her voice. "Look _baobei_ (treasured one), I know how yer feelin', but you gotta look out fer the ship, an' yer sister, alright?"

Rain glowered down at the table but gave a reluctant nod. Cali just shifted her gaze between her sister and Dani nervously but nodded also. Mike, for his part, didn't say a word. His beard was bristling angrily, but he managed a reassuring grin for his sister-in-law.

Kelly spoke up. "Dani, do you want me to come along?" she asked solemnly.

Dani glanced over and smiled wanly. "No. I 'preciate it, but you know you can't show yer face none on a Core world. Stay here, keep the rest of the family safe. Please?" Her quiet plea was heartfelt. She was terrified of losing the rest of her family, her other two girls, if she did what they were planning to do to rescue Sara.

Nodding, Kelly agreed to stay. The rest broke up to make preparations as best they could. Dani met Keith, Jess, and Lori down in the cargo bay within five minutes, all of them loaded for battle.

Dani slung her shotgun over her shoulder. "Are y'all sure you wanna do this?" she asked, softly.

All three gave her smiles, and Lori reached over to grab her hand. "We're with ya _zhen'ai_ (true love), all the way."

* * *

Ariel. White Sun.

The first location was, as Kelly had suspected, empty. It looked like it had been occupied at one time by some sort of research facility, but it was barren now.

Dani and the others wasted precious minutes scouring the facility anyway for some sort of clue, finding nothing of value.

Sighing, Keith called back to the ship.

"Home, this is One. No joy on target one. We're heading to the second target facility."

"Affirmative, One," Kelly answered. She had remained on the bridge to try and help coordinate things, as well as provide what tactical support she could. "Keep us posted."

"Have to remember this," Keith commented as they headed towards the next address in the Mule. "Might be useful in the future, having Kelly on the comms to support us remotely."

"Sure," Dani responded absently. _Please be okay Sara, please be okay, hold on honey we're coming_...

* * *

Undisclosed lab. Ariel.

"Interesting. You show far less attachment to your biological family than you do for your adoptive one," Norton mused, looking at his handheld and tapping out notes. "You blame the former group for your ending up on Shadow, don't you? Do you realize that all of the misery you endured there, all of the pain and hurt, would never have happened if you hadn't moved from Jiangyin?"

Sara didn't answer. It was unnecessary, really. _'Course I blame 'em, you_ wang ba _(son of a bitch)._ "I don' think 'bout 'em much," she whispered truthfully, staring at the floor between them.

"I highly doubt that," the scientist said dismissively. "This is the root of your pain. The center of your being, yes? I'm sure you have an enormous burden on your psyche about it."

She was starting to get angry now. She needed to hold onto that anger, to that fury, let it override her fear... Sara closed her eyes briefly and imagined a ruined landscape smelling of death and decay.

* * *

Sara stood in front of the ruins of her house on Shadow. "Please help me," she shouted.

"Only you c'n help yerself," the expected voice purred silkily from behind her.

She turned her head to see Shrike prowling forward, stalking in a circle around her like a predator eyeing a prey that was weakened and ripe for the kill.

"What d'ya mean?" she asked irritably. _Really don' have the time for more gorran riddles_.

"Only you c'n lemme out to play," Shrike smirked. She giggled, the sound like the crackling of bones in a crushed hand.

"No, we already talked 'bout this," Sara said, desperately, turning her head to keep her within sight.

Shrike shook her head pityingly. "What we had earlier... let's call it a truce."

"It wasn't a truce," Sara replied, eyes wide and unbelieving. "It was an agreement!"

With a razor-sharp smile, Shrike replied, "One ya can't really enforce right now, c'n ya, love?"

* * *

Undisclosed lab. Ariel.

Sara was shocked back into reality by a harsh slap against her cheek.

"Now, now," the scientist chided. "No drifting off. It's very important we stay focused here, yes?"

Sara shuddered. It was so hard to hold on to her anger while feeling so helpless.

"Good," Dr. Norton murmured. "Now then, you displayed admirable agility and speed the last time you were my guest. How did you obtain weapons initially?"

Sara clamped her mouth shut. _Yer not gettin' another ruttin' word outta me,_ piyan _(asshole)._

The man sighed in disappointment. "Subject is becoming resistant. Moving on to the next coercion technique." He tapped a few keys on his handheld and turned it around so Sara could see. On it was a picture of Cali, obviously a closeup from when they were escaping the last time. She had a grin of fierce joy on her face.

"Your _meimei_ (little sister), yes? Should we go fetch her then, tie her up as well to get you to cooperate?"

"No," Sara sobbed. "Please, no, leave my family alone..."

"Well, now, that's all up to you, dear. About those weapons? How did you obtain them initially?"

* * *

Research Center. Ariel.

The crew had much better success at the second location, as it was obviously occupied. The problem with that was that it was also guarded by six security personnel at the solitary entrance.

But Keith Grant rarely let such trivialities stop him from an objective.

He strolled into the towering lobby of the building. It was emblazoned with Blue Sun logos, but once inside there were several government notices regarding required clearances and authorized personnel. Keith wore a black overcoat over his usual clothes and his Ares holstered on his belt. He was stopped at the security desk by two armed guards.

"Sir, you'll need to leave that here," the first said, holding out his hand.

Keith grunted irritably and handed his firearm over.

"Can we see some identification, please?" the other asked politely.

"Certainly," he replied, pulling his left hand out of his inner coat pocket. Instead of an ident card, however, it held a combat knife.

With a quick thrust upwards he skewed the first guard through the throat, and a sideways slash took out the second's. Before the other four could react, he pulled the special operations coat to the side to reveal several pockets lined with a variety of deadly toys. Two throwing knives were sent out, one into a guard's eye and the next into another's shoulder. Grimacing, Keith pulled out a compact Skorpion submachine gun from the coat's lining. _Getting old Keith, should have made both kill throws_. He raked fire across the three standing guards, dropping the wounded one and a second man. The last managed to hurl himself out of the way, chattering anxiously on his comm. Growling, Keith strode over to loom above the cowering guard, who cut off his transmission with a squawk.

The former spec ops soldier ended him with a short burst of fire.

He turned, tucking his weapon away again as the other three from his team strode in, guns out and ready. Dani bent to pick up Keith's Ares and tossed it to him. "Lose somethin' _didi_?"

He gave a smirk as he deftly caught and holstered it in one smooth motion. Reaching out to take his assault rifle from his wife, Keith started issuing orders.

"They know we're here. Stick together in formation. Double-wide where possible, Two and I up front. Five, you always bring up the rear." He checked his rifle and flicked the safety off. "Move out."

They passed the elevator which was heading up from the basement. Jess paused to place a grenade at the bottom of the door, using adhesive to secure it to one side and the pin to the other.

As they entered the stairwell and headed down, they heard the ding of the elevator arriving. Three seconds later the lights flickered as an explosion from the lobby registered.

"An' why is it we immediately head downwards?" Lori asked, keeping an eye on the stairs above her head.

Keith paused at the next landing to shoot out a camera. "Because that's where the secret labs always are. Unimaginative bureaucrats can't help themselves."

"Y'know they're gonna track us by the cams you shoot out, right?" Dani asked curiously.

"Sure," Keith smirked. "Still fun, though."

There seemed to be one additional level beneath the basement, but they stopped at the first landing and opened the door cautiously. It seemed to be an office complex, filled with oblivious corporate drones.

"Next floor down," Keith stated, and shut the door quietly.

The final landing down they repeated the process and were met by a blank hallway stretching off to either direction. They filed out of the stairwell, taking up positions.

"Which way?" Jess asked cautiously.

The group was saved the decision by the pair of gaunt-faced suited men that strode around the corner. Dani didn't even need to see their blue hands to know exactly who they were facing.

Agents.

Around the other side, further away, several soldiers came lumbering around the corner, taking up firing positions.

"Switch," Keith ordered quietly. "Two, you have the Agents. Delay."

"Roger that," Dani said with satisfaction, tucking her automatic shotgun into her shoulder and moving behind Keith to cover the approaching Agents.

"That's far enough," one of the black-suited men said as they strode forward, unafraid. "You will now tell us who-"

Dani only waited to hear from behind her the clicks of her team's magazines hitting home, indicating they had changed over to armor-piercing ammo, before opening fire. She sent four rapid shots at the Agents, dropping them both, though their armor would stop the worst of the damage. She kept her shotgun trained on the two fallen men as the others opened up on the soldiers. Some return fire came back at them and she felt the burn of one bullet as it grazed her calf, but not bad enough to disable her.

After a few seconds, Keith strode up next to her. "They playing dead?"

"Most likely," Dani murmured. She was rewarded in her assumption when one Agent quickly reached into his pocket to withdraw what Kelly had called the sonic device. Dani was ready, however, and shot him again, shattering the device and sending a few of the pellets into his throat.

The other Agent rolled to the side and sprang to his feet, pulling out a slim and deadly-looking automatic pistol. Before he could bring it to bear, Keith had riddled his torso with holes.

The Agent dropped his gun, looking down at the blood spilling down his chest in astonishment.

"Surprise, fucker," Keith growled and shot him once more in the forehead.

Dani walked over to the other wounded agent and placed the barrel of her gun against his face, disintegrating it with a blast of buckshot.

After quickly bandaging Dani's calf, they decided to head down the hallway the Agents had come from first. A warren of doors and hallways presented themselves, with all of the doors unlocked. It seemed to be a dormitory of some sort, though all the beds were empty and unmade.

"I don' think this is it," Dani said worriedly.

" _Deng yi miao_ (hold on a sec), Two," Jess murmured as she pushed another door open all the way. It had been left cracked, and there were computers and displays inside. It looked to be a monitoring and control room, likely where the Agents had been stationed.

"Two, Five, stand guard," Keith ordered. He and Jess sat down to run through the displays to see what they could while Dani reloaded her shotgun.

"I've got security feeds here... labeled for cells... but they're all empty," Jess reported quietly.

"No activity on the logs, no entry or exits. Yeah, I don't think this is an active facility," Keith rumbled from his chair.

"Oh, here's an examination room... nope, also empty." Jess gave a disappointed sigh but then perked up. "Hey, this one is a view of where we just were. One of the guards is moving, looks like he was just wounded."

"Two, Five," Keith barked.

"We're on 'im," Dani shouted over her shoulder as the two girls sprinted back down the hall.

They reached the earlier scene of their firefight to find the wounded guard on the floor with his helmet off. He had blood streaming down his face and was trying to wrench off the helmet of a fallen comrade. His discarded helmet lay broken behind him.

"Freeze!" Dani yelled. The soldier glanced over as he reached for his firearm, but slowly put his hands up as he looked down the ominous barrel of Dani's shotgun.

Keith and Jess trotted up then. "Looks like his comm was damaged," Keith commented.

"Do they know we're here?" Dani gritted out. The soldier just stared back at her without speaking.

"Little girl was taken today. Small, curly brown hair. You seen her?" Dani questioned, her voice raised. Again the man just looked back with his lips pursed shut.

" _Where is my daughter?_ " she screamed, thrusting the barrel of her shotgun into his face.

"Two," Keith interjected. "Let's take him into the examination room over here."

"Right," Dani growled. She slung her shotgun across her back and grabbed the man by the front of his shirt, hauling him to his feet and propelling him towards the door of the room. Fear and anger lent her strength, and she hurled him into the room to land sprawling next to a table and chair standing in the middle of the space.

Keith walked past her and pulled the soldier into the chair, then stepped back, arms crossed.

Dani stood across from their prisoner, her hands planted on the table, and stared into his eyes. _He's not gonna talk_.

"Lori," Dani whispered, her gaze still intent on the captured soldier. "Please wait outside. Keith, hold his hand out on the table."

Lori looked at her wife, shocked as she realized what she was about to do. "No... _Wo de ai_ (my love), please don't do this..."

"Please, Lori. Leave. Now," Dani whispered without looking at her. There was no way she was letting her observe what she was intending. The freckled woman complied with a shaky breath, closing the door behind her.

Keith grasped the man's left hand from behind in an iron grip, splaying the fingers outward while keeping his face expressionless. The soldier was looking at Dani with panicked eyes as she took out her combat knife and held it point down in between his last two fingers, blade facing out.

"Where is she," Dani whispered without emotion.

"You rutting _biao zi_ (bitch), I can't tell you, they'll-"

Dani leaned down hard, and with a sickening wet crunch chopped off his little finger. He screamed in pain.

"Where's my daughter."

He could only babble in pain as she moved the blade back over the next finger, but still wouldn't answer.

Another crunch and another finger came off, rolling across the table and leaving a wet trail of blood in its passage. The soldier screamed again, shaking his head. Tears were flowing from his eyes, but Keith held on to him grimly.

In the corner from where she was watching, horrified, Jess made a retching noise

"Jess, can you please go keep Lori company?" Dani loudly requested over the man's wailing. Without answering Jess bolted from the room, the man's frantic screams following her out the door.

Jess stood there, pale and shaking, and was startled when Lori slipped her hand into her own. They just stared wordlessly, gripping each other tightly, as the man's repeated bouts of screaming reached a feverish pitch.

Eventually, they could hear the soldier talking, begging for mercy as he spoke, words tumbling out in a rush. After a muted conversation by both Dani and Keith, the two women standing outside the room heard a gunshot. Then the Grant siblings walked out the door, splattered in blood.

"Do you have it?" Jess asked in a whisper.

Dani nodded but held up one finger. She walked over to a corner of the hallway and threw up violently. Standing, she wiped her mouth on her sleeve and said hoarsely, "Okay, I'm good. Let's go."

* * *

Undisclosed lab. Ariel. White Sun.

"You are a remarkable little girl," Dr. Norton mused. "I can tell there's a decent amount of rage just below the surface, but you keep it carefully contained, don't you?"

Sara hung her head, her hair falling like a curtain. It concealed her somewhat, both her nakedness and the emotions swirling across her face.

"The subject will look at me when I'm speaking."

She sniffled, and slowly raised her head. _I will kill you_ , her look promised.

"Ahh, there it is. Subject is finally responding to stimulus." The man typed in a few items with self-satisfaction. "Parameters noted and cataloged for future stimulation. Now, then," he said with a smile, "let's discuss the other subject you released. Kirika, she called herself."

Sara furrowed her brow in confusion. _He keeps changin' direction on me, keepin' me off-balance, mebbe it's on purpose_. "Yeah?" she whispered.

"Why did you release her?"

Sara snorted softly. "'Cause she was yer prisoner. An' nobody deserves that."

Dr. Norton tapped his chin. "As simple as that?"

She nodded wordlessly.

"Hmmm." He stared at her intently for a moment longer, but she just returned it back upon him.

He glanced down at his handheld and then back up at her again. "So you have not seen her, or had contact with her, since the last time you were our guest?"

Sara grimaced at the label of 'guest' but shook her head, again without speaking.

"Subject does not seem to have any further information on the subject Kirika. Ah, well. She's been quite the thorn in our side, you see. We had to move the location of our facilities elsewhere, but we will catch her eventually." He smiled again then, a hint of malice underlying the grandfatherly smile. "We always do."

She shuddered at his words as he rose from his chair. "Session on hold for now. Subject will remain confined until recess is over."

The scientist left without another word, pausing in front of the door. It opened silently for him, and then closed behind him again, leaving her alone in the stark, white room with nothing but her own reflection to look at. She closed her eyes wearily.

 _Please, God, please get me out of this, take me away from here,_ _God please make me a stone_...

* * *

Ariel. White Sun.

The underground passageway to the secondary facility was right where the soldier had said it would be. Nobody in the ground team said an unnecessary word and their normal banter was conspicuously absent.

Dani was too focused on their task to worry about it.

The tunnel stretched on for a kilometer underground. It was illuminated by overhead fluorescent lights that turned on in stretches when motion was detected, and then off again after a short delay so that it seemed as if the four of them were isolated in their own little pool of light in the deep Black of space.

Eventually, they came across another door. Keith held his hand up while he pressed his ear to the door. Listening intently, he then stood back up and nodded. "Several guards," he whispered, pointing at Dani and then gesturing left. She nodded back.

They took up their positions, and then Keith flung the door open before darting in and to the right. Dani, next in line, ran towards the left, and Lori and Jess filled the doorway.

There were eight soldiers in what appeared to be a combination break room and monitoring station. Four were seated around the round table in the center, playing cards, two lounging on a couch to the right, and two more seated at the monitoring stations to the left. All had sidearms, but their helmets and bodyarmor were off and stacked along the far wall, while a gun cabinet on the same wall contained their assault rifles.

The _Favour_ crew gave them no time to react or sound an alarm. Dani immediately blasted the two guards in front of her, sending one spinning out of his chair at the impact to his chest to land in a heap on the floor. The other guard's head disintegrated, leaving a bloody mess across the shattered and ruined monitor behind him.

She kept moving to the left, swinging the barrel of her shotgun around, but there were no more targets. The other six had been dealt with just as efficiently.

Dani slung her gun over her shoulder and walked over to the station. "Gorramit," she cursed bitterly. "I took out the camera station."

"It's okay, _jiejie_ ," Keith said gently. "I have a layout here for the facility. I see the cells, let's try there first."

She was still mad at herself, but nodded curtly and motioned for him to proceed. _Should have used my gorram pistol_. Jess took out an EMP grenade and set it on the console, setting the timer for five minutes. Dani raised her eyebrows at Keith. "Did the same at the last station," he explained. "Covering our tracks."

Dani took her shotgun back out and held it ready as Keith opened the door a crack, then all the way to reveal an empty hallway.

Several meters down they made a left, then a right. The hallways were unmarked, but the doors had simple numbers on them, at least until they got to the cells. Those all had tags on them with the word 'Subject' and then a number designation. Below that was a date.

"This one is from yesterday," Dani whispered, brow furrowed. "D'ya think it's by when they captured 'em, or when they decided to do the capturin'?"

Jess walked over to look as well. "I'd think it would be by capture date, but let's take a look to be sure."

Lori stood apart from them, rifle held at the ready and guarding the rear. She hadn't said a word to Dani since her torture of the soldier, but she didn't have the time now to worry about that. Only one thing mattered at this moment, and that was finding Sara.

The door opened quietly to reveal a young man sitting up in bed as if expecting their arrival. He wore a straightjacket and gave them a lopsided grin.

"I'm sorry but your princess is in another castle."

"What the _diyu_ (hell) does that even mean?" Dani asked angrily, disappointment written across her face.

"She's not here _jiejie_ , let's go," Keith answered. He walked in, though, and freed the man first, pointing out the exit from which they came, before continuing their search.

Several more empty cells down, they came across one marked with today's date.

"Here!" Dani said excitedly, not even bothering with stealth anymore. She pulled the door open to reveal an empty cot that didn't seem to have been occupied at all. Sheets were folded neatly at the foot of it.

" _Hun dan gou niang yang de_ (bastard son of a bitch)!" she screamed, kicking the cot onto it's side. "Where the _ta ma de diyu_ (fucking hell) is my _nu'er_ (daughter)?"

* * *

Shrike prowled around the ruins of Sara's old house, the slate-grey sky offering little comfort. "You know it's the only way we're gettin' outta here alive. Gimme control. I c'n save us, jus' like I always have."

Sara barked out a shaky laugh. "Like you always have? _Fang pi_ (bullshit / you're lying). You leave nothin' but corpses, guilty an' innocent alike. That's not savin' me, that's damnin' me."

"Oh don' give me that morality _pi hua_ (shit, nonsense)," Shrike replied, rolling her eyes. "This's about survival. Do you wanna survive? I'll make it easy for ya. Yes or no."

"Yes," Sara whispered despondently.

Shrike pulled back her lips in a snarl. "Then. Let. Me. Out."

Sara stared down at her feet. She was so tired already, it wouldn't be long before the _feng li_ (crazy) scientist broke her down completely when he returned. Shrike waited for her answer, tapping her leather-clad foot impatiently.

"Only one condition, then, an' you gotta swear by it," Sara whispered, looking up at the other girl fiercely. "Swear on _Kaasan_ 's life, 'cause you know she's the only reason we're alive at all."

Shrike cocked her head to the side in agreement. "Go on."

Sara paused, and then continued intensely, "The minute you see or hear a family member, an' you know who I consider t'be family, you release control. You lemme back in. Other than that, I give you full reign. Agreed?"

Shrike took a moment to consider her words carefully. "Agreed," she replied calmly and reached her hand out to Sara.

"Alright, then, I'm all yours." Sara took a deep breath and extended her own hand to clasp Shrike's in her own.

Shrike grinned maniacally, throwing her head back and cackling like a clarion call, a harbinger of some kind of apocalypse.

Sara closed her eyes. "I'm so sorry, _Kaasan_..." she whispered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's the end of Part I. Consider it like a season finale. What will happen next? Stay tuned...


	54. Episode 45: If You Want Blood, Part II

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **WARNING:** Contains some violent and potentially disturbing imagery.

Ariel. White Sun.

Dani and Keith moved cautiously through the research facility, weapons at the ready. Lori and Jess followed them, covering both front and rear with their own rifles.

"Seem odd to you, there ain't no alarm blarin'?" Dani asked tensely.

"A bit," Keith grunted, cheek pressed against the stock of his rifle as he scanned the hallway before them. "Could be a silent one."

Dani made a noncommittal sound. She was trying very hard not to dwell on the fact that they had not yet found Sara. The complex they moved through would have turned them about and gotten them hopelessly lost were it not for the floor plans Keith had found. They stopped every so often to consult them, moving through all the cells they could find, but they had covered this entire floor without success. Finally, they came to a stairwell.

"Up?" Jess asked succinctly.

Keith nodded and nudged the door open. He immediately jumped back when a barrage of fire rained down, shattering the glass in the stairwell door and punching holes through door and wall alike.

The four crew members pulled away from the stairway to huddle against the far wall.

"Three, flash bang?" Keith inquired.

Jess nodded, and flipped a few switches on the grenade launcher of her rifle, selecting a stun grenade and setting it for close range. She nodded again, and Keith readied himself.

She took three quick steps forward, crouched, aimed through the small doorway window and fired the grenade inside, immediately ducking back again to the far wall. As soon as it went off, Keith was charging ahead, shouldering the door open and opening fire.

"Convenient window there, huh?" Dani murmured.

Jess shrugged and grinned. "I'll take it. Besides, it works in the vids."

Within a short few seconds, Keith signaled for them to follow. They picked their way up the steps and over the bodies of four soldiers, all in purple bodyarmor. "Everyone still have AP in their mags?" he asked quietly.

He was met by a chorus of affirmatives, including Dani who shouldered her shotgun and drew her Ares Predator sidearm instead. She had made sure to load it up with armor-piercing ammunition on the ship since she had no such option with her automatic shotgun.

They reached the next level and paused at the door. Keith glanced at the floor plan again and shook his head, letting it drift to the floor. "We're blind now," he commented.

"Well, wouldn't want it to be too easy," Jess commented, joking weakly.

Keith eased his head around the corner, checking both ways. "Looks clear," he reported, and they moved out into the hallway.

It wasn't clear for very long.

A door to their right banged open and a soldier leaned out with his rifle. Jess, who was covering that same door, jerked her finger in reaction and stitched him with a row of bullets. He dropped his rifle and flailed backwards.

"Other way!" Keith barked and they headed off to the left. They made it half a dozen steps before soldiers started pouring around the next corner.

Snarling, Dani kept running, sending accurate shots into the faceplates of each soldier's helmet. Keith added his fire to hers, scattering the reinforcements and sending them back. Dani paused to reload, slapping a new magazine home. "Last AP mag," she reported.

Keith nodded, selecting a flash grenade on his own launcher. "Three, HE in that room," he ordered without looking back. Both Jess and Lori had been trading shots with the soldiers who kept poking their heads out. Another did so now, and Keith grunted as a round glanced off the bodyarmor over his ribcage from behind, but offered no other reaction.

He raised his rifle, waiting. When he heard the muffled 'whump' of Jess's high-explosive grenade eliminating the threat to their rear, he launched his own, sending it ricocheting around the corner where it detonated. "Go!" he barked as he set into motion again.

Dani careened around the corner, immediately spotting four soldiers recovering from the effects of the stun grenade. She quickly dispatched two, and Keith took care of the other pair. They paused then to search for more targets, but only silence greeted them.

"That take care of them?" Jess whispered while walking up behind them, as if afraid to break the dome of silence.

"For now," Keith replied, and they headed out again.

Many doorways later Dani was beginning to lose hope. There seemed to be an endless row of examination rooms, even one laboratory. They came across an operation room and what seemed to be an infirmary, all deserted as if in a hurry with papers and medical instruments scattered about.

"D'ya think they took 'er out when we came in?" she asked with a trace of dread.

"Don't think like that," Keith tried to reassure her. "We're moving fast, faster then they can move reinforcements in, I'm sure we're moving faster than they can move prisoners out."

Dani nodded rapidly, trying very hard to keep a grip on her spiraling emotions.

They opened another door to see what appeared to be a viewing room. There was a long table against the wall overlooking a window, likely a one-way mirror. Two chairs sat in front of the table.

The group edged into the room to peer out of the portal. It showed a stark white room with two chairs, one of them secured to the floor and with bloody restraints, and the other overturned. They could see from their vantage point a body lying on the floor. It seemed to be that of an old man wearing a lab coat, and he was staring sightlessly at the ceiling with his throat torn out as if by a wild animal. Lying on the floor next to him was a handheld unit, smashed to pieces.

" _Ji du_ (Christ)," Jess murmured.

Keith picked up one of the chairs in front of them and threw it at the window, shattering it. He grabbed another to carefully clear away the glass shards, and the four of them climbed on through. Now that they were inside the room they could see that the door leading out was open, blocked by the corpse of a guard with a stylus through his eye and driven into his brain. A trail of small, bloody, bare footprints started at the first body and led out into the hallway.

"Leastways we can track her easy," Lori murmured, the first she had spoken in some time. "Still fresh, too."

"Part of me is prayin' we found her," Dani sighed. "Other part is prayin' we didn'."

Following the trail of footprints, they came across a pair of bodies, both of guardsmen. One of them looked to have had his throat torn out by claws and the other's throat seemed to have been shredded by teeth. The red liquid was sticky and cool on the floor, and the small footprints began anew, fresh and bloody, leading away down the hallway in the same direction as before.

"It doesn't look like she's running, or in any hurry," Keith commented, rifle still at the ready.

"What does that mean?" Dani hissed, wanting to charge ahead but knowing it could get them all killed in short order.

"Not sure," he muttered. "She's not moving like an escapee, more like..." He trailed off thoughtfully.

"A predator," Dani whispered as it dawned on her what Keith was getting at. "Oh no, _didi_ , what did they do to her?"

"Calm down _jiejie_ , we'll find out soon enough," Keith murmured. "Panicking won't help her."

She nodded her head rapidly, her pistol clutched between stiff fingers.

Around the next bend in the corridor, they came across another body of a scientist. It looked like he had tried to run, as his handheld was lying, shattered and sputtering sparks, on the floor three meters behind him. He was on his face, a pool of blood still spreading from his ruined neck.

"She's close, step it up," Keith ordered.

Two turns of the hallway later they found her, naked and covered in blood. It coated her like a second skin as if she had purposely spread it over herself. Sara was crouched over the twitching corpse of a woman clad in a lab coat, teeth latched around the body's throat, shaking back and forth like a dog with a bone and growling ferally.

Dani stared at the scene with wide eyes, trembling. " _Didi_ , hold my gun, stay back," she whispered.

"Dani-"

"I got this, get back." She handed her shotgun to Keith and got to her knees at Sara's level and crawled closer, leaning forward on her hands. She started murmuring as calmly as possible. "Sara. _Baobei_ , it's me, _Kaasan_. C'n you hear me? Come back to me, sweetie, I'm here for you now, 'kay?"

Sara looked up at her from the body with wild eyes, baring her bloody teeth. Streams of warm red liquid flowed down her chin.

"C'mon girl, I told ya I'd come for ya no matter what, an' here I am," Dani continued soothingly. "I came for ya. C'mon Sara, wake up, listen to my voice, wake up..."

Sara's eyes cleared suddenly, widening as she saw the bloody body she was crouched over like a predator protecting her kill. She scrambled backwards against the wall, pulling her skinny legs up and wrapping her arms around her knees. " _Kaasan_? What did I..."

"Sweetie, you survived. There's no shame in that, 'kay?" Dani crawled the rest of the way over, heedless of the blood on the floor or on Sara, and hugged her shaking daughter tightly to her chest.

Keith bent over the small woman lying dead on the ground and flipped her over, taking the lab coat off and offering it towards the two women on the ground while keeping his eyes averted. Sara nodded her thanks, standing self-consciously to pull it around her. "C'n we go now?" she asked in a small voice.

Dani smiled and held out her hand. "Let's."

She glanced over her shoulder towards Lori. Her wife was standing guard down the hallway, looking tense and anywhere but back in her direction. Jess was next to her but offered a small smile of encouragement.

Dani walked next to Sara as they headed for the exit, as best as they could figure out. Dani looked at her blood-covered hand clasping that of Sara's and tried vainly to wipe the other one against her pants leg to clean it. "Said I'd do anythin' to get you back, _nu'er_ ," Dani murmured absently. "An' I did."

They made their way around to another stairwell. Keith cautiously poked his head in but no fire answered him this time. They continued as a group, Dani sheltering Sara behind her and taking back her shotgun again from Keith.

The hallway on the next floor they found themselves on seemed to be deserted. "Are we at ground level?" Jess whispered from behind.

"Believe we are," Keith murmured, indicating the path ahead of them. The light coming from around the corner was different, and Dani recognized it as sunlight rather than the artificial light they seemed to have been under for days now.

As they crept forward cautiously, Blue Sun sprung their ambush.

Doors slammed open all around them and guards poured forth, firing wildly. The crew members returned fire calmly and accurately, sending each attacker sprawling backwards or onto their faces. Dani felt a yank on her holster as Sara pulled her handgun out from behind her, adding her own gunfire to the mix.

After what seemed like an eternity, the firefight was over. Jess was panting in pain, a pair of shots having gone through her left arm. Keith examined and bandaged it quickly, indicating they were both clean through-and-throughs, while Dani and Lori stood guard. He moved stiffly, and Dani suspected he likely had a busted rib or two from chest impacts. She herself had taken another shot in the thigh but it was again only a graze. Sara tended to it.

"I'm sorry _Kaasan_ , I'm gettin' yer bandage all bloody," she whispered.

"It's fine, _baobei_ (treasured one)," she laughed quietly. "Don' worry 'bout it."

Finally, they were on the move again, heading around the corner and towards freedom. There didn't appear to be any more ambushes waiting, nor any guards left. That must have been their last-ditch effort to eliminate the intruders.

The five crew members walked through the deserted lobby and out into the waning sunlight. Traffic was light on the street, though they got a few second glances from their bloodied state and Sara got more than her fair share of stares. But they made it back to the Mule, two blocks down, without incident, and then they were on the way back home.

Dani clutched Sara tightly to her side for the entire ride.

* * *

 _Fortune's Favour._ Outbound from Ariel.

The bone-weary captain of the _Favour_ sat alone on the bridge, feeling every one of her forty-four years of age. It reminded Dani somewhat of her state of mind after the Battle of Serenity Valley.

She had just taken them out of Ariel's orbit. There was no planned destination, just to head into the Black for now and get away from the planet, away from the Alliance, and away from the reach of Blue Sun for the time being. She hoped and prayed they got away cleanly and that there would be no reprisals.

As soon as they had arrived at the ship, Dani had gotten her wounds seen to in order to take the bridge back from Rain. Once she did, her eldest daughter joined Cali in swamping their sister with tearful hugs. Sara herself had only major abrasions on her wrists and ankles where the skin had been shredded from her escape. Maribelle had bandaged her up and cleaned her off as best as possible, then sent the three girls off to Sara's bunk while she tended to the rest of the ground team's injuries. Kelly as well had wearily retired to her room. She had remained on the bridge all day, manning the comms and monitoring the city communication network for any activities or indications that the crew had been discovered, but Keith's friend had covered for them admirably. Now, though, Kelly was worn out. She still wasn't fully healed, and the day had taken a toll on her.

Dani knew it could have gone much worse, from not finding Sara at all, to losing another of her family, to having the _Favour_ be indicated in their rescue attempt.

Her thoughts drifted to the soldier she had tortured to get Sara's location. Dani knew it had been a horrific act, but one she could not muster an ounce of regret over. Her family was safe. That was all that mattered.

Footsteps sounded behind her, and Keith came into view. He stood next to her, staring out the viewport.

"Got a couple things I need to tell you," he began quietly.

She turned in her seat, looking up at her brother inquiringly.

Keith glanced down at her, smiling slightly. "First off, I want you to know I've got no problems with your actions today. I've done far, far worse myself in service to the Alliance, but what you did was for our crew and family. So don't you feel guilty about it, alright?"

Dani smiled up at him gratefully, reaching out her hand to clasp his. "I don't. But _dao xie_ (thank you), _didi_."

He squeezed her hand back and then dropped it, looking back out the front viewport. "The other thing is, not everyone is going to feel the same. In fact, some of the crew want a word with you in the galley."

Sighing, Dani nodded. "'Spected as much, just not so soon." She stood up with a groan, stretching her aching back. _Somehow I don' think I'm gettin' a back rub anytime soon_.

They headed back from the bridge, Keith preceding her. Most of the crew were assembled with the exception of Kelly, Sara, and the little boys.

Cory cleared his throat from his seat at the table, looking over at Dani with an uncomfortable expression as she sat down. "We've all heard what happened. Dani, you know we're behind you, but what you did... You should have at least tried Jess or Keith's contacts, or worked through the channels..." He sighed, glancing at his wife before continuing. "You actually committed crimes against the Alliance. You put the rest of the ship, the rest of us in danger. Captain, I can't keep my children on board if we're an outlaw ship."

Dani was quiet for a few beats. She took a good look around the room. Rain was sitting in the alcove with Cali leaning against her, panda hat askew, having left Sara so that she could get some sleep. They'd been inseparable from their sister since her return otherwise, and both looked worn out emotionally from the day. Seeing her gaze on them, however, they still offered her smiles of support. Emily was sitting next to them as well, and also gave her a warm smile, nodding gently without judgment. Keith was standing behind Jess with a solemn expression on his face, while Jess wouldn't look at her any more than Lori would. Mike and Julie were sitting together in their usual places, staring at each other and communicating wordlessly as those with years of marriage under their belts often do.

Finally, she looked over at her very best friend in the 'Verse. Cory's wife had her hands clenched together tightly in front of her, white-knuckled, and was staring intently at them. "Maribelle?"

Maribelle looked up at her slowly, eyes filled with heated emotion. "Did you really torture that man?" she asked quietly.

Dani sighed, stood up, and splayed her hands out on the table, leaning forward intently while looking around as she spoke in a determined voice. " _Mi you ling_ (listen closely), all of y'all. I will do anythin', and I mean anythin', to protect my family. You, all of you on this ship, are my family. Yes, I tortured him. I would do it again in a heartbeat, fer any of you."

She sighed once again heavily, looking down at the table. "I understan' though, this puts y'all in a tight spot. Got no cause to stay on, might not want this kinda heat if'n it's comin' down on my head. So if'n you wanna push on, do so."

Dani turned to leave but stopped when Maribelle spoke up again. "Dani."

She turned slightly but kept her gaze on the deck.

"Don't you feel anything for what you did?" the blond woman asked in a whisper.

Dani faced her fully and whispered back, eyes brimming with tears. "Gorram right I do. I feel relief I got my daughter back. And I feel like throwin' up every time I think about how I did it." She turned again and finished walking towards the bridge, calling out over her shoulder. "We'll let you off whichever port you like."

She heard footsteps from behind following her towards the bridge. She hoped with all her heart it was Lori, but was unsurprised to see Jess slip into the pilot's seat when she eased herself back into the captain's chair.

Jess just looked at her for awhile, conflicting emotions swirling across her exotic features.

"I understand why you did what you did," she said finally. "I do, really. It's just... It was a shock. And I know, as sure as I know how much you love all three of your daughters, that I will have nightmares about that room. It's just a little hard for me to stomach, alright?" Jess leaned forward on her hands and knees, her expression sincere. "But I understand."

Dani smiled at her sister-in-law. "I'm sorry, Jess. Really, I am. I shoulda asked you to wait outside with Lori, I just wasn't thinking clearly none."

Jess smiled back. "And I should have left as soon as I realized what you were about to do. So there's no need to apologize. Okay?"

Dani nodde, and then looked down at the deck. "She's pretty upset, ain't she. Lori."

"Yeah, she is, _jiejie_. Give her some time, alright?"

Dani nodded, smiling again weakly and staring out the window as a solitary tear trailed down her cheek. "Thanks, _meimei_ ," she whispered.

She stayed on watch for Rain until it was Keith's turn. She suspected her daughters were all bunked together in Sara's room, and she didn't want to disturb them.

Once Keith arrived, she murmured her goodnights and headed for her bunk, knowing her eyes were red from crying. Lori was already in bed, dressed in sleepwear which for her was almost unheard of, and facing the wall.

Dani slipped in next to her after undressing, barely touching Lori's back, and lay there facing the other way, staring off into the darkness. She could tell her wife wasn't asleep either, but they didn't say a word.

Sleep took a long time in coming.

* * *

 _Fortune's Favour._ En route to Space Bazaar. Red Sun.

The Bilkes had been dropped off on Bernadette at their request. There were many tearful goodbyes, though Cory wouldn't meet Dani's eyes. Maribelle still gave each of them a tight hug, Dani included, and promised to keep in touch.

They left Bernadette soon thereafter with cargo bound for Space Bazaar.

Sara was up fairly early. She knew that the _tai chi_ sessions were put on hold for now by an unspoken agreement, but she couldn't sleep. She sat, unseen, in the upper reaches of the cargo bay in the shadows. Her _Kaasan_ had still gotten up early and was pummeling the punching bag with fierce abandon, hitting and kicking as if she could punch a hole through it. Eventually, she stopped and stood there with her head down, not making a sound, for a full minute before heading back to get a shower before her shift on the bridge started.

She sighed. Her _Kaasan_ was hurting, though Sara knew now it wasn't her fault. She and Emily had talked long and hard about it until her guilt was finally resolved. Dani would have done the same for any of them.

But Sara still didn't like to see her hurting. And she had a feeling it had something to do with the way Lori wasn't talking to her much anymore.

She thought about waking Emily up to speak with her about it but figured she'd let her sleep in some more. Instead, after maybe another half hour she got up and walked gingerly to the galley and made herself some hot cocoa, which always settled her turbulent moods. Her injuries from Ariel were mostly healed, but her ankles were still very sore and raw under the bandages where the skin was growing back. Maribelle had given her explicit instructions for the care of her wounds.

As she sat at the table, sipping her deliciously decadent drink, she heard a soft noise from the rear passageway. She looked up sharply to see Kelly standing there.

"Hi, Aunt Kelly. C'mon in, I'm jus' drinkin' cocoa. Can't sleep neither?"

Kelly smiled softly and shook her head. She padded over on bare feet and sat down across from her.

"That smells good," she murmured.

"Wan' me ta make ya some?"

"No, sweetie, that's okay, thanks." Kelly took a deep breath and let it out in a sigh. "I have to apologize to you again, Sara."

Sara looked at her over her cup as she drank it down slowly, eyebrows raised.

"It's my fault that the Alliance even noticed you in the first place," the former Agent explained softly. "I should have realized that even including you in my reports would make it back to them, but really I had no idea of the projects they had underway at the time. Well, I did, but not the extent of them. I tried to play down what you could do, water down the reports as best I could after a while." She glanced down at her interlaced hands, and then back up again. "I think after I left, though, they went back and started reading in between the lines, and decided to find out more."

Sara sat in her chair quietly for a moment, her cup empty in front of her. "What 'bout Rain?"

Kelly shook her head resolutely. "I outright lied. Said her abilities had deteriorated after puberty, useless now."

Sara sighed softly and then got up to walk around the table. Kelly closed her eyes resignedly, but Sara put her arms around her in a tight hug. "It's okay Aunt Kelly. I forgive ya."

Sara walked out of the galley towards her bunk, past Dani who was leaning against the doorway with her tea in hand and wet hair from her shower, having come down from the bridge to listen in. Dani gave Sara's hair a ruffle as she passed, then came over and sat at her customary place at the head of the table. She glanced towards Kelly on her right, then back down at her tea.

"Did I ever really know you, Kelly?"

Kelly smiled ruefully. "You did. You, Beth, Maribelle. I think you were the ones who really ever knew me. I thought what I was, my whole purpose and being, was an arm of Blue Sun, working for the good of the Alliance."

Kelly sighed, leaning back in her chair and closed her eyes wearily again. "I know you've got no reason to believe me anymore. But I betrayed everything I thought I believed in to protect you and your family. My family, really, the only one I've ever known. And then, finding out what the people I've worked for are capable of, what they did to Sara..." She opened up her eyes again, they were blazing with fury as Dani looked into them. "I can't ever go back, but I wouldn't want to if I could, knowing what I now know."

She leaned forward, her hands still clasped together, looking down at them. "I understand if you want me gone. I'm a liability for you. Not sure why you've kept me around so long, I'm healed up enough I could make it on my own."

Dani tentatively reached over and placed her hand over Kelly's. "Because yer family. An' there ain't nobody in the 'Verse I'd trust outside this family that'd protect it like I know you c'n. Willya?"

Kelly looked up with tears in her eyes. "You know I will."

Dani nodded and gave Kelly's hands a squeeze, then got up again and headed back to the bridge.

Maybe an hour later a disheveled Mike stumbled in, yawning, and plopped himself down in the pilot's seat.

Dani glanced over at her grizzled brother-in-law. "Long night, old man?"

Sighing heavily, Mike rubbed at his eyes. "Yeah, Julie's kept me up again. Talkin'."

Dani leaned back and closed her eyes. _It was bound to happen eventually. I won't cry again over this, I gots no regrets_. "She want off?"

"Yeah," Mike replied sadly. "Not Em though, she's gonna stay on, sez Sara needs 'er even more now."

Dani nodded, eyes still closed. "Jiangyin?"

"If'n ya don't mind."

"Alright, we'll swing by there after Space Bazaar."

She heard the chair creak as Mike got up. His heavy footsteps echoed off the metal deck as he made to leave, but stopped at the doorway of the bridge. "I'm sorry, Dani-girl." he whispered, brokenly.

"It's shiny, Mike. No worries," Dani whispered back.

She heard him move off again, and then she let the tears finally fall. _Gorramit._

* * *

Ariel. White Sun.

The two men were dressed in black suits with white shirts and black ties. They were remarkably nondescript, perhaps a little gaunt in the face, but otherwise displayed a distinct lack of emotion. The only other notable characteristic was their hands, encased in a blue latex-like material.

The senior Agent turned from his seat in front of his console. "Have you found any footage, Eight?"

"I have not, Five," the other man replied without inflection. "Both security stations were irrevocably wiped by an electromagnetic pulse."

Five's eyebrow ticked, a clear sign of irritation. "And there were no backups?"

"Negative," the Agent responded. "Backups were done on a weekly basis only."

"These facilities were sloppy."

"Agreed. The administrators were filled with hubris over their success, and failed to secure their work."

Five leaned back in his chair, looking at his partner thoughtfully. "Do you believe this to be corporate espionage, Eight?"

"I do not," Eight replied firmly. "One or two of the subjects obviously escaped, likely with help. It would appear to be more likely that they were assisted by those who specifically came to retrieve them."

"I agree with your assessment," Five replied. "We should deal with these bureaucrats."

"One already has been dealt with. Dr. Norton was a fatality of an escaped subject. His handheld was smashed, and forensics on it has returned negligible results."

"So we do not even know the name of the escaped subject?" If he were a man to display emotion, Agent Five would be expressing extreme incredulity.

"That is correct," Eight stated. "The subject was captured that same day, and had not been fully processed."

"Unforgivable."

"Agreed. It is fortunate that we have been given permission to terminate this branch of the program."

Five clasped his hands in front of him, pondering the state of their investigation. "No evidence was left behind at all?"

"We have shell casings. Some were marked as an armor-piercing type, multiple calibers, which would explain the elimination of Agents Sixteen and Twenty-Eight and the ease with which so many Alliance soldiers were dispatched."

"The current rate of loss for our brethren is of concern," Five noted.

Eight nodded. "Again, I agree. I don't believe this is related to the other incidents, certainly not the Primary Target. Her facility was entirely different, though there was a disturbance at the original location on the same day."

The senior Agent had an unprecedented urge to pinch the bridge of his nose but refrained. "Any further evidence?"

"Shotgun shell hulls. Other than those, many of the bullet casings were from a caliber consistent with both military and civilian assault rifles. There were far too many to account for the ones used by the soldiers and guards at the facilities. I estimate three rifles, one shotgun, and perhaps one pistol."

Five sat in silence, staring at his monitor without seeing.

"There is one more item of note," Eight continued.

"Yes?"

"We have a blood sample from the subject. She escaped her restraints by means of injuring herself to do so."

"She?"

Eight nodded. "I have analyzed the sample. Definitely female, unknown age. Also not in our databases. But she has been flagged, if she shows up again we will find her."

"Very well," Five stated, turning back to his console resolutely. "File what we have and shut the secondary program down. We will terminate any other personnel in an administrative capacity, and reassign the specialists back to the primary program."

He glanced back at the other Agent. "And if the subject shows up again, we will be waiting for her."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title track, by AC/DC, is actually not in my playlist, but it was a perfect fit for the episode.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed the epicness I construed. At least, it felt epic when I wrote it. No idea if it came out that way. Well, pop me a review and let me know either way. Kinda feel like after _Harry Potter: Goblet of Fire_. "Everything Is About To Change."


	55. Intermission VII

The last episode, well, pair of episodes actually, were really difficult for me to write. I knew where I wanted to go with this story, how I wanted to split the crew, add division. And I knew what needed to happen, what would get Dani to cross the line.

But, at the same time that I was finally crafting the tale that I've been so looking forward to telling, the girl who Sara is loosely based on was going through a really rough time. Like, super-bad, beyond anything any teenaged girl should ever have to deal with, enough so that it involved the courts.

And considering the fact that I think of this girl like another daughter, it was breaking my heart.

So, taking the advice of my sister-in-law (who Maribelle is based on) I decided to give Sara a happy story after this. I had already planned something like it in the next episode, and it makes me feel a little better. Eases the guilt some. Even though I keep telling myself, this is a fictional character, you're only loosely basing it off of the real-life girl...

So, moral of the story, be cautious using real-life people to base your characters around.

That, and take care of your family.

But, now we move on to sunnier pastures with another Interlude.

Oh! And one more thing. My Beta, **Silvana_Crowe** , made a gorram _niubi_ art project for school, it's a [book cover for **Nothing In The 'Verse**](http://liv2angrtehwrld.deviantart.com/art/Nothing-in-the-Verse-532717097)! Check it out!


	56. Episode 46: Interlude II

En route to Sho-Je Downs. Kalidasa.

Dani was sitting on the bridge, thinking about how empty the ship now seemed without the other six family members. She missed them all terribly, even the sounds of the little boys tearing around the hallways. But even with the crew she had left, she still felt... lonely.

She stared down at her wedding ring, twisting it around idly. Lori still wasn't speaking to her much beyond simple responses to questions. Wouldn't talk to her at all about what happened on Ariel. A small part of her mind was perhaps somewhat angry over it. And as she pondered this, another insidious little voice slithered in to whisper in her ear, "You know you were never gonna be worthy of her anyways, right? So now she knows what a fuck-up you are, mebbe it's fer the best..."

"Stop that," another voice within her commanded sternly. Dani sighed. That one, the voice of her conscience that sounded so much like Beth, was always the one she ignored at her peril. And she did know that she was being an idiot. This couldn't go on, she had to talk to Lori.

As if summoned, Lori came onto the bridge just then, sniffling. Dani looked up with concern. " _Lian ren_ (sweetheart), what's wrong?" she asked softly.

Lori stood there, her arms clasped around her middle, tears trickling down her face. "I jus'... I got a Wave from home," she explained in a faltering voice. "Zach died in a mining accident."

"Oh, no," Dani sighed. She hadn't really gotten to know Lori's oldest brother very well, but she knew how hard this would be on their family. She reached over to pull Lori into her lap, and her wife complied. Dani hugged her tightly, stroking her head, "I'm so sorry _wo de ai_..."

Lori broke out in a keening wail. "No, no, I'm sorry... I- I- I've been so... I dunno what's been wrong wit' me, I'm sorry Dani, I'm so sorry..."

"Hey, it's okay, love," Dani murmured, rocking her soothingly, tears of her own forming.

"No, it's not," Lori moaned. "I been keepin' you out, tryin' to deal with... everythin'... an' it's not yer fault, I dunno why... oh, honey, I'm so sorry..."

"Hush, _zhi'ai_ (most beloved)," Dani laughed softly. "I forgive you, okay?"

Lori sniffled and nodded into Dani's shoulder.

The lanky captain kept her one arm around her wife, while reaching the other up over her head to grab ahold of the comm. "Jess, Rain, c'n y'all come to the bridge, please?"

Jess walked in a few moments later, "What do you need Cap-" She broke off on seeing Lori.

Rain entered on her heels "What happened?" both women ask simultaneously.

"Her brother Zach's passed away sudden-like," Dani explained succinctly. "Jess, c'n you please contact our next job on Sho-Je Downs, give 'em our apologies, but that we can't make the pickup? Jus' let 'em know we gots a family emergency." Jess gave a firm nod and headed back to her bunk to use the Cortex unit there. "An' Rain," she continued, still stroking Lori's head softly, "c'n ya please change course for Aberdeen?"

"Right away, _Kaasan_ ," she replied. Rain put her hand on Lori's arm as she walked by, giving her a squeeze.

* * *

En route to Aberdeen. Kalidasa.

They sat around the dinner table, eating their simple meal of noodles and teriyaki chicken quietly. Lori kept her right hand on the table where it could clasp Dani's left; they hadn't let go of each other much since they sat down. She noticed Sara grinning at one point on seeing their hand-holding and she gave her daughter a wink.

"So," Dani began after most of them were finished. "'Bout time we had a discussion."

The rest of the assembled crew perked their heads up and looked towards the head of the table attentively.

"This's been a mite overdue, but we need to talk 'bout duties," Dani continued quietly. "I know it's hard t'adjust to, but we gots fewer folk on board now, an' the same amount of work that needs doin'." She looked over to the right at the woman sitting on Keith's other side. "I 'preciate yer makin' dinner tonight, Jess, but don' want ya to be stuck doin' it every evenin'. Anyone else cook?"

Keith nodded, as did both Emily and Lori. "I c'n do a lil'," her wife said hesitantly, "but I don' have a wide variety."

"Hey!" Rain exclaimed. "How 'bout Aunt Kelly's flapjacks?"

All heads swiveled to the diminutive ex-Agent. "It's about all I can really cook," she agreed, "but yes, I do know how to make a mean pancake."

"All in favor of Flapjack Fridays?" Dani asked with a grin. She was met by a chorus of agreement. "Alright then, job's yours, hon."

"Before you get any further, would it help for me to tell you what all I can do?" Kelly spoke up again, smiling.

"Um, sure," Dani replied, nonplussed. "Spill."

"Let's see," Kelly looked down at her hands and started ticking items off on her fingers. "I have advanced first aid knowledge, short of actual surgery. Armor and weapon repair and modification. Piloting, though not a ship this size. I could pick it up easily enough given time. Navigation. Advanced hacking, decryption, and programming skills. Same for demolitions, I have a bit of a talent for that, both setting and defusing. I do have an advanced University degree in both Political Science and Sociology, and minor ones in Psychology as well as Biology and Anatomy, for what that's worth. Oh, and aside from my firearms skills there's always hand-to-hand combat, I know expert-level martial arts in three forms, mediocre in five others." She looked up at the stunned faces of the others. "I think that's about it."

"Ya sure 'bout that?" Lori asked, grinning. "No doctorate in engineerin' or somethin'?"

"No," Kelly laughed. "I'm totally inept when it comes to fixing things that aren't weapons or armor."

"Annnnd all in favor of making Kelly the new head of ship's security?" Dani smirked.

Again there was a resounding chorus of affirmatives, with the sole exclusion of Keith. "Don' worry none, _didi_ ," Dani smiled reassuringly. "Yer still ground leader an' first mate. We'll jus' have Kelly keepin' an eye on the ship while we're gone. Mebbe run the comms like ya said 'fore?"

Keith grunted. "Yeah, alright. I'll go with that."

Dani could tell that Keith still had some trust issues with Kelly, but she just had to believe that he'd come around in time. She looked back around the table. "Right, so cooking duties to be shared by Jess, Keith, Lori, Em, and Kelly. Figure out amongst yerselves what kinda rotation y'all want. The rest of us'll handle cleanup fer each meal."

"You're not cooking, Dani?" Jess asked curiously.

Both Rain and Cali snickered. She spared them a glare before answering. "None of y'all really want ta sample my cookin'."

"No, no you really don'," Rain giggled.

"Well, it's not like I married ya fer yer cookin' skills," Lori commented dryly.

"Right," Dani continued somewhat irritably. "So, infirmary. Jess, you gots decent first aid trainin' as well, right? So between you an' Kelly y'all c'n keep us patched up." Both women nodded in agreement.

"Cali," she said next, turning to her youngest daughter. She had been sculpting her leftover noodles into an intricate pattern that looked vaguely, if you squinted really hard, like a panda head. She jerked her head up guiltily upon hearing her name.

"Looks like yer the only mechanic we gots, peanut," Dani said affectionately.

Cali gave a sigh and hung her head. "I know, _Kaasan_ , I'm jus' not sure I c'n keep up with it all."

"I gots confidence in ya. Plus, you can rope us in fer some o' the grunt work. We'll all pitch in fer general cleaning an' maintenance. But ya gotta stay on top of stuff, 'kay?"

"I'll do my best, Capt'n," Cali answered, nodding.

"An' the hydroponics lab as well? I know you've been helpin' yer Aunt Julie out there in the past. We c'n all pitch in, though, if'n ya need us to."

"I've been helpin', too," Sara commented quietly. "We gots this."

"Right. So now we come to the most important job outta all of 'em," Dani announced, her voice officious. "Keith, stand up, please."

Keith just looked back at her quizzically.

"I said, stand on up, _didi_ ," she said again, her expression giving nothing away.

Sighing, Keith complied, and stood by the table with his arms folded and his eyebrows raised.

"Keith Grant, you are hereby granted the title of Token Male on the _Fortune's Favour_ ," Dani announced with a grin. Keith looked around at the rest of the women at the table and joined in the good-natured laughing before sitting down again.

"So you get to be the target of all female aggression once a month," Kelly ribbed him.

"I can always bunk in a shuttle for a week," he groaned.

Jess elbowed him in his side, while Lori snickered and retorted, "Ya think you c'n get away from us all that easy?"

Dani smiled at the joking crew. It was good to see them all laughing again and enjoying each other's company. While there were missing faces at the table now, it seemed less empty than before.

* * *

Aberdeen. Kalidasa.

The funeral itself was a sad affair with only a couple of eulogies given. Lori had explained earlier that, as was tradition on Aberdeen, the family would get their mourning done then, and then move back to the pub to celebrate Zach's life with stories told over drinks and good food.

It was a little jarring for Dani, as the last funeral she'd been to was for Beth, almost seven years ago now. While she had cremated Beth, for Zach they interned him in the ground at a family plot.

The entire crew was there, both to show support for Lori and to pay their respects to the O'Toole clan who had treated them as part of their family.

Dani held Lori's hand tightly the entire time while Sara wrapped her arm around Lori on the other side, both Rain and Cali gathered in close.

* * *

O'Toole's Pub. Aberdeen.

They all retired to the family pub to celebrate Zach's life. Most of the O'Toole clan was there, plenty of faces they hadn't seen in some time as well as a few new ones who had known Zach.

The _Favour_ 's crew were greeted enthusiastically by Feather who had stayed behind to get the reception organized so that Zach's siblings and father could attend the funeral. She gave each of them a warm hug, perhaps lingering on Rain a little longer than the others, but stopped when she got to Kelly.

She looked at her, wide-eyed, and then back over at Rain.

"Yeah, sorry, meant to tell ya..." Rain trailed off as she walked over to whisper up in her ear. Keith and Jess moved off with grins as they saw folk they knew, and Lori did the same, giving Dani's hand a squeeze first.

Then Feather was back again and enveloping Kelly in a huge hug. "Oh, I'm so happy yer here, Kelly!" she squealed. "Welcome back to the family!" She stood back up, grinning, and then skipped off again. "Gotta get food out, I'll come by an' talk to y'all again later!"

Kelly gave Rain a nudge as they walked over to an unoccupied booth. "Feather gives a nice hug, huh?"

Rain blushed. "Yeah, she does."

The family made little effort to hide their snickers as Lori ran up to the table. "Hey, I plumb forgot! End o' this week, two days from now, is Feather's birthday! She's turnin' twenty-one!"

"Really?" asked Rain. "Tha's like ten days 'fore I turn the same!"

"Well, then," Dani grinned at her wife. "We need to plan a party for both of 'em."

"Wait, a what now?" Rain protested.

"It's all good _baobei_ ," Dani laughed as she bolted from her seat, dragging Kelly and Emily with her. "Lori, you an' Em go talk ta Feather, Kelly an' me'll corner Robert."

"On it!" Lori said cheerfully as she and Emily ran off giggling in the direction of the kitchen.

" _Deng yi miao_ (hold on a sec)!" Rain said incredulously. "I don' wanna have-"

"We gots this!" Dani laughed as she and Kelly moved off.

"...a party," Rain finished forlornly.

"Why not?" Cali asked as she blew on the top of the cup of her hot cocoa. She had scored it from a buffet table set up by the entrance of the pub.

"'Cause then all of everyone'll be lookin' at me!" Rain answered, outraged.

Sara and Cali glanced at each other across the booth, grinning at Rain's discomfiture. A young man of medium height with a tousled mop of dark brown hair walked up, wearing the black trousers and white shirt of the pub's staff. He was carrying a tray with empty glasses on it.

"Ladies, c'n I clear off yer table any?" he asked politely.

"Yeah, sure, here ya go," Sara answered, pushing her glass that she had drained towards him.

"Why thank you, lil' miss," he said as he turned to go.

"Lil' miss?" Sara barked, offended. The server turned back, eyebrows raised questioningly.

"She's older than I am," Cali informed him.

The boy laughed, his eyes twinkling merrily. "Oh, I find that hard ta believe."

"What?" Sara sputtered. "I am! Nineteen already! An' why do I care what a _bendan_ (idiot) like you thinks, anyways?"

"I dunno, why is it?" he grinned back. "S'okay though, I understan', I have that effect on some women."

"What?" Sara squawked again. Her mouth worked but nothing else came out. The boy laughed again and spun around to take the tray to the kitchen.

" _Ni ta ma de_ (fuck you)!" she finally called after him. His head bent back as he barked out another laugh before walking through the doors.

"Why's he gettin' you all riled up?" Cali asked curiously.

"He ain't!" Sara replied irritably. "Stupid... smarmy... _piyan_ (asshole)!"

Cali shrugged as she sipped at her hot cocoa. "Ya sound riled up ta me."

Dani joined them again in the booth, looking at Sara quizzically. "You alright there, _baobei_?"

"I'm fine!" Sara raged. "Jus' fine! I gots no problem with that _qiang bao hou-zi de, qing wa kao de liu mang_ (monkey raping, frog humping son of a bitch)!"

"Well, jus' so long as there's no problem, then," laughed a voice from behind Dani. The lanky captain glanced over her shoulder to see Lori's sister Ericka.

"Hey there, girl!" Dani greeted her enthusiastically, standing back up to give her a hug. Ericka was likely her favorite of Lori's siblings. She was close to her own age and just as freckled as Lori but gave off a warm, earthy vibe that always soothed her.

"It's been too long, Dani, good to see you again," Ericka murmured, returning the hug. "Have ya got a sec to talk with me?"

"Always," Dani smiled and followed her as she walked out of the pub, wondering idly if it had something to do with Ericka's daughter Feather. "I'm so sorry about Zach."

"Thanks, hon. Though I'm honestly surprised he lasted as long as he did, the job was wearin' him down somethin' fierce," Ericka replied sadly.

They walked together in companionable silence for a few meters before Ericka spoke again. "Lori's worried about you."

"Oh," Dani murmured. "Yeah, s'pose she is. She tell ya why?"

Ericka shook her head, her long dark red tresses swinging around her face. "Nope, said it was yer tale to tell."

"Well, I'll spare ya the gory details," Dani sighed. "A lil' while back, on Ariel, some bad guys took Sara. An' I did some... well, pretty bad stuff myself to get her back."

Ericka gave a soft hum. "An' d'ya feel badly 'bout it?"

"That's the thing, an' mebbe where Lori's feelin' concerned-like about me," Dani sighed. "I don', really. I hate what I did, an' I try not ta think 'bout it too much, but I can't make myself feel badly that I hadda do it. I got my _nu'er_ (daughter) back an' that's all that matters."

They walked for a few more steps in silence.

"Lori did tell me that she feels badly fer cuttin' ya out," Ericka commented softly. "When she was tryin' to deal with it all."

"Yeah, I know," the lanky spacer murmured. "Don' blame her none. Jus' glad she let me back in. I'm always afraid she's gonna, I dunno, get tired of me, figure out I'm not worth the bother, ya know? Even if'n she married me, I keep tryin' to prove myself to her."

"Oh, Dani," her sister-in-law said with an amused sigh. "You give yerself far too little credit. I've yet t'meet another person with as much capacity fer love as yerself."

Dani stopped in her tracks, looking at Ericka incredulously.

"It's true," Ericka laughed, putting her arm through Dani's and pulling her along again. "I c'n see it in you. Ya worry so much 'bout others, what they think an' feel, an' worry 'bout yer family... but ya gotta have faith in 'em, yeah?"

"I lost six of my family over this," Dani whispered.

Ericka nodded. "But they're still family, right?"

"Right," Dani smiled. "Jus' not crew."

"Alright then," Ericka smiled back as they reached the entrance to the pub again. "I think mebbe Lori's feelin' a lil' insecure right now as well. Mebbe give her a lil' extra attention, be good fer the two of ya."

Dani laughed and enveloped Ericka in a warm hug. "Yes, ma'am," she replied, and the two women walked back inside the building.

Meandering back over to their booth, they could see Lori was sitting with her daughters again, evidently having succeeded in her mission of talking to Feather about the upcoming birthday celebration. Kelly and Emily were sitting together at a table nearby with a few young men, laughing and drinking together. There was another young man standing by the booth, grinning, while Sara glared at him with her thin arms crossed angrily.

"Who's the boy that's got my Sara all irritated-like?" Dani asked Ericka curiously.

"That's Justin," Ericka answered. "Nephew of mine from my husband John's side, he's an O'Donnel as well. Jus' turned eighteen."

They reached the table in time to hear Sara growling ferociously. Dani glanced at her in concern but noted that she wasn't being aggressive. In fact, more than anything she seemed to be embarrassed.

"I'm jus' sayin," Justin remarked, "ya might look better with a smile on yer face than that angry scowl of yers."

"If'n ya'd stop irritatin' me, I wouldn't be gettin' so mad at ya!" Sara retorted.

Lori was grinning widely and winked at Dani and Ericka, though Cali just looked confused. Rain, for her part, hid her smirk behind her hand.

"Now, ya know ya jus' wan' me to keep comin' over here," the boy answered cheekily. "Otherwise why'd ya keep stoppin' me when I go by?"

"I ain't stoppin' ya!" Sara almost shouted. "Ya keep walkin' by an' lookin' at me funny!"

Dani and Ericka shared an amused glance as Justin leaned over the table to take another empty glass off of it.

"Well, ya keep drinkin' stuff, so's I gotta keep comin' by to pick it up," he said, smiling.

"Not one glass at a time, ya _lan ren_ (loon)!" Sara sputtered. "What kinda bus boy are ya?"

"A busy one," he replied, walking off. "Be back soon!"

"Arrrgh!" Sara screamed, looking as if she might tear her hair out. "That... that... _fay fay duh pee-yen_ (baboon's asshole)!"

"Oh, sweetie, he's got it fer ya bad," Dani laughed as she sat down in the booth next to her wife. She reached under the table for Lori's hand and gave it a squeeze. Lori returned the gesture and hung on to her, stroking her thumb across the back of her hand.

"He's got what?" Sara asked, her voice rising up an octave.

"'Fraid so, _meimei_ ," Rain giggled. "He's hittin' on ya somethin' fierce."

Sara looked around the table, mouth agape. Only Cali looked unconvinced, shrugging.

"There's no ruttin' way," Sara said wonderingly. She looked over to see the boy approaching again, and jumped to her feet to block his path. She stood with her hands planted on her narrow hips and glared up at him.

"What'rya playin' at?" she demanded.

"What'dya mean, Sara?" he asked innocently.

Sara stared back incredulously. "How'd you know my name?"

"I asked my cousin, Feather," he said, smirking down at her.

"You... What..." Sara balled her fists at her sides in frustration.

"Closin' time, folks," Robert O'Toole announced from the bar just then.

"Whelp, gotta get busy cleanin' an' all," the boy said. "By the by, my name's Justin. Ya gonna stop by tomorrow again, mebbe 'round lunchtime? I'll be workin' then."

Sara looked up at him in astonishment. "Why?"

"'Cause I like talkin' to ya," Justin grinned as he slid around her and headed for the kitchen with the full tray in his hands.

Sara continued to stare at the spot where he had been, eyes wide and unbelieving.

"C'mon, _baobei_ ," Dani murmured as she slipped her arm around Sara's shoulder and steered her out the door.

"Was he... really hittin' on me?" she whispered, eyes still wide.

"Yep," Lori answered as she stepped up and reached around to put her arm around Dani's waist.

" _Tai-kong suo-yo duh shing-chiou sai-jin wuh duh pee-goo_ (shove all the planets in the universe up my ass)," Sara murmured in disbelief.

* * *

 _Fortune's Favour._ Aberdeen.

Dani dropped down into her bunk after making sure the ship was secure and everyone else was in for the night. She closed the hatch behind her and turned to see Lori sitting on the side of their bed, still dressed but barefoot and looking up at her with her warm, light brown eyes.

Slipping her boots off, Dani gave her wife a lopsided grin. "Somethin' on yer mind, _wo de ai_ (my love)?"

Lori nodded solemnly. "Yep. You."

"Oh, really?" Dani asked, smiling. She continued to undress, slowly, dropping her shirt and pants on the floor until she stood before her in only her underwear. She stood with one leg cocked, her hand resting on the hip that was off to the side.

Lori stared at her still, licking her lips. "D'ya have any idea how much I need you?"

"Hmm," Dani smirked and sauntered over until she could sit on her freckled lover's lap, straddling her with her legs. "I gots an idea, but I always like to hear it from ya."

Lori was still staring at her intently, almost wonderingly. "I never really thought 'bout it much. But I never did, well, _need_ anyone like I do you. I mean..." She trailed off a little as she raised her hands to cup Dani's face. "It's not jus' how much I love ya, an' I do, desperately so. But yer such a part of my life now, so much a part of me, I jus' can't do without ya. I don' ever wanna do without ya."

Sighing contentedly, Dani wrapped her arms around her wife to hold her close, not breaking eye contact. "Yer my _zhi yin_ (soulmate), love. Yer never gonna be without me, 'cause no matter what, I'm gonna be here for ya. Know why?"

Her wife shook her head, a very slight smile curving the corners of her lips.

"'Cause I can't do without ya neither," Dani whispered against her lips as she leaned in, still staring into those eyes that just melted her away every time she gazed into them. She gently brushed her lips against Lori's, and felt her shudder.

"I want ya to take me, beautiful," Lori whispered back. "I want ya to make me feel like I'm yers, completely an' utterly an' ferever. C'n ya do that fer me?"

"Oh, _zhi'ai_ (most beloved)," Dani murmured. "It would be my pleasure."

* * *

O'Toole's Pub. Aberdeen. Next day.

Sara sat on her barstool, facing the counter and resting her arms on it. "What d'ya want from me, Justin?"

The boy in question was sitting next to her at the bar and sipping his coffee. It was slow enough that he really didn't have any duties at the moment. "Can't I jus' get ta know ya better?"

"But why?"

Justin smiled cheekily. "'Cause I wanna know. An' 'cause I like yer smile. An' 'cause yer pretty."

Sara rolled her eyes in exasperation. "Now I know yer lyin'."

Rain walked by holding Feather's hand. "He ain't lyin', _meimei_ ," she sang out as she passed.

" _Bi zui, jiejie_ ," Sara replied in a sing-song voice of her own. Rain and Feather just giggled in response as they exited the pub.

"See, even yer sister agrees," Justin said.

Sara shook her head stubbornly. "She ain't agreein', she's jus' causin' trouble."

Justin sighed, getting off the barstool and turning to stand near her, his hand resting on the bar. "How c'n I convince ya that I think yer pretty, an' I wanna get to know ya better?"

"Ya can't none, alright?" Sara replied irritably, keeping her face forward. _Why's he keep buggin' me 'bout this?_ "Ya wanna know 'bout me? I gots the body of a gorram twelve-year-old, an' I'm broke'n more ways'n ya c'n count, I'm ornery, an' stubborn, an'-"

Her words were cut off by the simple expedient of Justin slipping a hand around her chin to turn her face towards his own, and then kissing her.

Sara's eyes grew wide. He was... kissing her? Shouldn't she push him off, or struggle, or... But her body didn't seem to agree with her brain, so she just closed her eyes, gave up on the whole resisting idea, and kissed him back.

His lips were like velvet, like nothing she'd ever experienced before.

Granted, this was her first kiss, but still, he had really, really nice lips.

He broke off eventually and looked into her face intently with his chocolate-colored eyes, not saying a word.

She pulled back slightly, licking her lips and yet still tasting him on there, a mixture of coffee and woodsmoke.

"Okay," she breathed, still stunned by the event. "I'm convinced."

* * *

O'Toole's Pub. Aberdeen. Evening before liftoff.

They held the combined birthday parties for Feather O'Donnel and Rain Grant on the day before the _Fortune's Favour_ was due to lift. They had used the past couple of days to arrange and gather things together, though some of the family members were conspicuously absent for most of the preparations.

It turned into a larger affair than was originally intended, as Feather had a goodly number of friends she wanted to invite. Most of the family were still in town from Zach's funeral as well.

The Grant clan showed up in their finery just early enough to help in the final preparations. Rain, wearing a simple but nice short black dress with long flowy sleeves and low heels, headed straight over to Feather. Her girlfriend was wearing a brilliant turquoise blue dress that came down to her ankles but was slit up her thigh on one side and showed off her matching heels. It was sleeveless and had a very plunging neckline that distracted her immensely.

Rain gave Feather a warm hug. It was funny how natural it now seemed to hug this girl who had made it seem almost effortless to break down so many of her barriers. "Ugh, I hate parties," Rain complained quietly.

"Really?" Feather asked as she quirked an eyebrow. "'Cause of the attention, right?"

"An' the crowds," Rain sighed despondently. "I hate meetin' new folk, an' havin' all these people jammed up together. I'm likely gonna hafta step outside often."

"Well, lemme know when ya do," Feather smiled. "I won' let ya go alone."

Rain shook her head as the two walked over to help arrange part of the buffet table. "No, ya gots more folk that yer gonna know here, shouldn't be runnin' off with me."

"Um, 'bout that," Feather said hesitantly. "I jus' wanna warn ya, some of my friends that're gonna be here are folk that I've, well, been with, y'know? Still friends with 'em. I jus' don' want ya caught off guard or nothin'."

Rain shrugged, thinking it was odd but it wasn't like she had any frame of reference to judge. "S'alright, I c'n deal."

Some of the guests were starting to arrive by then. Rain noticed that her _Kaasan_ had pulled Feather's mom, Ericka, over into a corner and they were deeply involved in a discussion.

Feather gave her arm a squeeze as she noticed some of her friends enter. "Be right back, 'kay?"

Rain nodded and finished straightening out the table. Then, with a sigh, she looked around for a secluded corner to go hide out in.

"So, you're the new one, hmm?"

Rain turned at the high-pitched, cultured, girly voice. The woman standing in front of her had long, curly blond hair and was slightly shorter than herself. Her dress was a light blue and was incredibly form fitting. Enough so that Rain could immediately tell that she was wearing no underwear at all to support her slim proportions.

"Um, do I know you?" Rain asked hesitantly. The girl was making her nervous from the waves of hostility that was emanating from her. And it seemed to be directed solely towards herself.

"I'm Ashley. I was Feather's last girlfriend," she grinned nastily. "Didn't think she'd take such a big step downwards."

Rain sighed. _Oh, so that's how it's gonna be_. "Look, I'm not gonna get inta this with ya. It's a party, right? So go party and lemme be."

"You think you're worthy of her?" Ashley continued, venom dripping from her voice and ignoring Rain's attempts to ward her off. "You're not. She deserves a much higher class of woman."

 _Fine, you wanna do this?_ "What, like you?" Rain smirked. "Skinny lil' _biao zi_ (bitch) like yerself? What she deserves's someone who makes her happy. An', eviden'ly, that'd be me."

Ashley just stared at the young pilot, mouth agape.

"Not used ta havin' somebody stand up fer themselves? Well, _ni ta ma de_ (fuck you)," Rain grinned confidently. "I don' need ta put up with _pi hua_ (shit, nonsense) from a spoiled lil' girl who only stayed friends with Feather ta get back into her pants."

The blond girl's face was flushed an ugly, mottled red, and she hooked her manicured nails into claws. Before Ashley could take a swipe at Rain, one she was more than ready and willing to reciprocate with a fist, she felt a pair of familiar presences on either side of her.

"Yer gonna wanna walk away now, _biao zi_ (bitch)," Sara commented nonchalantly.

"That, or yer gettin' a beatin' from the Grant sisters like ya'd never ferget again," Cali promised with relish.

Ashley flung herself around, hair whipping across her face, and stalked angrily out of the pub.

"An' don' come back none, ya _chou biaozi_ (stinking whore)!" Cali jeered after her.

Her sisters walked around to face her. "We didn' spoil yer fun any, did we _jiejie_?" Sara asked, grinning.

Rain laughed. "Nah. Thanks, guys, I gots the best _meimeis_ in the 'Verse lookin' out fer me."

The three sisters shared a round of high-fives and a group hug before moving off to hit the buffet.

The party dragged on for some time, happily for some and to the consternation of a very few others. Rain invented a new game for herself, to count the number of times she caught Sara and a guy named Justin sitting in a booth or at a table or in a corner somewhere. Sometimes they'd be kissing, sometimes just staring at each other with goofy grins on their faces. But inevitably, Justin would hear his name being yelled by Robert or one of the wait staff and had to jump up sheepishly to get back to work again, with Sara laughing merrily at his back.

After an hour or two, Feather pulled Rain aside. "Are you avoidin' me?" the auburn-haired beauty asked, concerned.

"No, not at'all," Rain assured her. "Mostly I've jus' been stayin outta the way. Toldya I didn' like parties none."

Feather linked her arm through Rain's and walked over with her towards the back wall by the empty stage, away from the crowds. "This better?"

Rain grinned at her and pulled her into a hug. "Bein' with you makes it better."

"Aww," Feather giggled. "Yer gonna make me blush, bein' all romantic an' all."

Rain shook her head with a snort as she pulled back from the hug. "Yer not getting a rise outta me that easy."

Feather glanced around, and then lowered her voice. "Listen, Rain, I needed ta talk to ya 'bout somethin'. Um, I didn' really find anythin' to get ya fer yer birthday."

Rain grinned back sheepishly. "Me neither. I tried to find somethin', well..."

"Somethin' that'd reflect our relationship?" Feather asked perceptively.

"Yeah, 'xactly."

Feather smiled at her nervously. "Well, there's something I've been wantin' to give ya fer a long time now... an' mebbe you could give me, too?" She leaned in towards Rain, her eyes wide and dilated. Rain leaned in as well, seemingly against her own will. And then Feather put her arm around Rain's waist to pull their bodies in close together and kissed her.

Rain usually had a very complex train of thought running through her head. She assumed it wasn't nearly as chaotic in there as it would be for Cali, but still, she'd be off in several tangents even while calculating the navigation path for the _Favour_.

For the first time in her memory, her mind was completely blank.

There was only her, and Feather, and this kiss.

She noted absently that she tasted of cherry lip balm at first, and then, when Feather's tongue gently parted her lips, it was a taste of cinnamon. The two conflicting tastes somehow blended into the perfect taste of Feather, summer and skylight.

The kiss might have lasted an eternity for all Rain could tell. Distantly she knew her right arm was wrapped as tightly around Feather's waist as her girlfriend's arm was around her own. Her left hand was intertwined in Feather auburn hair, caressing the silky-smooth texture, and Feather's other hand was in Rain's short-cropped hair, gently holding her head close.

It was when she noticed that there was some clapping and cheering going on that her brain fired back up again and she realized they were doing this in front of an audience.

Still, she broke away gently, which took an enormous amount of willpower (both to break away at all, and to do so gently), and then just buried her face in Feather's shoulder, blushing hard. She could hear several members of her family, at least Sara and Dani, moving the bystanders away to spare Rain further mortification.

"I'm sorry," Feather whispered. "I shoulda waited till we were in private fer that."

"It's okay, _zhi'ai_ (most beloved)," Rain murmured. It was the first time she'd ever called Feather that, but it seemed like the perfect thing to say at the time. "I really liked it."

"Oh thank Buddha," Feather breathed. "'Cause all I c'n think 'bout is doin' it again." The two girls shared a giggle.

"Ladies," Dani interjected gently, "if'n I c'n get y'all to join us again, there's one 'nother present comin' up."

Rain pulled her head back to look into her favorite blue sun-eyes. Feather was blushing a light pink, and her lips were slightly swollen. Rain couldn't take her eyes away from them and licked her own swollen lips. _Oh yeah, I definitely wanna do that again_.

Dani cleared her throat, making the two girls jump. "Sorry _Kaasan_ , yep, we're comin'," Rain gulped.

Grinning, Feather took her hand and steered her back to the table where their combined family was gathered.

"So, Feather," Dani began as she followed them over. "I understan' yer turnin' twenty-one today."

"Yep, thas' right," Feather answered curiously. _Didn't_ Kaasan _already know that?_ Rain wondered to herself.

"An' I hear yer a decent hand at repairin' things around here, keepin' the machinery runnin' and such. Yer grandad here sez you've been invaluable, makin' sure it don' all break down."

Feather blushed at the praise, and nodded shyly, looking over at Robert. The head of the O'Toole clan gave her a wink.

_Oooh, mebbe she got her a new tool kit or somethin'?_

"So, after talkin' to Robert an' yer folks, and understandin' that yer work here is finished after ya turn twenty-one, I'd like ta offer ya an apprenticeship slot on my crew as a mechanic."

Feather's jaw dropped. Rain was pretty sure her own face reflected her incredulity just as much.

_Did she jus'...?_

The two girls turned to each other, identical grins spreading across their faces. "D'ya wan' me to?" Feather whispered, hope and a little bit of anxiety written across her very expressive face.

"More'n anythin' in the 'Verse," Rain whispered back.

Feather beamed, and glanced back at Dani. "I'd love ta join up, Dani. I mean, um, Capt'n."

Dani gave her grin of her own and leaned over for a hug. "Then welcome to my crew. We lift in the mornin', an' yer parents asked to have the night with ya while ya pack."

* * *

O'Toole's Pub. Aberdeen.

Later that night, as the party started to wind down, Sara pulled Emily aside. "Em, I gotta talk to ya. Please."

"Sure, sweetie," Emily replied cheerfully. She sat down her drink and walked outside with her.

Sara looked around frantically, making sure nobody was listening as they began to walk around the pub. She was fidgeting nervously with the hem of her dark red dress.

"So, y'know how Justin an' I, we been, um..."

"Snoggin'?" Emily grinned.

"Ugh! Yeah, kissin' and stuff."

"And stuff?"

"Not like..." Sara stopped, holding her head and trying to get the words out in a coherent fashion. "I dunno how or why, but he likes me. I think a bunch. An' I gotta admit, he's cute, got a nice kiss, an' a nice butt, an' I like it when he holds me, an' now all these feelin's are mixin' me up, an' when I'm near 'im I get all gooey inside, an' then..."

The sounds of folk leaving the pub came to their ears. Evidently, the party was finally breaking up, it being closing time.

Sara lowered her voice to a whisper. "An' then I get this funny feelin' inside my tummy, only lower, an'... _Ta ma de diyu_ (fucking hell) this is so embarressin'..."

Emily took her cousin by the shoulders and turned her to face her. "Sara, you know you c'n talk to me. Don' be embarrassed, okay?"

Sara nodded and gulped. "An' then I get all wet 'tween my legs, an' I dunno why," she said in a barely audible voice, her face blushing bright red in the moonlight.

Emily smiled gently. "Oh, honey. Tha's perfectly normal."

"It is?" Sara looked at her incredulously with wide eyes.

Emily nodded. "Means he excites ya."

"Like... sex?" Sara squeaked.

Emily nodded again. "Do you wanna? Have sex with 'im?"

Sara covered her face with her hands and then nodded rapidly.

"Then go for it. Talk to 'im, it's our last night here."

"What?" Sara practically shouted as she dropped her hands. She lowered her voice again, looking around. "Are you _feng li_ (crazy)? Ask 'im? He don't know none 'bout... 'bout me an' Shadow, an'..."

"Life's full of crazy risks," Emily said gently, still holding Sara's shoulders. "Ya won' know til ya try. And if'n ya ask me, he's worth the risk."

"Ya think so?" Sara whispered.

Emily nodded her head, grinning. "Oh yeah. Go grab 'im."

Sara nodded back determinedly. "Okay. Yeah. I'll just go... talk to 'im." She looked around again and noted they'd been out there for so long, the lights were now off in the pub. "Um, it's late, though, he's prob'ly sleepin' upstairs..."

"Don' let that stop ya none," Emily giggled, giving her shoulders a squeeze before walking back towards the ship.

"Right," Sara muttered under her breath. "Okay, jus' like a mission, right? Slip in, make contact..." Her face blushed again as she thought about the contact she was now desiring. _No, gorramit, focus_.

She tried the front door half-heartedly, but of course, it was locked. "Shoulda brought my lock pickin' tools," she murmured, looking around. There was a trellis against the side of the pub where vines were growing. Grinning, she slipped her sandals off and left them on the front steps, quickly scaling up the side of the building, toes nimbly grabbing onto the trellis, to the roof and the dormer windows jutting out.

 _Alright now, which window..._ She felt slightly guilty for peeking into the private areas of people she knew and liked, but she kept it to a quick glance only until she could find the one she needed.

Three dormer windows down she spotted a familiar tousled mop of dark hair resting on a pillow. The bed was against the wall, away from the window which was cracked open slightly to let a breeze in.

She slipped noiselessly inside and inched over towards the bed. It was definitely Justin, and his rhythmic breathing indicated he was just now drifting off to sleep.

Her resolve almost failed her then and there when he pulled an arm up out of the covers to scratch the tip of his nose. But she shook her head. _I've killed Reavers, an' faced down zombies, an' escaped from the Alliance. Twice. Three times if'n ya count slam. Ain't gonna let one boy intimidate me none._

She sat down on the end of the bed, bouncing a little more than necessary.

Justin bolted upright. "Wha-"

"Hey," Sara said quietly.

"Sara?" he asked sleepily as he fumbled for the light. Sara kept her eyes averted and stood back up as he switched the light on. She paced the small confines of his room in her bare feet, arms wrapped around her waist.

"Okay, so I'm sorry fer wakin' ya, but I hadda talk. I gots these... feelin's. An' urges. An' I don' know what to do with 'em." She kept her eyes focused on the floor, on her bare toes as they moved. "I ain't never really, um, been with nobody, but I had stuff happen, like bad stuff, long time ago, made me who I am now, okay? I'm tryin' to get past it some, an' I'm doin' better, but-"

She broke off as her gaze came across another pair of bare feet. Justin had sat up and swung his legs around onto the floor.

And then Sara made the mistake of looking up. He was wearing nothing but a pair of boxers.

Her mouth went very dry, and everything she had wanted to say just flew right out of her head.

"Um." She blinked a few times, unable to look away from his bare chest. "Ya work out?"

Justin was grinning widely. "Not so much. Bussin' tables an' choppin' wood, mostly."

"Yeah," Sara murmured. She wanted nothing more than to run her fingers along the smooth and hairless skin of his torso. "Why d'ya gots no hair?" she asked curiously, her feet rooted to the spot on the floor.

He shrugged, which made the muscles in his chest ripple, much to Sara's delight. "Family trait, I s'pose."

Her gaze involuntarily fell lower, which made her blush more. "Ya gots some below yer belly button," she remarked. _What am I sayin'? Why can't I stop talkin'?_

"Ya know what they call that lil' line of hair?" Justin asked with a chuckle.

Sara shook her head, eyeing the small line of fine brown hair that disappeared below the waistline of his boxers.

"Treasure trail."

Sara looked up at his face then, blinking uncertainty, until it dawned on her what the 'treasure' would be. "Ooohhhh," she exclaimed and then blushed a very deep red.

"So, what were ya talkin' 'bout 'fore?"

Sara shook her head again. "No idea."

Justin smiled gently at her. "C'n I give a suggestion, then?"

"Um, sure."

He held out a hand. "How 'bout you come over here, an' I'll turn the light back off."

Sara licked her lips nervously. "Yeah. Okay. Sure." She reached out and slipped her small hand into his and he pulled her close. She finally ran her hands over his torso, marveling at the feel of his bare skin.

"Oh, this was a very, very good idea," she murmured before closing her lips over his.

Justin mumbled his agreement as he turned the light off again.

* * *

 _Fortune's Favour_. Aberdeen. Morning of liftoff.

Feather showed up at the _Favour_ the next morning dressed in a simple pink tee shirt and tan cargo shorts with running shoes, carrying a large duffel bag and a rucksack over her shoulder. Rain and Dani greeted her at the airlock, both of them getting warm hugs before taking her back to the crew quarters in the rear.

"I gots a few bunks open," Dani began as they walked through the lounge. "Kelly's up in the middle, over th'infirmary, and Em's up on the right. The one below her is open, if'n ya want. Like ta keep the ones on the left open fer passengers."

Feather blushed slightly, and hemmed, looking at the floor. "Um, Capt'n, c'n I... that is, I gotta request ta make? Um, in private?"

Rain looked at her curiously but excused herself to head for the bridge. "Need ta get things goin' anyways."

Feather was still looking at the floor as Dani waited patiently for the girl to assemble her thoughts.

"So, um, mebbe I c'n ask this of ya as a Capt'n, an' not as, um, my girlfriend's mom?"

"Yeah, absolutely, sweetie. An' what ya say is jus' 'tween the two of us," Dani replied, her own curiosity growing.

"Well, y'know that last night was our first kiss, me'n Rain, right?"

Dani nodded even though Feather wasn't able to meet her eyes still.

"So, I've been with folk b'fore. I mean, I've had, um, sex b'fore. An' sometimes I need ta, well..."

"Oh!" Dani exclaimed, and then lowered her voice. "I understan', sweetie. Ya need a lil' privacy, an' these walls are pretty gorram thin. I'm sure Rain filled ya with stories of b'fore Lori came on board."

Feather nodded, smiling, as she finally met Dani's eyes. "I 'preciate it, Capt'n."

"No worries. Take the bottom bunk on the left. An' if'n ya don' mind gettin' those clothes all greasy-like, head on up to th'engine room ta give Cali a hand, let her show ya the ropes."

"Yes, ma'am!" Feather replied excitedly. She tossed her bags inside her new bunk, and not bothering to unpack, she raced on up the steps.

"Can't fault her enthusiasm none," Dani chuckled to herself as she walked forward towards the cargo bay.

As she passed through the workshop Dani came across Sara and Justin sharing a goodbye kiss in a secluded corner of the bay under the rear steps, devouring each other really. Her daughter was sitting on a crate and he was standing in front of her with her legs wrapped tightly around his waist.

 _Oh, my_ , Dani thought. She noted with amusement that it wasn't the kiss of a simply dating couple, it was a kiss of lovers. Also, she seemed to be in the same red dress that she had been wearing last night. _Well, gorramit, good for her_.

She walked past the corner and cleared her throat, looking out towards the cargo bay door. " _Baobei_ (treasured one), we lift in five, need ta get the doors closed."

She heard a quiet curse and some fumbling. "Okay, thanks, _Kaasan_!"

Dani smiled and walked towards the forward stairs. "An' it was nice meetin' ya, Justin!" she called out over her shoulder.

She stopped on the first landing as she saw Sara walk Justin out, holding hands. They embraced one last time before he jogged off of the ramp, and Sara hit the controls to close up the cargo bay doors.

"How d'ya feel, _baobei_?" Dani asked gently as Sara headed up the steps towards her.

"I feel..." Sara stopped in front of her, searching for the right word. "...normal."

"Oh, honey," Dani sighed, her eyes filling with tears as she gathered her daughter into a hug. "I'm so very, very happy for ya. More'n I c'n say."

"Me too, _Kaasan_ ," Sara sniffed happily. "Me too."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So that was a little fluffier than the last Interlude. Yay for smooches all around! (Yes, I'm juvenile at times, it should show in my writing.)
> 
> And we have a new crew member now in the person of Feather O'Donnel! Should keep Rain on her toes...
> 
> Stay shiny!


	57. Episode 47: Toys In The Attic

Londinium.

In an office high up in a towering structure within the capital of the Alliance, a man reclined in his plush desk chair, examining the array of large Cortex screens covering one wall. Images from the news flashed by as well as stock reports and surveillance camera feeds.

He steepled his manicured hands in front of his face, brows furrowed. Normally his morning routine soothed him as he reviewed his holdings from across the 'Verse and maintained his finger on the pulse of all that occurred within it.

Today, however, he was preoccupied with matters of a more personal nature.

Abruptly standing up, he turned to the floor-to-ceiling windows lining the back of the office. He gazed out across the city, the morning sun reflecting off of his angular jaw and aristocratic profile. Sighing, he adjusted the cuff of his tailored dark grey suit that almost matched the steel grey in his hair.

The door behind him opened. He glanced over his shoulder to see his faithful assistant approach. _Finally, some resolution_. "Yes?" he queried, the one syllable conveying both his cultured voice and the mannerisms of a man used to being obeyed without question.

His subordinate, an unassuming man with round spectacles which were more of an affectation than anything, cleared his throat. "We obtained the results, sir. They were positive."

The man's jaw clenched, the only sign of his anger, as he sat back in his chair. "Very well. Carry out the plan, then."

"Very good, sir." The assistant turned and exited the office quietly, closing the doors behind him.

He turned back to the screens again, vainly trying to resume his normal daily routine. "Damn you, Martina, for forcing me to take this action," he murmured.

* * *

Inbound to Persephone.

"I miss Uncle Cory's cookin'," Rain complained quietly.

Dani smirked over at her daughter. "I do too, _baobei_ (treasured one). Lookit the bright side, though. Least you don' have me doin' the cookin'."

Rain barked out a laugh. "Yeah, I'll take that."

"An' least we gots a variety now," Dani mused. "Though some meals are better'n others."

Rain sat there silently for a few minutes as the _Favour_ drew closer to their destination. " _Kaasan_ , you know I like Lori a whole bunch, right?"

"I do, yeah," Dani answered curiously.

Rain looked over her shoulder to make sure there were no eavesdroppers. "The food she makes ain't all that, um, flavorful-like," she whispered.

"Well, yeah, true enuff," Dani laughed. "Hey, if'n ya feel strongly 'bout it, offer to help. Sneak some sorta spices in, or somethin'."

"Just might, at that," Rain murmured. "Want me to take 'er in?"

"Sure thing, sweetie. I'm busy over here anyways, think I gots a lead on a new shuttle offa the Cortex."

Laughing, Rain rolled her eyes. "Tell me you ain't visitin' one of those shady sites."

"Um, I dunno?" Dani asked bemusedly. "What makes it shady?"

" _Gao yang jong duh goo yang_ (motherless goats of all motherless goats)," Rain sighed. "Wish Uncle Mike were here too, he'd keep ya straight. At least take Uncle Keith with ya if'n ya buy one."

"Yer confidence in me is inspririn'," Dani snorted.

Rain just shook her head and picked up the mike. "Eavesdown Docks, this is Firefly transport _Fortune's Favour_ , requestin' clearance to land."

After a couple of seconds, the reply came back. "Roger that _Favour_ , welcome back. Your outgoing cargo has already been delivered to pad alpha-gamma-eighteen, and the space reserved. You're right on time. Follow the beacon down."

Rain smiled. "Much appreciated, Control. Have a good one."

"Well, if nothin' else, our efficiency continues to get better'n better," Dani smirked.

"True enuff, _Kaasan_. 'Course, outgoin' cargo don' make a lick of difference until we gets the cargo we gots unloaded."

"One thing at a time, _baobei_."

* * *

Eavesdown Docks. Persephone.

"Alright, we're headin' out," Dani reported as she walked into the bay, checking her Ares pistol holstered on her belt. Pretty much the entire crew had assembled in the cargo area except for Rain who stayed on the bridge.

"Feather, Cali, an' Kelly, y'all gots the cargo. Kelly can't show 'er face outside the ship, so Cali you get to talk with whoever ya need to. Rain'll be on the bridge to monitor comms." Her youngest beamed at the trust given to her.

"Sara, Emily, an' Jess, y'all gots the supplies. Got the list from Cali on what all we need fer parts?" Jess nodded, holding up her sheet of flimsi scrawled with Cali's writing.

Dani smirked. "Better question, can y'all read her writin'?" She ignored Cali's indignant squawk. "Rest of us are gonna go pick up our new shuttle. Meet back in an hour or so."

As Keith, Dani, and Lori headed down the ramp, her brother glanced over his shoulder. "Giving them a lot of responsibility," he commented.

"Yep," she smiled, linking her arm with her wife's. "Gotta start in on that sometime."

"Didya bring payment?" Lori asked curiously.

"Nope, already paid ahead of time," Dani answered cheerily. Both Lori and Keith stopped in their tracks, jerking Dani to a halt as well. "What?"

" _Da-shiang bao-tza shr duh lah doo-tze_ (the explosive diarrhea of an elephant)," Keith sighed deeply. "Thought we worked out that Jess should be handling finances."

"Well, yeah, but it's just a shuttle!" Dani said indignantly. "I bought a whole gorram ship by my lonesome, two years ago this month, I c'n handle one measly shuttle!"

"Yes, _wo de ai_ (my love)," Lori murmured humorously as they started back off again.

* * *

Larry's Salvage Yard. Persephone.

"So, _jiejie_ ," Keith rumbled from the other seat in the shuttle.

"Yeah, _didi_ ," Dani sighed from the left seat. She looked over the controls again, everything seemed to be in order, nothing missing, though it was a little dusty. All lights showed green.

However, they were unable to lift.

"You read the fine print in the purchase contract, correct?" Keith continued.

"Yes, _didi_ ," she replied again crossly.

Keith grinned over at her. "And what were those two magical little words at the end?"

Dani grumbled something under her breath.

"What was that, Captain?"

"It said 'as is,' alright, you _si pi yan_ (damned asshole)?" she retorted.

"And then what lesson did we learn today?" he continued smugly.

"Not to bring my gorram brother along the next ruttin' time I go buy somethin'," Dani muttered irritably.

Lori came into the shuttle then before Keith could offer a rebuttal, perusing a folder of printed flimsi. "So I gots the maintenance records from 'em," she said. "Took a lil' bribery, but leastways we know what's wrong."

"Alright, _lian ren_ (sweetheart)," Dani sighed. "What's the bad news."

"Bad motivator," she answered succinctly. "Goes out every now an' then. No idea why, some sorta manufacturin' defect shorts it out. Only ever breaks down on the ground, not in flight, so least that's good, right?"

"And I assume he also wanted to sell you a motivator?" Keith smirked.

"Oh yeah, at a double markup. Told 'im ta _qu nide_ (fuck off)," Lori smirked back.

Dani closed her eyes wearily and pinched the bridge of her nose between her fingers. "Three, this is Two. Y'all done shoppin' yet?"

"Not yet, Two," Jess came back. "Picking up the last of it."

"Please add a box of shuttle motivators to the list, an' bring 'em to our location."

"A box?"

"Yes, Three," Dani sighed again. "A box."

"We gonna call this Shuttle One now?" Lori asked curiously.

"Nope," Dani replied, staring out the front viewport. "All new sets of problems gets a new name. This'll be Shuttle Three."

"God rest poor Shuttle One," Keith said solemnly, only the hint of a smile quirking the corner of his mouth.

* * *

Eavesdown Docks. Persephone.

Within a few hours, the new shuttle was safely ensconced within the belly of the _Favour_ and they began unloading the supplies onto the ship. Dani had to admit, save for the annoying tendency to break down, it was a good enough shuttle.

"Least it smells nice!" Sara chirped as she exited carrying a crate of foodstuffs towards the pantry.

Dani laughed. "True enough, _baobei_."

She headed down the steps towards the full cargo hold. The next load to Jubilee in Red Sun was a shipment of farming supplies for new colonists there. Dani reflected on the fact that, even after all these years, there were still some folk willing to head out from the Core and start a new life.

"We all set, Kelly?" she asked as her feet reached the deck.

" _Shi a_ (yes, affirmative), ready to go," Kelly responded by the door controls as she closed things up. "Cali and Feather are already back in the engine room to warm things up so we can get back on our schedule. How's the shuttle?"

"Quirky," Dani sighed with a smile. "But I wouldn' know what t'do with it if'n it weren't." She leaned over past Kelly and touched the comm there. "Rain, take us on up, whenever yer ready."

"Roger that!" Rain came back.

"She's pretty much the main pilot now, isn't she?" Kelly asked curiously as they strolled through the bay, the floor of the bay vibrating from liftoff.

"Yep, pretty much. Figure I c'n retire, keep in my bunk with Lori an' let her just run the ship," Dani joked.

Kelly laughed. "Oh like you could ever retire. I swear, girl, you'll be-"

She broke off then and both women froze in place as they heard a metallic creaking noise coming from the cargo containers off to their right.

"Normal structural shift?" Kelly murmured.

Dani shook her head and unholstered her Ares. She indicated Kelly should circle around the left side of the container while she did the same to the right. Kelly nodded and pulled out her little Astra sidearm from behind her back.

"This is Two, needin' some support in the bay, real quiet-like," she whispered into her comm, hoping someone still had theirs active.

The lanky captain crept around the metal side of the giant box, peering around the corner, but didn't see anything other than Kelly poking her head around the other corner. The diminutive blond woman gave her head a little shake in the negative.

Dani nodded back, and then placed one quiet foot in front of the other to edge around. _If'n this's just a loose crate, I'm gonna be embarrassed as_ diyu _(hell)_.

She could see, though, that one door to the container was open slightly. From her angle, she could also see inside, but it was all darkness. The roar of the atmosphere around them cut off suddenly as the _Favour_ entered space, and then she could hear heavy breathing coming from inside.

"Alright, now, we know yer in there," she warned gently. "If'n yer armed, I wanna see yer gun out on the floor. I'm willin' ta talk, but not if'n yer pointin' a gun at me."

"You've got a gun pointed at me," a melodic voice replied dryly.

Dani shrugged with a smirk. "Well, yeah, 'cause it's my ship."

"Is that supposed to be logic?" the woman asked.

"I swear to Buddha, I can't even get any respect from stowaways," Dani grumbled. "Look, _pengyou_ (friend), ya don' have a lotta options, 'kay? Ya either toss yer gun out an' come on out as well, or..."

"Or what?" the disembodied voice asked warily.

"Or I toss a flash grenade inside and we drag your sorry _pigu_ (ass) out," Jess's voice came from the walkway above them. Dani glanced over her shoulder to see Jess and Lori standing up on the catwalk, rifles pointed down.

"All yer doin' is gettin' us more irritated-like," Dani said, trying to keep her voice soothing. "What if'n I promise not to harm ya until we hear ya out?"

"And then what if you decide to space us after you 'hear me out'?"

"Us?" Dani asked.

She didn't hear anything for a few beats, and then the voice came back in a tense whisper. "Please, I have to protect my sisters, I can't..."

"Okay." Dani looked up at Lori and Jess, motioning them back. She put her own gun on a crate behind her and was surprised to feel Sara's hand slip over it to pick it up. _Always ferget how sneaky she is_. "I don' have my gun no more. I'm gonna come in there with y'all, and then we're gonna talk fer a spell. Just me. Okay?"

"Okay," the woman whispered back.

Dani took a few cautious steps forward and eased the door open. It creaked loudly, obviously what had given them away earlier. _Musta been cramped an' dark in there_ , she mused.

She stepped inside the only half-full container. A woman of medium height, maybe in her twenties, was standing in front of two smaller girls, holding a revolver in her hand but not pointing it threateningly.

"My name's Dani," the lanky captain said. "I'm the captain of this boat, an' most of the crew are my family. I gots daughters of my own, some 'round yer age. So I promise we're not gonna space any of ya, okay?"

Her eyes were adjusting to the dim light, and she could see the details a little better. The woman did indeed look to be in her early twenties and was dressed in tan slacks and a dark tee shirt, with a bright green overshirt buttoned partially in front. Her skin was deeply tanned, or that might have just been her ethnic heritage, as the other two girls, presumably her sisters, had the same tone to their skin. She had lustrous black hair that hung down in curls past her shoulders, and her bangs were dyed a lighter brown.

Her one sister looked to be in her early teens and was wearing dark pants with a red and black tee shirt. Her dark hair was shorter than her older sister's, kept back in a ponytail. The youngest had the appearance of a girl around six or eight years of age, wearing a bright yellow dress and clutching a stuffed animal tightly as she peered around the oldest girl's side. Her hair seemed to be in between both of her sisters in length and worn loosely around her shoulders.

All three sisters were fairly slim and appeared to be very frightened.

"I'm jus' gonna sit down, okay?" Dani murmured. She slowly walked over to a wall and leaned against it, slumping down to the floor and keeping her hands out in front, held loosely on her knees. "Where are y'all headin' to?"

"Jubilee," the woman in front answered warily. "That's where this cargo is heading, correct?"

"Yep, that's right," Dani confirmed. "Still haven' told me yer names."

"Oh! Sorry," the woman looked a bit abashed. "I'm Martina. These are my sisters, Chanel and Sofia," she indicated the teen and younger girl behind her, respectively.

"Ladies," Dani inclined her head. "When's the last time y'all ate?"

"We had some ration bars, but we ate those up awhile ago," Martina replied.

"They were icky," Sofia piped up in a small voice.

"Well, why don' y'all come on up with me, an' we'll get ya some real food. Mebbe even a shower, if'n yer wantin' one." Dani smiled encouragingly at the three girls.

"Captain, we can't afford to pay you for passage," Martina protested. "We've got no money."

"Then it's gonna be my treat. Okay?"

Martina smiled finally and placed her gun on the ground. "Okay," she replied.

* * *

En route to Jubilee.

The three girls were seated around the galley table, eating stir-fried chicken and noodles ravenously. Dani had a feeling that their ration bars had been used up quite a bit earlier. Out in the light, she could see that little Sofia was, in fact, clutching a small stuffed panda to her chest.

She sat down across from the three girls and smiled at the littlest passenger. "So what's this guy's name, hmm?"

"This's Lexi," Sofia whispered back.

"Well, hello there Lexi. Anythin' I c'n get fer ya?" Dani smiled at the stuffed animal.

Sofia bent her hair down as if to listen to the bear and then looked back up. "D'ya have any bamboo?"

"Not sure, but I do have an expert in pandas, she might have some stashed away," Dani grinned. She got back up and crossed over to the hallway leading to the engine room. "Cali! Got a tic?"

Her youngest came bouncing down and into the galley, her ever-present panda hat perched atop her head, tool belt clattering at her waist, and giant panda head patch evident on her coveralls. "What's up, _Kaasan_?"

Sofia was looking at her with wide, worshipful eyes.

"This's Sofia, and her lil' friend is Lexi. Ya gots any bamboo handy?"

Cali blinked at Dani, looking between her and Sofia. "Um, _Kaasan_ ," she whispered, leaning in. "Y'know it's just a stuffed panda, right? An' I gots no bamboo?"

"Play along, _baobei_ ," Dani whispered back with a smile.

"Oh. Oh! Okay," Cali said, straightening up. "Sure thing Capt'n, lemme go see what I have in stock."

Sofia's eyes never left Cali until she was out of her sight and clanking down the steps towards the rear crew quarters and presumably the hydroponics lab.

"Was that yer _nu'er_ (daughter)?" she whispered.

Dani nodded, chuckling. "That was Cali. The girl sittin' over in the corner is Sara, an' the one pilotin' the ship is Rain. All three are my _nu'ers_."

"Wow, they're so lucky," Sofia murmured. "Our parents are dead." And then she went back to eating.

Martine and Chanel had paused in their eating but then continued a little slower than before. She shared a glance with her wife.

"I see," Dani murmured.

Just then Cali came back into the galley with some dried-up leaves from the hydroponics bay. "Nothin' fresh, I'm afraid, but these'll taste yummy to a panda."

She sat them in front of Sofia, who just looked up at Cali with wide unblinking eyes again.

"Um, _Kaasan_ ," Cali murmured out of the side of her mouth. "She's starin' at me."

"I think you picked up a fan," Dani smirked.

"Um. Okay. Well, I gotta get back to work, yeah?" With that she clanked back to the engine room, glancing over her shoulder at the entranced girl.

"Where's she work at?" Chanel spoke up for the first time.

"She's our engineer," Dani explained. "Y'all done with eatin'?"

The three had cleaned their bowls out and nodded solemnly. Sofia let out a little belch. "'Scuse me," she squeaked.

"Well, glad you enjoyed it," Dani chuckled. "Sara, c'n ya show them to the cabins above Feather's? An' if'n they're not sleepy yet, mebbe put on a vid fer 'em?"

"Sure thing, _Kaasan_!" Sara chirped, bouncing up from her seat, and grabbed both Sofia's and Chanel's hands in her own. "C'mon guys, we gots a big shiny Cortex screen downstairs, an' lotsa vids t'see!"

As she led them off, they heard Sofia pipe up. "An' where does Cali sleep?"

Martina folded her hands in front of her, smiling slightly. "What is her job on the ship?"

"Sorry?" Dani asked as she gathered up the bowls. Lori put a hand on her shoulder and took them from her, and Dani smiled her thanks.

"Your other daughter, Sara I think you called her? What does she do?"

"Oh, right. She's part of the ground team."

Martina blinked uncertainly. "Pardon?"

Dani chuckled. "She's a gun."

Martina's eyes got wide. "But she's younger than Chanel!"

"Nope, actually just a lil' younger than you, I think. She's almost twenty."

"Oh," Martina said quietly and looked down at her hands. "So, I suppose you'd like to know how we ended up in your cargo?"

Dani nodded as Lori sat back down next to her, holding hands on top of the table. Martina's eyes rested on their hands, an almost wistful expression on her face.

"Well. As you heard, our parents are dead. Murdered, actually. I'm not positive who did it, but I think they're after us as well." She sighed, looking back down at her hands. "I do have a feeling who it might be, in which case this was all my fault."

"How long ago?" Lori asked sadly. Dani glanced around the room, noting that most of the other crew were present, including Keith, Jess, and Emily. She idly wondered where Kelly was, or why she'd been so scarce since the girls came out until it occurred to her that the former Agent likely wanted to keep her face hidden. No reason to come back from the land of the missing or dead if these girls were a danger.

"It's been a month now," Martina answered in her melodic and cultured voice. "I think... I think maybe the real target was myself, but I cannot overlook the fact that my sisters could be targeted as well."

"Martina," Dani said, leaning forward, "c'n ya tell us who ya think is responsible?"

The dark-skinned beauty shook her head. "I can't put you in that kind of danger. He's very powerful. It's what attracted me to him."

Keith gave a grunt from the other end of the table. "I think I see where this is going."

Martina nodded sadly. "He was married. We had... an indiscretion. I worked in an office of one of his holdings, but I don't know why he would suddenly think of me as a... liability."

"Okay," Dani sighed. "So what's on Jubilee for ya?"

"Hopefully my relatives. My mother's sister and her husband. They're the only other family I know of."

"Alright then, we'll get the three of y'all to Jubilee, an' hope y'all find who yer lookin' for." Dani stood up with Lori to head to their bunk. "We gots only one more bunk downstairs, but it's across the way from where yer sisters are."

"It's alright," Martina assured them. "I'm sure Sofia will want me to bunk with her, anyways. She hasn't slept much since... well. You know." She looked at Dani intently with her dark brown eyes. "Thank you, Captain. You're a good person."

"That she is," Lori snickered. "In more ways'n I c'n count."

"Oh, stop," Dani laughed. She gave nods to the others in the galley and headed towards their bunk, slipping inside and closing the hatch behind them.

"So, that's a side of ya I ain't seen b'fore," Lori commented as she slipped her boots and cargoes off from their earlier excursion on Persephone.

"How so?" Dani asked, pulling her own boots and shirt off.

"Bein' all... I dunno. Motherly." Lori pulled the rest of her clothes off and slipped under the covers, looking at her wife pensively. "Yer really good with kids."

"Oh, ya mean not just the teenagers," Dani laughed. "Well, ya saw me with the boys."

"Yeah, but it's dif'rent with girls fer ya, I think," Lori said, watching Dani undress the rest of the way. She held the sheet open for Dani to slide in next to her and they wrapped their arms around each other, gazing into their partner's eyes.

"I s'pose so," Dani murmured. "Missed a lot of Rain an' Cali growin' up. Five years, lil' more than, big chunk outta their lives." She smiled softly. "But yeah, I do like kids."

Lori brushed her lips against Dani's. "D'ya want any more?"

Dani blinked, startled. "Huh?" she replied intelligently.

Snickering, Lori planted a kiss on her wife. "You an' me. Kids."

"I can't carry any," Dani whispered, not sure what brought this about. "Beth had to carry both of ours."

"I could carry," Lori whispered back, her light brown eyes warm and loving.

"Why?" Dani asked, searching with her own eyes for Lori's reasoning. "I'm gettin' a lil' old to keep up with youngin's." She paused. "D'ya really want kids?"

"I never really gave it any thought none," Lori smiled. "Till I saw you with lil' Sofia today. Yer a great mom. An' I'm thinkin' I wouldn' mind havin' mebbe a couple with ya."

Dani blew out a breath. Lori giggled as it went up her nose.

"I jus'... I dunno, _zhen'ai_ (true love). If'n ya really do want 'em, well we c'n talk 'bout it, but if'n ya don' really want 'em yerself..." Dani trailed off.

"Shhh," Lori placed another kiss on Dani's lips. "Just a thought. Don' worry none 'bout it fer now, 'kay?"

Dani smiled and nodded.

Later, as they drifted off to sleep, with Dani curled around her freckled wife's body in a loving embrace, the thoughts of children kept circling around her head. She wasn't quite sure what to make of it.

Unknown to her, Lori was lying awake as well, the very same thoughts swirling through her own head.

* * *

 _Fortune's Favour_. Jubilee. Red Sun.

The _Favour_ landed on Jubilee, much to the relief of a certain pigtailed mechanic. Cali was about at her wit's end dealing with Sofia, who had been in full hero-worshipping mode.

"She even made a panda hat of 'er own!" Cali whispered in consternation.

Feather and Rain, who were sitting on the bridge with her, laughed at her dilemma. "Well, at least ya don' need to worry 'bout 'er no more," Feather snickered. "They left the ship awhile ago, an' the ground team left with 'em, hopefully, get 'em where they need ta go."

"Cargo get unloaded okay?" Rain asked, glancing back at the ship displays. Seemed the cargo ramp was still down...

"Yeah, no worries there," Feather smiled. "Just waitin' on the next load t'arrive."

"Hey, guys?" a worried voice came from the doorway to the bridge.

The three girls looked up to see Emily standing there. It took a few seconds to register the fact that she had a gun pressed to the side of her head, or that there was a very large _hundan_ (bastard) of a man holding it and standing behind her.

Emily gave a trembling smile. "We gots company," she said.

* * *

Jubilee. Red Sun.

"I just don't understand," Martina said desperately. "They should be here."

The ground team, along with the three refugee sisters, were standing outside a house that looked to have been deserted for maybe only a short while. The windows were boarded over and the doors nailed shut. There seemed to be a sign in Mandarin proclaiming the house to have been repossessed by the Blue Sun Banking Group.

"Mebbe talk to the neighbors?" Lori asked gently.

"Right. Yes, let me do that. I'm sorry, can you please wait a little bit longer?"

"Martina, we're here fer y'all," Dani laughed. "Don' worry none 'bout how long it takes, we gots nothin' else to do till we lift tomorrow mornin'."

She didn't need to go far to find out information. "Sure, I knew the Ramirez family," the neighbor in the house to the right said. She was a matronly, heavyset woman but with a friendly smile. "They had money trouble. Moved back to Santo to their roots, or some such, not even two weeks ago."

"Santo," Martina murmured, closing her eyes briefly. She opened them again and gave her a wan smile. "Thank you for your help, ma'am," and then walked back to the group.

"What're we gonna do, _jiejie_?" Chanel asked in a trembling voice.

"I don't..." Martina trailed off, her shoulders slumped in defeat.

Dani sighed, looking around at her crew. She was met by firm nods.

"What we're gonna do, girls, is get yerselves to Santo," Dani said gently.

Martina jerked her head up. "What? No, Captain, you've already-"

"Done more'n enuff, yeah, but I ain't done yet," Dani interrupted, smiling. "Let's get back to the ship."

The group walked back to where they had left the Mule parked. "Home, this's Two, our cargo secured?"

She was greeted by silence.

"Home?" Dani asked, frowning. _There's always someone on the bridge, mebbe they stepped out fer a spell_...

She stood next to the Mule as the others climbed aboard. "Home? Come in, Home."

Keith looked at her sharply. "Home, report in please," he murmured into his own headset.

The ground team all exchanged troubled glances. "Two, I'm gettin' another one of those bad feelin's," Lori said, her eyebrows furrowed.

"An' the last time that happened, I regretted it," Dani sighed. "Let's get back to the ship, fast."

* * *

Outside the _Fortune's Favour_. Jubilee.

Fortunately, the ground team had taken their usual load-outs (save Dani) with them. Lori had found a decent perch across from their ship, on top of a warehouse, and both she and Sara had climbed up on the roof with her Callahan sniper rifle in hand.

"This is Five, in position," Lori murmured over the comm channel. "I gots eyes on the ship. Bridge is empty, no damage that I c'n see. All outer hatches're sealed up."

"Any sight line into the galley?" Dani asked as she paced nervously next to where the Mule was parked.

"Negative, Two. I'd need to be a mite higher up."

"Gorramit," Dani sighed in frustration. "It could be nothin', but I don' wanna walk into a trap."

"I've got an idea," Keith said. "Let's get to a Cortex unit and send a signal. Five and Four, stay on station and see if someone comes into the bridge."

"Roger that," Lori replied tersely.

Leaving Jess with the Mule and the three sisters, Keith and Dani made their way into the landing field control tower where there were public Cortex terminals. Dani sat down in front of a free one and dialed in the number.

"Five, we're connecting now," Keith murmured.

"Still watching, One."

"Think the volume's up enough so they'll hear it from wherever they are?" Dani asked.

"We'll find out," Keith rumbled.

"One, I have movement on the bridge... _Ta ma de diyu_ (fucking hell), there's an unknown on there, big guy, merc-lookin' type. He's bendin' over to answer the unit..."

Their Cortex unit went silent then, and the words 'call disconnected' flashed up on screen.

"Negative, Five, he disconnected the call. What's he doing?" Keith asked.

"He's sittin' at the captain's chair, not movin'. Might be usin' the unit."

"Tracin' us?" Dani wondered. "Mebbe he c'n see if'n it came from the field here?"

"Or waiting for us to call again," Keith grunted.

Dani growled in frustration. "Do we?"

" _Deng yi miao_ (hold on a sec), he's talkin' into a handheld now..." Lori reported tensely.

"The ramp is lowerin'!" Sara interjected excitedly.

"Yeah, okay I'm watchin' the ramp go down, I c'n see a _hundan_ (bastard) at each porthole in the bay doors, lookin' around. C'mon you _piyans_ (assholes), move aside..."

"Mebbe wonderin' if'n we're outside the ship or somethin'?" Dani asked.

"Okay! One guy moved, I got eyes inside... I c'n sorta see a figure, looks t'be sitting on the floor of the bay, it's empty, no cargo inside... other one just moved as well, ramp closin'... _cao_ (fuck)."

"Lori, what? What d'ya see?" Dani asked worriedly.

Her wife sighed over the comm. "I gots a good look. Em had her back t'me, an' she had her wrists bound behind her, sittin' on the deck of the cargo bay."

Dani punched the wall of the Cortex booth in anger. " _Qiang bao hou-zi de, qing wa kao de liu mang_ (monkey raping, frog humping son of a bitch)," she snarled. "An' we can't go to the feds about it none, either."

"Why not, Two?" Sara asked.

"'Cause Kelly's likely in there, an' that's a death sentence fer her," Lori replied.

"Alright, move over _jiejie_ ," Keith ordered. "I have some favors to call in. Can you wait by the Mule?"

"Yeah, alright," Dani groused, "I'm goin'."

She stomped back to the Mule and paced angrily around the circumference of the hover vehicle. Chanel and Sofia watched her from within with frightened eyes.

"Captain," Martina began softly from her seat. "I'm sorry. I have a feeling this is about us."

"Well, can't argue none with that," Dani sighed, stopping in her tracks. "Timing's too convenient. Don't worry none, girls, no blame on yerselves, we're not 'xactly missionaries ourselves. Keith is gettin' some folk together to help us out."

Just then her brother strode up, a satisfied expression on his face. "If we can wait another three hours, we'll have reinforcements."

"What kind of reinforcements?" Jess asked, hopping down from her perch on top of the Mule and adjusting her dual shoulder holsters before wrapping an arm around his waist.

"An old friend. Use to serve with him. He's still in spec ops, but he owes me, and his team is always looking for some action. Fortunately, they were in-system." Keith gave a smirk. "They'll write it up as a training exercise."

Exactly three hours later they were all assembled, Lori and Sara included, at a landing pad within sight of the _Favour_. It was far enough away that Keith had to break out his binoculars to keep an eye on their ship, as it would be far too conspicuous for Lori to keep her sniper rifle trained on there from their location.

The distant dot of an approaching ship eventually resolved itself into an unassuming medium-sized transport of a type Dani didn't recognize. It had oversized thrusters but no low-hanging cargo bay. As it settled to the ground, it sank down on the landing struts until the bridge was almost visible from the ground.

"What kinda ship is this?" Dani asked curiously as she and Keith started forward.

" _Reliant_ -class. Just started issuing them to spec ops, fast and extensive range," Keith replied. "Can carry a whole squad, got a full med bay and a gym."

"Huh," Dani grunted. "Nice."

The side of the ship opened up and a group of very dangerous-looking men and women came out, scanning the area. They all wore gray camo fatigues with soft caps, combat boots, extensively loaded harnesses, and enough weaponry to occupy the entire planet.

The one in the lead grinned broadly as he stepped up towards Keith. " _Emo_ (demon), it's good to see you _huoban_ (buddy)."

Keith stepped forward and the two shared a very masculine, back-slapping hug. "You too, Jericho. Been too long, man."

"Ah, the bromance," Dani snorted. "So the name you gave last we were on Santo weren't just a whim, huh?"

Keith barked a laugh as he stepped back. "Yeah, it was my call sign. Jericho, this is my sister Dani that I told you about."

Jericho gave her a professional nod. "Captain. We're here to help. Which ship is yours?"

Dani motioned over her shoulder with her head. "Firefly Mark III over yonder. Still sealed up, no idea how many're on there."

Jericho peered into the distance. "And how many hostages?"

"Five," Dani said quietly. "Family an' crew. Far as I know they're all bein' held in the cargo bay."

"Alright, and how many do you have on hand?"

"We've got five on our ground team," Keith answered, as he motioned for the others to join. "We're all armed, obviously, but I'm thinking we'd be better suited to protecting the hostages while your people take out the tangoes. We're all equipped with underarmor."

"Tangoes?" Dani asked curiously.

"Meaning terrorists, ma'am," said one of the five other soldiers gathered around.

Jericho nodded. "Now, as we're doing this on the sly, as it were, I'm going to forego the usual introductions. All communication will be done through me. What's the best vantage point?"

Lori pointed at the warehouse a few hundred meters across from them. "I gots a decent enuff sightline from up there. Could see right into the bay an' the bridge."

Jericho turned and addressed another pair of men who had walked off the ship. They both carried long black bags. "That work?"

One of them, dark-skinned and with an easy grin, nodded. "It'll do, sir. We'll comm when we're set up." The two took off at a jog.

"Alright then," Jericho continued, but then stopped when he spied Sara standing tensely at Dani's side. "You on the ground team as well, miss?"

Dani smiled proudly. "This's my middle _nu'er_ (daughter), Sara. An' yeah, she's a gun."

One of the men behind Jericho barked a condescending laugh. " _Ji du_ (Christ). An' now we're takin' lil' girls into combat?"

Sara looked up at Dani, quirking an eyebrow. Dani just shrugged and nodded. _Yeah, go ahead an' teach 'im a lesson in manners._

The diminutive scout grinned and pulled out her butterfly knife, deftly twirling it around as she nonchalantly strolled over to where the soldier stood, smirking down at her. His expression faded somewhat as he saw the skill at which she manipulated the blade even though she never took her eyes off of his.

"Thing about sneaky-types my size is-" She stopped twirling the butterfly knife abruptly and slipped it back inside her pocket. In her other hand was a shiv which she was tapping against the soldier's inner thigh. "-they never see me comin'."

Jericho barked out a laugh. "Alright, Sara, point made. No pun intended, of course. Digger, keep your mouth shut before you need an attitude adjustment."

Digger gave a snort. "Sir." He still eyed Sara, perhaps a little warily now.

Another female soldier walked down the ramp. She had both a sidearm at her side and a compact carbine slung over her shoulder with a suppressor attached, but also carried an overly-large handheld unit.

Jericho motioned her over. "This is our hacker. She can get the doors down for us to enter."

The woman nodded firmly, her black bangs swaying. "It'd go faster if I could get the ship's codes."

Dani nodded back without hesitation. "Anything you need. Just, please. C'n we hurry?"

"We will, Captain," Jericho promised. "We want to do this right, though. No margin for error."

Dani nodded again, sighing as Keith put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "Trust these guys, _jiejie_ , okay?"

* * *

Jubilee landing field.

The spec ops team had commandeered a pair of maintenance ground trucks from the landing field and cleared their activity there as a training exercise. Dani had to sign off as well, as it was based around her ship. But at least there would be no attention paid to their activities.

The two trucks were pulled up at the edge of the pad where the _Favour_ was located. Dani and the rest of her crew were crouched behind one truck, along with the hacker and Jericho, while the others on the team, perhaps another half-dozen men and women, were behind the other. Both of the spec ops snipers were in position and overlooking the ship, and Jericho had left two men behind to guard the Mule and the three sisters after Keith explained to him their possible involvement.

Jericho glanced over his shoulder at Keith. "You ready, _Emo_?"

Keith gave a grunt and adjusted his sidearm. "Ready when you are." The team had left their long arms in the Mule, as they had one job only in this assault: Protect the hostages.

The hacker looked up from her console. "Okay, feed is secure. Lowering ramp in three... two... one..."

Dani could hear the machinery work as the ramp lowered. She tensed, ready to charge.

"And here goes the door," the woman whispered. "Three... two... one..."

Another clank sounded as the cargo bay doors retracted. Jericho waited with his hand upraised, listening to his snipers.

Four rapid shots rang out, and the soldier dropped his hand. "Go!" he barked.

Dani got to her feet and sprinted around the side of the truck, Jericho and Keith on either side of her. The rest of Jericho's squad were pouring out from around the side of the other truck as well.

Unsurprisingly, Jess took the lead and hurtled into the bay, over the bodies of four of what looked to be mercenaries. Another merc loomed from around the corner, but Jericho dropped him with a chatter from his suppressed rifle. Jess darted past the falling body to jump on top of Cali, knocking her from a sitting position and onto the floor, covering her with her body.

The rest of the team did the same. One form was lying prone already, and Dani made for that one, landing on top of Kelly. Her friend let out a whoosh of air, and Dani muttered an apology.

Dani bent her head down to murmur in Kelly's ear as the soldiers charged in and over their prostrate bodies. "Keep yer head down, alright girl? These are spec ops folk from Keith's past, an' I don' want any of 'em to get a look at ya, just in case."

She felt Kelly nod her head against her chest. Glancing down, Dani could see she was trussed up good and tight, arms and legs, as opposed to the others.

" _Duibuqi_ (I'm sorry), Dani. I'm getting old, they never would have gotten the drop on me like that if I were still on my game."

Dani chuckled. "Nah, jus' means yer human, it happens. An' I prefer ya that way, know what I mean?"

Kelly laughed quietly. "Yeah, I do."

Jericho and two other soldiers stood protectively over the crew as the other soldiers fanned out. Eventually, there came reports of "Clear!" and they started dragging the bodies out.

Dani sat up and withdrew her knife, quickly slicing through the restraints on Kelly. She gave her friend a hug before standing back up. "Did we get them all?"

Kelly took the proffered hand and stood up as well. "I counted ten of them." She kept her face downwards and covered with her hair.

"Body count check!" Jericho barked. His men did a quick report, and all of the mercs were accounted for.

Dani gave hugs all around to those they had rescued and then started issuing quiet orders. "Alright, Cali an' Feather get on up to the engine room an' get us started, make sure they didn' mess with anythin'. Rain, you gots the bridge, you do the same. We'll head back an' bring the Mule on in." She looked at Kelly and nodded towards the back of the ship. Kelly nodded back and slipped out along with Cali and Feather.

The lanky captain gave a heavy sigh. "That coulda gone a lot worse."

"Well, as scary as it was," Emily grinned, "it sure was _niubi_ (fucking awesome) to see!"

Dani laughed, partly from humor but mostly with relief. "Promised you adventure, didn' I?"

She walked out of the ship and back down the ramp where the soldiers and some of her crew mingled. Keith was making the rounds, personally thanking each soldier and clapping them on the back appreciatively.

Along the side of the landing pad, and in front of the maintenance trucks, were ten bodies laid out with what looked to be body bags draped over them.

Dani walked up to Jericho and shook his hand warmly. "I can't thank you enuff, Jericho."

"Pleasure was all mine, ma'am," Jericho smiled. "One of your crew headed back already to pick up your hover vehicle."

Dani glanced around and noted the absence of Jess. Sara walked over and put her arm around her, smiling warmly. "That was fun," she joked.

Laughing, Dani gave her a peck on the top of her head. "Yeah, let's just not do it with our crew as hostage next time, huh?"

They looked up as the Mule threaded its way over, Jess driving. Martina hopped out, along with the pair of soldiers who had been guarding the sisters. The latter pair received some good-natured ribbing for missing the action from the rest of their squad.

Jericho gave a grunt as he watched Martina walk up. "We talked to one of the wounded mercs before he expired," he said softly to Dani. "He mentioned there was only the one woman they were after. Description matches your friend here."

Martina paused within earshot, her face paling. "Then this was indeed all my fault," she sighed. "Captain, I'm so sorry..."

"Hush, now," Dani smiled, taking her hand and giving it a quick squeeze. "Already toldya, it's not a concern. Risks of the business. We're gonna get y'all to where ya need to go now, soon as we get loaded."

"You okay there, beautiful?" Lori asked her wife as she strolled over.

"Oh I'm fine, _wo de ai_ (my love)," Dani smiled as she slipped her arm around her freckled lover and gave her a hug. "You?"

Lori snickered. "No worries. I got to cover Em."

Dani laughed and slapped her lightly on the arm. "Didya behave yerself, or start gropin' my _zhi nu_ (niece, brother's daughter)?" She looked over at Emily who was standing on the ramp and blushing lightly but grinning in good humor all the same.

"Nope, I was good. She did all the gropin'."

"What?" Emily sputtered. "I didn'- I was jus' tryin' to get comfortable! On the floor! My hands were tied!"

Dani and Lori shared a laugh. "She's jus' messin' with ya, Em, don' let it get to ya none," Dani giggled.

Jericho's head snapped up, and his team started to stir. "Trouble," he murmured.

" _W'rin bu lai_ (things never go smooth)," Dani groaned. "Now what?"

The soldier held up a finger as he listened to his comm. Dani furrowed her brow, not used to being unable to hear what was going on with an op.

As Keith walked up, Jericho looked around, concerned. "My snipers are reporting movement. Looks to be a set of heavy trucks inbound, open-topped. They're loaded with soldiers, more mercs from the looks of things, and they can see some heavy weapons inside."

" _Ai ya wo mun wan leh_ (we're in big trouble now)," Keith growled. "Can you delay them long enough for us to lift?"

Jericho grinned and nodded. "Will do, _huoban_ (buddy). Shoot straight."

Keith clasped his forearm. "Keep your head down."

The special forces soldier trotted off, barking out orders. Keith turned to the others. "We need to get in the air as fast as possible."

"Right," Dani said and held a hand up to her ear. "Home, we need to lift very, very soon. How's it going?"

"Still another five minutes!" Rain's voice came back. "Engines were cold!"

Dani bit back a curse. "Well, let's get the Mule secure and everyone loaded."

As they headed up, Keith grabbed his rifle out of the Mule. "Let's keep the ground team in the bay, in case this goes to _diyu_ (hell)."

"Emily, can you please take Chanel and Sofia to the galley?" Martina asked.

"Sure, c'mon girls, let's get ya some snacks, 'kay?"

They were raising the Mule up into its brackets when Kelly's voice came over the ship's intercom. "I've got eyes on the bad guys from the bridge, two of the trucks were disabled but another two broke away. They're heading for our pad."

"Gorramit, how long to lift?" Dani barked back into the comm by the bay door controls.

"Two minutes."

They could hear gunfire outside now. It sounded like a war zone, though so far they hadn't seen any of the enemy. And then from inside the cargo bay, they saw a hover truck crash into one of the maintenance trucks and catch fire, mercs spilling out the back.

" _Cao ni zuzong shiba dai_ (fuck your ancestors to the eighteenth generation)," Lori growled as she crouched near the door, her sniper-configured Callahan to her shoulder. She started picking off those mercs that she could, causing the rest to scurry for cover.

Kelly's voice came back over. "We're almost ready, but they're setting up a couple of what look to be mortars behind the other truck. I don't think the snipers from the rooftop can reach them."

"I can't see 'em neither!" Lori shouted.

"We'll have to risk it!" Dani shouted back. "Lori, pull back, I'm sealin' us up!"

As she hit the controls, and Lori rolled back out of the way, Martina rushed over.

"Captain," Martina said urgently as she grabbed ahold of Dani's arm. "Swear to me you'll get my sisters to Santo."

"Wha-"

"Swear it!"

"I will, Martina, already swore I'd get y'all-"

Before she could finish, Martina raced out of the ship, slipping through the closing bay doors.

"No!" Dani shrieked, desperately hammering on the button to reverse the doors. She lunged forward to see Martina standing with her arms held up high, in front of the ship and in full view of the advancing mercs.

And then, as if in slow motion, another shot rang out and Martina's head kicked backwards as an arc of blood trailed behind her. She fell limply to the ground on her back, her eyes staring lifelessly at the sky, a bloody hole in the center of her forehead.

" _Hun dan gou niang yang de_ (bastard son of a bitch)!" Dani screamed, tears streaming down her face.

"Dani! Their snipers have the heavy weapons pinned now, but not for long! We've got to lift, please!" Kelly's voice intruded through her shock, and she lurched over to the controls, sealing the door and the ramp.

"Go, Rain, go!" she shouted into the comm, and then slumped to her knees against the console. Lori was there in an instant, cradling her gently, as the ship shook from takeoff.

"Gorramit, why? Why'd she do that?" Dani moaned.

"I think she knew," Keith rumbled gently as he crouched next to the couple. "Whoever was after them wouldn't stop going after our ship. She sacrificed herself for her sisters. For all of us, really, so we could get away."

Dani gave one more sob and then scrubbed her face with her sleeve. " _Ta ma de diyu_ (fucking hell)," she sighed. Giving Lori a tight hug, she then got to her feet, looking up at the ceiling. "I gotta go talk to 'em."

"You sure, _wo de ai_ (my love)?" Lori asked worriedly.

Dani nodded sadly as she started up the stairs. "All part of bein' a parent, _zhi'ai_ (most beloved). Gotta take the bad as well as the good. An' I gotta be the one to tell 'em their sister ain't coming with them no more."

She trudged up the steps and into the galley. Chanel and Sofia were ensconced in the observation seating, arms around each other. They looked up as Dani approached, worry in their eyes.

"Where's our _jiejie_?" Chanel asked in a voice full of dread.

Dani sighed and crouched down in front of them, holding their hands tight in her own.

On the other side of the galley, Lori and Jess stood together solemnly. They watched Dani gently break the news, and then hold on to each girl as their world collapsed yet again around their heads.

The three of them cried together for some time.

* * *

Londinium.

The man sat in his chair again, intently reading a report on the screen mounted on his desk. His subordinate stood attentively nearby.

"I am interested in this transport crew," he said thoughtfully. "They acted with decisive force and admirable skill. They also have access to impressive resources. I want a full dossier on all personnel currently on the _Fortune's Favour_ , past crew as well."

His assistant nodded. "Of course, sir. Reprisals?"

"Not at this time. They could prove useful in the future." He glanced up. "Any other complications?" he asked mildly.

"None from the team, sir," his assistant replied. "Though some of the mercenaries were eliminated, including the original incursion team, there is nothing that would lead back to your holdings, per usual operating procedure."

The man sat back, steepling his fingers in front of his chin. "You know I don't like being kept waiting for bad news, Jarvis," he said with the barest trace of steel in his voice.

"My apologies, sir," his subordinate answered neutrally. "An autopsy was performed. The original diagnosis by the clinic was incorrect. She was not pregnant."

He closed his eyes briefly, and then opened them again, the dark pools of black giving no emotion away. "Is that all?"

"Yes, sir."

"Then you are dismissed."

His assistant nodded and exited the room as quietly as he had entered.

The man gave a heavy sigh now that he was alone, and turned back to his screen.

"What a gorram waste."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Credit for the concept of the three girls Martina, Chanel, and Sofia go to [Jocelyn Samara on DeviantArt](http://jocelynsamara.deviantart.com/). Title track by the immortal Aerosmith.
> 
> And wait, what's this? A new unnamed actor has entered the scene! Will this be last we have seen of him? Dun dun dunnnnn...


	58. Episode 48: Girls Night Out

Outbound from Santo

"Coulda sworn we said somethin' earlier 'bout drinkin' sake," Dani slurred.

She and her wife Lori were sitting together in the galley. They were reclining in the jump seats that lined the area beneath the observation dome. It was late at night, with Keith the only other person awake at his watch station on the bridge.

"I think... mebbe it had somethin' to do with a blonde," Lori mused as she held her empty _chirori_ up to the light for inspection.

Dani grinned and replied triumphantly, "Alexis!" She was quite proud of the fact that she could remember her name, though she did forget what her original point was supposed to be.

"Yep, tha's her," Lori smiled broadly. She reached over onto the low table in front of them, grabbing for the _tokkuri_ to refill their cups. "So, alls we need ta do is avoid blondes."

"An' whyzzat?" Dani asked, leaning over and putting her head on Lori's shoulder.

"'Cause they're all trouble," Lori giggled, handing Dani her _chirori_. "Cheers, _wo de ai_."

"Cheers, gorgeous," Dani replied, and took another sip.

"You guys got an extra cup?" asked Emily as she walked into the galley, running her fingers through her tousled hair sleepily.

"Ahhh! A blonde!" Lori giggled. "Should we run?"

Dani laughed as she sat back up. "I dunno, she ain't dangerous, she's my _zhi nu_ (niece, brother's daughter)."

"Okay then, plop yerself down, _zhi nu_ , an' grab a _chi... chori..._ a cup," Lori grinned.

Emily just shook her head bemusedly at the tipsy couple. "How much have y'all put away so far?"

"Um," Dani pondered, staring at the table. "A few?"

"I think more'n that," Lori snickered. "Mebbe like five'r six."

"Really? What am I still doin' awake then?"

"'Cause I'm irresistable company," Lori giggled, and then leaned back to give her wife a long, slow kiss.

"Oh, y'all are so sweet," Emily sighed, bending over to pour herself a _chirori_ of her own. "I swear, it's been so long fer me, I don' even 'member if'n I like boys or girls fer kissin'."

"Oh, girls, definitely," Lori giggled as she broke away from Dani, who leaned back with a contented smile on her face and closed her eyes. "C'mere, I'll show ya."

She grabbed Emily's hand before the blond girl could pick up her _chirori_ and pulled her into her lap. And then she proceeded to kiss her.

And kept on kissing her.

It stretched out for some time. Dani opened her eyes to glance at the pair amusedly before she slapped Lori lightly on the leg. "C'mon, girl, I gots to get least a lil' sleep b'fore my watch." She staggered to her feet, swaying slightly. "Whooo, gonna need some help here."

Lori and Emily broke apart, breathing heavily and flushed. Emily slid off of Lori's lap and into a neighboring seat while Lori lurched to her feet as well, putting her arm around her wife. "I gotcha, hon," she murmured.

As the pair staggered off towards their bunk, Lori glanced over her shoulder at Emily. Dani's niece was still sitting there, blushing and staring off into space.

Emily stayed in that same position for another minute after they left, then gave herself a little shake and reached for her _chirori_ to sip at the lukewarm sake. _What in the name of_ Ji du _(Christ) just happened? What was I thinkin'?_ This was her _gu ma_ (aunt, father's sister) and her _gu ma_ 's wife. This had disaster written all over it, as she knew from experience, both personally and professionally. " _Ta ma de diyu_ (fucking hell), this ain't just flirtin with disaster, girl, yer wakin' up in bed an' asking when you c'n see 'im again," she whispered to herself.

"Who'r ya talkin' to, Em?" asked a sleepy voice.

Emily looked up to see Sara stumble in, rubbing her eyes tiredly. "Yer up?" she asked, rather intelligently, as her brain was still stuck in processing mode.

Sara nodded. "Mmhmm. _Kaasan_ just came ta bed, woke me up with 'er stumblin' and crashin' 'round. I think she's been drinkin'."

Emily looked intently at Sara, who looked back at her askance. "Um, you okay there Em?"

Suddenly she jumped up, placed her _chirori_ back on the table and grabbed Sara's hand. "C'mere," she whispered urgently and tugged her back down the rear stairwell.

"Em, what in the _diyu_ (hell) has gotten into ya?" Sara hissed worriedly.

Emily didn't answer, just towed her along and pulled her up the ladder into her bunk, closing the door behind them. The ceiling in her bunk was fairly low, but it was perfect for her to stand up in with her short height and pace about like she was doing now. Sara plopped onto Emily's bed, looking up with furrowed brows, waiting expectantly.

"Sara, I... _ta ma de diyu_ (fucking hell), no two ways 'bout it." Emily sat next to Sara and looked down at the floor angrily. "I messed up. Bad."

"Em, what? Talk to me!"

"So, yer _Kaasan_ an' Lori an' I were drinkin' in the galley, right?" Emily got back up and started pacing again, furious with herself. "Or at least I was gonna drink with 'em, they were at it fer awhile. Not important," she shook her head impatiently. "Anyways, I said some stupid gorram _gou se_ 'bout not 'membering if'n I liked boys or girls, it's been so long, an' then Lori an' I kissed." She sat back down once again with a huff. "Like, not just a lil' kiss, more like a full-blown make-out session."

Sara just looked at her, mouth opening and closing a few times, at a loss for words. "Wow," she finally managed.

"I'm such a gorram _bendan_ (idiot)." Emily hung her head. "I should know better'n this."

"Did _Kaasan_ flip or somethin'?"

"No!" Emily exclaimed somewhat incredulously. "She didn' even bat an eye! Jus' went offta bed with Lori!"

Sara sat there for a minute, brows furrowed and swinging her feet. "Okay, now, I'm not a fancy psych person like yerself, but it seems pretty simple t'me."

Emily looked up at Sara, hope in her eyes. "It is?"

Sara nodded determinedly. "You love _Kaasan_ , right?"

"More'n anything. She's like another mom fer me."

"Then it's just a thing. Don' worry 'bout it none. Ya just need t'get yerself laid."

Emily barked out a laugh. "Listen' to ya, do the deed finally an' yer a sex expert."

"Hey," Sara replied loftily. "It was really, really good sex." She smirked as she left Emily's bunk.

* * *

En route to Beaumonde

The next day Sara noted that both Lori and Emily were conspicuously avoiding each other's presence. Which, actually, was an impressive feat in and of itself on a ship as small as a Firefly. Dani seemed to be oblivious to the situation, however, more preoccupied with the inventory of their armaments and ammunition before setting down on Beaumonde. She spent several hours down in the armory under the bridge with her brother and Sara could hear them argue good-naturedly from inside the galley where she sat playing Chinese Checkers with Feather.

That evening Emily claimed to have a headache and remained in her bunk. Sara just rolled her eyes when she found out. _This's gettin' ridiculous._ She needed to bring someone else in to put things in order but was unsure of who to approach just yet.

After the crew had gone to bed, and Rain was on the bridge, Sara went into the cargo bay up on the top walkway in her workout clothes. She needed a good jog to help clear her mind. She started out with an easy lope, pacing herself and enjoying the feeling of her muscles working.

 _Usually go t'Em fer this kinda stuff. Rain an' Cali, don' think they'd be any help none. Uncle Keith?_ She let out a soft snort. _Doubt he'd be any better. Aunt Jess, like 'er enuff but I don' know if'n she'd be able to advise neither... Mebbe Feather?_

Just then she heard a rhythmic thumping sound coming from down in the bottom of the cargo bay. She stopped and peered over the railing to see Lori, also in workout clothes, furiously assaulting the punching bag. Unlike her wife she didn't use her feet, but still had a pretty powerful hit.

 _Why's she up so late without_ Kaasan _?_ She jogged down the steps and approached the freckled woman curiously. Lori had a fine sheen of sweat covering her body already and had a look of furious concentration on her face. She glanced up at Sara's approach and gave her a nod, not even pausing in her assault.

"You wanna talk 'bout it?" Sara asked her friend as she settled crossed-legged on top of a nearby crate.

Lori snarled at the punching bag as if it had insulted her. "I am such," _PUNCH_ "a gorram," _PUNCH_ " _piyan_ (asshole)!" _PUNCH_ She hung her head and dropped to the floor cross-legged. "I kissed Emily."

Sara frowned to herself. _Why am I playin' counselor over this?_ "I'm confused. Yer not in love with her, are ya?"

The freckled gunslinger snapped her head up. "No. No gorram way. It was nice, yeah, but not like Dani."

"An' ya still love my _Kaasan_ , right?"

"Hell yeah."

"Then yer a _bendan_ (idiot)." Sara smirked at Lori's incredulous look. "Ya shouldn' be down here, ya should be in bed with _Kaasan_ an' wipin' out the memory with her. Get some good sexin' in."

Lori snorted and was about to retort, then closed her mouth and furrowed her brows.

"Gorram if'n you ain't right, girl." Lori stood and gave her a grin. "How'd ya get so wise?"

"It's 'cause I'm 'parently a sex expert now," Sara snickered as she stood up herself and walked back towards the lounge. She really didn't feel like running anymore, but maybe a nice cup of hot cocoa would work.

As she passed through the workshop and into the lounge area, she saw Kelly sitting on the couch, looking up at her expectantly. "Um, hey Aunt Kelly. What're ya doin' up too?"

Kelly smiled and indicated the other end of the couch. Sara stepped over and plopped herself down. She noted that Kelly was looking much healthier now, not just healed from her wounds, but happier and more full of life. "Lori woke me up with her vigorous workout," the diminutive ex-Agent replied to her earlier question. "I didn't mean to eavesdrop, but I heard your conversation."

"Oh," Sara murmured. "Um, yer not gonna tell _Kaasan,_ are ya? 'Cause I'm not sure if'n she even 'members th'other night."

"No worries, hon," Kelly laughed lightly. "I know when to keep my nose out. I really shouldn't have listened in at all, except..." She paused and looked up at the ceiling pensively. "Sometimes I just default to my training. It's hard to break away from."

Kelly glanced back down at Sara. "You did well, though, and I'm glad you could talk to her. You're a much better friend with Lori than I am, and I think she'll take your advice to heart."

"Yeah, I'm just full o' wisdom lately," Sara snarked, stretching her limbs. She recounted her earlier conversation with Emily, hoping maybe Kelly would have some insight.

"Sounds like you've been busy," Kelly laughed. "I have to admit, though, it's been a decent amount of time for me as well. I don't think I've been out clubbing or anything since, well, before I came on board the first time."

"Mebbe we should do that, then," Sara smiled mischievously. "Clubbin'."

Kelly smiled broadly. "Alright then, maybe we should. You, me, and Emily. What do you think?"

Sara blinked uncertainly. "Well, I wuz jus' jokin' really, but... yeah, okay. C'n you, though, go off-ship and all?"

With a nod, Kelly rose from her seat. "I can do a little research, find a good club to go to without too many cameras nearby. And then I'll disable the surveillance inside for the evening. It will be safe enough. You want to be our wingwoman, help us pick up some guys?"

"Um, I s'pose?" Sara replied cautiously. "Depends on what all that entails..."

Kelly laughed and offered her a hand up. "Not a big deal. If we talk to a group of people, you occupy the others while Emily and I each take one aside to hook up with. We'll show you the ropes."

As she came to her feet, Sara gave Kelly a brilliant smile. "Sure. Sounds like fun."

* * *

Inbound to Beaumonde.

The full crew gathered around the dinner table that evening, save for Rain and Feather who remained on the bridge to handle the landing procedures. They assured the rest that they would eat later.

Sara looked over at Lori who had offered Emily a small smile. _Well, good, leastways there's nothin' to worry 'bout there._ Emily, however, just blushed hard and looked down at her plate.

The brown-haired girl sighed and glanced over at Kelly, who was sitting directly across from her, an empty chair between her and Emily. The small woman gave her a nod of acknowledgment.

"So, Dani," Kelly started after clearing her throat. "Are you going to see Mikki and Dev?"

"Yep," Dani answered cheerfully. "Just a restock, ammo an' such. We're 'nother EMP mine short again as well."

"Who's going with you?" Kelly asked cautiously.

"Well, figured on my girls, rest of the ground team." Dani looked at her intently. "Are ya thinkin' of comin' along?"

"No, that'd be a bad idea," Kelly smiled. "I'm sure they have some record of me, or will run a scan on me, and that will flag something somewhere. Better to stay off the radar."

"An' actually," Cali piped up, "Rain an' Feather said they'd stay on the ship this time 'round."

"Yeah, I'm gonna skip out, too," Sara said nonchalantly. "Gots enuff blades as it is, can't help myself none when I go in there. Give 'em both my love though, okay?"

"Will do, sweetie." Dani glanced over at Emily with a smile. "Em, you wanna come with?"

"Actually, I was hoping to get off-ship with Emily," Kelly said before Dani's niece could respond. "Girls night out, Emily and Sara and I."

"Oh," Dani said, blinking her eyes in surprise. "Sure, yeah. Izzat safe fer ya?"

"It will be," the ex-Agent smiled. "Emily, you in?"

"Um." The diminutive blonde looked over at Sara, who mouthed the word "clubbing" at her. "Oh! Yeah, sure, sounds shiny!"

* * *

Beaumonde.

Later that evening the three women assembled on the ramp of the _Favour_.

They were quite the sight, even with their collective below-average stature. Kelly, the shortest of the trio by a few centimeters, had her light brown hair styled up in a short bun and wore a brilliant blue Core-tailored suit with a cream-colored, low-cut blouse and functional flats. Her little Astra sidearm was tucked into its usual location behind her back.

For her part, Emily had on a knee-length white dress that she'd been dying to try out. It was sleeveless and fairly low-cut, but loose and flowy at the hem, accentuating her curvy figure nicely. Her blond hair was pinned up but allowed some wisps to hang down artfully. She completed the look with a pair of strappy sandals that laced up her calves and a pendant with a green stone in it around her neck which matched her eyes perfectly. She herself was unarmed, leaving the Beretta that had belonged to her mother back in her bunk.

Sara kept her brown curly hair loose about her shoulders and was wearing an outfit she'd picked up one time on Sihnon but never had the opportunity to wear. It was a bright red faux-leather ensemble, boots, pants, and jacket, and she decided on a simple black tee shirt for underneath. Both Emily and Kelly assured her she perfectly played on both sex and danger. She kept her shivs tucked up her jacket sleeves and had a pair of throwing knives secured behind her back for good measure. Her black combat holster rode low on her hip to complete the outfit, with her customized Nova pistol contained within. Sara still giggled to herself whenever she thought of the name she'd christened it, "Petit Mort".

"Hey, I gots a question," Sara began as the three women walked out into the neon lights and bustling activity of Central Docking.

"Sure, Sara, what?" Kelly questioned.

"So, an' I know this'll sound weird and all, but don' y'all worry about bein' thought of as, well... sluts?"

"What?" Emily barked with a laugh. "Where'd ya hear such _pi hua_ (shit, nonsense)? That's Core-talk, right there!"

"Oh," Sara mumbled, looking down at her feet. "Well, I think from my, um, biological mom."

"Thought you were from Jiangyin originally?" Kelly asked curiously.

"I was, but my mom was born on Gonghe in White Sun, an' she met my _piyan_ (asshole) dad there, an' then they moved out to Jiangyin."

"Well, here's how it is outside the Core," Emily giggled. "Folks 'round here have a lot more sensibility when it comes to sex, alright? Don' matter none if'n yer a guy or a gal, or who all you hook up with, guy or gal, it's all jus' part of life, yeah? Makes ya healthy, keepin' all of ya satisfied. Like eatin' or drinkin'." Emily shook her head humorously. " _Shi niao_ (shit  & piss), 'twas hard ta get any of that at University on Ariel, too many stuck-up prissy boys an' girls who were too modest fer their own good."

Kelly nodded as they walked down the crowded street, lit up at night by the various neon signs advertising wares of all types. "Even all the way out on the Rim, people can avail themselves of the medical tech to keep themselves safe and from getting pregnant. It's just not an issue, like maybe from ancient Earth-That-Was. So why not enjoy it?"

"Huh," Sara mused thoughtfully.

"So you gonna pick someone up yerself?" Emily grinned over at her cousin.

Sara grinned back. "I'm the wingwoman, 'member?"

The three girls shared a laugh. "Don' let that stop ya if'n ya find a person that catches yer eye," Emily giggled.

"Oh, hey this is the place," Kelly commented, stopping in front of a brick facade. It was covered with graffiti, but it seemed to be more artistically placed, as if by design. The windows were blacked out, and in orange neon script the words "Dr. Feelgood's Lounge" were lit up above the doorway where a very large and muscular bouncer was waiting.

"Ooohh, I like him," Emily sighed, looking over the bouncer's physique.

Kelly laughed, linking her arms with the other two girls and moving them inside. "Can't start with the help, that's only by the end of the night if you've struck out with everyone else."

"What, there's, like, a science to this or somethin'?" Sara asked, eyebrows raised.

"Sure there is!" Emily giggled. The three girls stopped at the front counter inside the door to pay the cover charge and check in their guns. Sara politely asked about blades and was told so long as she didn't use them, it was fine to keep them on her.

"Mebbe better to describe pickup techniques as a fine art form," Emily continued. "It's been an awful long time fer me, though, I'm rusty as all _diyu_ (hell)."

"I've got you girls covered," Kelly grinned. "Still remember the basics well enough." The trio moved into the club where the music was throbbing out some sort of techno beat, fast and heavy. Sara bobbed along, bouncing on her toes, as Kelly continued her lecture, shouting to be heard over the noise.

"You want someone not too desperate. Not someone by themselves, they either fit that category or are dangerous. Small groups are preferable, not too big, and even better," Kelly smiled predatorily, nodding towards a table nearby, "you want a group of folk who are passing through, same as us."

Around the table, nursing their drinks, were a collection of four men and one woman. By their clothes, they were obviously spacers, all dressed in comfortable cargo pants and tee shirts. One was lanky and dark-skinned, with a shaved head and an easy smile that he kept on his face even when not addressing anyone. Another was both older and slightly shorter than the others, his stature proclaiming him to be the captain of the group. He had close-cropped salt-and-pepper hair but was obviously in very good shape from the tight blue shirt that covered his torso.

The third was a younger man, blonde, gangly, and maybe in his late teens, though Sara knew that looks can be deceiving when it came to age. He seemed to be looking about in wide-eyed wonder as if this were his first time in a club.

Finally the last pair, both dark-haired, seemed to be a couple, as they sat closer to each other. The woman seemed friendly enough with a wide smile gracing her tanned face, while the male just seemed to take in his surroundings with amusement as if he were observing the mass of humanity swirling around him from a distance.

Kelly glanced at the other two crew members. "Shall we?"

Emily grinned, looking at the lanky spacer with an appreciative eye. "Oh, yeah, let's."

Sara shrugged and smiled, resolving to just follow their lead.

Kelly walked over to the table, the other two girls in tow. "Mind if we join you?" she asked, looking the elder man in the eye.

He chuckled and nodded, indicating the few seats left at the foot of the table. "Please do."

After Kelly was seated and introduced herself, Sara, and Emily, the captain performed introductions of his own.

"I'm Alex Dennison, captain of the _Silverbell_. This here," he indicated the tall and lanky dark-skinned man who was returning Emily's looks with interest, "is Derek, my mechanic. Next to him are Ellis and Gregor, my pilot and navigator, also married. And then we have young Timothy, who is our assistant mechanic."

A waitress came by then and asked for their order. Sara had to pull her ident card out of her jacket pocket to get a beer, and Emily had to do the same, though she kept hers tucked into her bra. The waitress gave Sara's an extra-careful look-over before handing it back.

Emily gave a little laugh. "It's like they don' trust ya none, girl!"

Sara grinned back. "I'm useta it."

The captain leaned forward. "So you're drinking age then?" Alex asked loudly over the music. "Don't mean to be insulting, but you look considerably younger than that."

Shaking her head, Sara leaned across the table to answer. "Nope, I'm almost twenty now. 'Spect I'll get carded till I'm old an' grey though!" Her good-natured comment earned a round of laughs from those at the table.

The music had switched beats to an industrial sound, heavy on the bass and loud on the screaming vocals. Emily grinned over at Derek. "You dance any?"

Derek grinned back. "Definitely," he shouted over the music.

Emily jumped up and grabbed Derek by the arm, diving into the swirling mass of bodies currently bouncing up and down on the dance floor.

"Think we'll ever see them again?" Captain Dennison asked, smiling.

"I'm sure they'll surface eventually, the young ones always do," Kelly replied loudly. She looked him over with a critical but admiring eye. "I prefer the more mature type myself, even better if they're men with authority."

Sara snorted humorously as the captain smiled back. _So it'd seem Kelly's goin' fer the more direct approach._

"And I do appreciate a woman who doesn't beat around the bush."

Kelly quirked an eyebrow at him. "Got a bunk nearby?"

The captain threw his head back and barked a laugh. "That I do, ma'am. That I do."

Kelly leaned over to give Sara a hug as Alex stood up, leaving some credits on the table to cover his tab. "You okay gettin' back to the ship?" she asked.

Sara smiled and returned the hug. "No worries, Aunt Kelly. It's shiny, go have yer fun."

Grinning as she left, arm linked with the captain's, Kelly called out, "See you in the morning!"

" _Ai ya, huai le_ (shit on my head), I wish I had half his confidence," the young man said, leaning over towards Sara.

She smirked in response. "Confidence c'n be learned, but it's all in the attitude," she proclaimed as she tipped her beer bottle back.

The woman across from her barked a laugh. "I'll drink to that, girl," Ellis said, leaning forward to clink her bottle with Sara's.

"So, Sara, how about you? What kind of man do you look for?" Timothy was still looking at Sara almost eagerly. _Kinda like a young pup_ , she mused, shaking her head and smiling at his obvious attempt. _Justin was a lot smoother._

Her thoughts turned to Justin then, while she shifted around to watch the dancers. She hadn't really given their relationship a whole lot of thought, though she did find herself missing him. _Izzit him, or am I missin' the sex?_ It wasn't like they really had much of a relationship, just a few days of, what did Emily call it... _Oh, yeah, snoggin'_ , she giggled to herself. And then one very, very glorious night of sex. She sighed. _Yeah, I do miss the sex, now that I know what it's like._

She glanced back at Timothy, who was nursing a beer of his own, but still slipping her not-so-subtle glances. _Could be fun. An' it's not like Justin's been Wavin' me or anythin', we're not an item..._ She thought back to what Emily and Kelly had talked about on the way over. _So yeah, why not enjoy it?_

She took another sip from her bottle as she spied Emily and Derek stumble back towards the table, arms linked and laughing together. Emily bent down when she reached them. "Hey _baobei_ (treasured one), you alright gettin' back to the ship by yerself? I see Kelly's already gone."

Sara grinned up at her and gave her a quick hug. "Don' worry none, I'll see ya in the mornin'."

Emily gave her a wink and then left with the lanky mechanic, leaving Sara at the table with the other three spacers.

She started to finish her beer but stopped when the eager young man leaned back over. "You know, I have my own bunk too."

Sara snorted in amusement. _God, he's so_ _adorably awkward, I wanna just hug him fer that alone. An' 'sides, he's kinda cute..._ She wasn't sure if that was her second beer talking, as she'd finished off Kelly's as well, or her hormones, but she was actually starting to warm up to the idea.

Gregor leaned forward then. "Listen, miss. I know Timothy here seems like an overeager pup sometimes," _Oh good it's not just me,_ "but he's a decent kid at heart. I can vouch for him, he's really a nice guy, just, um..."

"Inexperienced," Gregor's wife Ellis broke in.

Sara gave a laugh at Timothy's blush. _Oh_ Ji du _(Christ), this is just too cute_.

"And look, we'd even escort you back," Gregor continued, obviously wanting poor Timothy to succeed.

She sighed, and shook her head with a smile. " _Ta ma de yuangu_ (for fucks sake)," she murmured to herself, tipping her head back and chugging the rest of her beer. She stood up and fished out a few credits to slap down on the table. "Alright, c'mon then. But if'n you start givin' me puppy-dog eyes I swear I'm leavin'."

Timothy jumped up eagerly, but Sara waved both Gregor and Ellis back down when they made to rise as well. "Don' need to worry none 'bout an escort, I c'n take care of myself," she grinned. With a flourish, she slipped a shiv into her palm and twirled it across the back of her hand, quickly making it disappear again, even though she had a healthy buzz going.

If anything, it just made Timothy look at her with awe and reverence. _Alright, so this might be some fun after all._

* * *

Beaumonde. Early next morning.

Sara slipped out of the cabin on the _Silverbell_ , crouching to buckle up her boots. She didn't bother waking Timothy up, she'd worn him out enough he'd likely sleep through launch.

Standing, she wondered briefly if she was the first one awake when she heard a soft sound behind her. "Sara?" she heard Emily whisper incredulously.

Sara turned her head to smirk at Emily as she emerged from a cabin just down the hallway, closer to the engine room. "Heya Em, took yer advice."

" _Wo kao_ (holy shit), girl, good for you," came Kelly's voice from behind her. Sara turned again to see Kelly emerge from a cabin next to the bridge, shrugging into her jacket. "Glad to see we all had some fun last night."

Emily and Sara shared a giggle as they joined Kelly to walk down the hallway and down towards the exit ramp. "So are we all sneakin' out?" Sara asked humorously.

"Not me, Alex unlocked the door for us," Kelly responded with a smile.

"I left Derek sleepin'," Emily confessed. "'Fraid I kept 'im up most of the night."

Sara snickered as she linked her arms in between Emily's and Kelly's. "Well, I don' think Timothy's gettin' up anytime soon. Not that I kept him up, more like... well, I think I plumb exhausted 'im."

The girls shared a laugh as they walked down the ramp. Soon as they left, the ramp retracted again. "He's got cameras," Kelly explained, indicating a spot above the cargo bay doors. "So, Sara, did you break him in then?"

Sara looked over at her, perplexed. "Um, sorry?"

"Were you his first?" Emily giggled in explanation.

"Oh! Um, yeah, I think so." Sara pursed her lips in contemplation. "Couldn't fault his enthusiasm none, but yeah, pretty sure he ain't been with a girl before, had to explain some things to 'im. An' he was a mite clumsy." She shook her head. "I don' wanna complain none, 'cause I did enjoy myself, but it was so much better with Justin."

"At least it sounds like some of it might have been fun," Kelly commented as they walked along the landing pads in the early morning light. Their ship was berthed some distance away from the _Silverbell_ , and they'd need to cut across some storefronts to get there.

"Well," Sara said thoughtfully. "I did like it when he lemme take the reins, y'know? Bein' on top an' controllin' an' all. It was kinda... empowerin'."

"Hmm," Emily said with a grin. "Mebbe yer a closet bondage girl."

"What?" Sara sputtered.

Kelly and Emily laughed long and hard. Sara just shook her head in amusement. _Really, bondage, that's just... hmmm..._ Suddenly the thought of riding Justin the way she had ridden Timothy came to her mind, except Justin had his hands tied above his head to the headboard of her bed in her bunk. She blushed lightly. " _Ta ma de_ (fuck me blind)," she whispered to herself quietly as the other two discussed their own adventures from the previous night. _Well, okay then, so's mebbe it's not such a_ feng li _(crazy) idea after all._..

Her introspection was interrupted by a commotion up ahead, as several armed men exited from what appeared to be a bank that must have just opened it's doors. They were waving their guns around in an attempt to keep the security guards from pursuing them.

Kelly pulled them to a halt and then back into the shadows of the neighboring building. "Let's not get involved in this, alright with you ladies?"

"Fine by me," Sara snickered. "Ain't no reason to interfere with a spot of honest crime... _Ai ya, huai le_ (shit on my head)." She finally noticed that one of the panicky-looking robbers was holding a hostage, a young woman. He had his gun to her head.

"Sara..." Kelly warned softly.

"I gotta. Ain't no choice now." Sara sighed and slipped a throwing knife into each hand, keeping them behind her back as she slowly walked forward. "I c'n take 'em."

"I'll back you up from here," Kelly murmured. Sara nodded wordlessly and continued her slow stalk of the armed hoodlums.

"Are ya sure she c'n handle all of 'em?" she heard Emily whisper urgently.

"Yes, she can. I've seen her fight." Sara heard Kelly chuckle mirthlessly as she slipped her Astra from its holster. " _Ta ma de diyu_ (fucking hell), I fought her myself. She can take them."

 _Alright, we c'n do this. Nice an' easy, bleed 'em all we wanna, but_ not _the hostage, alright?_ Part of her was terrified of a repeat from the last time she lost control completely before she realized that the animal side of her had a name and a personality, and was quite indiscriminate about collateral damage unless she were kept under a tight reign.

 _An' you'll lemme have my blood?_ the dark slithering presence inside her purred. _It's been awhile now..._

_Don' you worry none, no gun, just knives, an' we c'n bleed 'em nice an' dry._

The answering giggle in her head sent waves of pleasure and fear up and down her spine.

She was almost within throwing range now, and the group still hadn't noticed her. They were busy shouting orders and demands at the bank guards who were too indecisive to take any action yet. _I mean it, Shrike. No harmin' the hostage. Got me?_

_Oh yeah, I gots ya, love..._

And then her time for internal conversations was past as one of the men finally noticed Sara's approach. "Hey, clear out _ni zi_ (little girl), this ain't-"

She cut off his words with the simple expedient of whipping her left arm forward. A knife sprouted from his throat, and her right arm followed to send her other knife into the hostage-holder's throat. Both men gasped a bubbling final breath as they dropped their guns to clutch at their ruined necks, and the hostage took the opportunity to drop to the ground.

Sara didn't waste any more time. She filled each hand with her shivs and lunged forward towards the other three men. The closest she swiped across his stomach with her right blade, cutting deep and painfully into his gut. He immediately doubled over, grabbing at his abdomen to keep his insides where they belonged. The next man turned to fire upon her, but she ducked under his arms to bring her left blade up into the forearm holding the gun, which dropped from his nerveless fingers. Spinning, she whisked her right blade across his throat, just enough to sever the carotid artery and leave him stumbling to the ground, awash in blood.

_Yes, yes, the blood, more please, more..._

Sara ignored the dark murmurings in her head and concentrated on the last man. He was holding his gun in shaking hands, unsure of whether to keep pointing at the armed guards or at the little terror of a girl who just eliminated his four buddies in the blink of an eye.

She gave a sinister little smile. _I'll make the choice fer ya,_ piyan _(asshole)._ Tumbling into a roll at his feet, she thrust upwards with both blades, skewering his wrists. She pulled her blades out to the sides, almost severing his hands from his arms. He doubled over and let out a wail of pain and terror as he dropped his gun, which she cut off with another slash through his throat, spraying blood down his chest as he collapsed to the concrete.

Sara cleaned her blades off and stood back to her feet, looking around and making sure all five robbers were down and unmoving. The hostage, a pretty but waif-thin young woman with brown hair and dark-smudged eyes, looked at Sara as she stood back up. "Why would you do that?" she asked in a trembling voice.

"Don' like bullies none," Sara said, smiling over at her as she put her shivs away.

The woman glared down at the girl. "You ruined everything!" she screamed and pulled out a gun from behind her back to point at Sara's head.

Sara blinked as the world seemed to slow down. She really hadn't expected this at all, and her normally quick reflexes were frozen with indecision. _She was the hostage, I can't harm her none, but she's pointin' a gun at me... gorramit, this_ biao zi _(bitch) is gonna kill me._ She blinked again, calmly, waiting for the bullet to enter her brainpan and end her existence.

She heard the shot then and jumped slightly as time seemed to start back up again. However, the woman dropped her gun arm and staggered forward a step. Blood trickled down the side of her forehead where Kelly had shot her, and her eyes rolled up into the back of her head as she dropped bonelessly to the floor.

Sara shook herself out of her stupor as she turned, ignoring the calls from the bank guards, and started walking rapidly down the street towards their original destination of the _Fortune's Favour_.

Kelly and Emily caught up with her soon thereafter after having retrieved Sara's throwing knives for her and linked their arms with hers, not saying a word until they arrived back at their home.

* * *

 _Fortune's Favour_. Beaumonde.

"I couldn't do it," Sara whispered almost to herself. "I was concentratin' so hard on not harmin' the hostage..."

"Hey, it's okay sweetie," Emily said, bending in front of her to hold both her hands. "Nobody's blamin' ya none. Nothin' ya coulda done, okay?"

Sara nodded solemnly. "Yeah. I know."

The three women had gone up to the bridge immediately upon entering the ship. Everyone else was still asleep for the time being, though if they followed their usual schedule would be up and about in an hour or so.

Kelly had sat herself at the navigator's station, using the terminal there to try and erase the events of the morning from the surveillance cameras. Sara had sat at Rain's seat while Emily used a washcloth from the head there on the bridge to wipe the blood off of her face.

Emily leaned over and gave Sara a peck on the cheek. "We'll talk later, okay?" she murmured.

Smiling softly, Sara gave her cousin and friend a nod.

" _Gao yang jong duh goo yang_ (motherless goats of all motherless goats)," Kelly growled irritably. "They're already gone!"

"Sorry, what?" Emily asked as she rose to her feet and turned towards Kelly. "What's gone?"

"The recordings! Someone beat us to them, and erased them! I think they also might have downloaded a copy!"

That got Sara out of her seat as well, and they went to stand next to Kelly.

"See this code here?" Kelly asked, pointing to a line of text.

Both Sara and Emily peered over her shoulder. "Nnnope," Sara drawled.

"Okay, sorry," Kelly laughed lightly. "What this is, it's like a digital signature of whoever erased the files. It shows who was in there."

"An' d'ya know who it was?" Emily asked, squinting at the screen.

Kelly gave a deep sigh as she leaned back. "Here's the thing, girls. This is the same signature I leave when I get into something, what any Agent would leave. But the same backdoor that we take advantage of is also available to the other clandestine authorities. Parliamentary Operatives. Military Black Ops."

"Black Ops?" Sara quirked an eyebrow. "Like, even more special than what Uncle Keith was?"

"Pretty much," Kelly gave a slight smile up at her. "I'd imagine he would have been recruited for them by now if he hadn't left the military in the fashion that he did."

"So, izzit bad or good?" Emily asked, confused. "I mean, are we gonna be in trouble?"

"I don't know, girls," Kelly answered, shaking her head slowly. "I just don't know."

* * *

Londinium. White Sun.

"Oh, now this is very interesting. Very, very interesting indeed."

The man in the tailored suit, an inky black this time, reclined in his office chair, fingers steepled together in front of his mouth. On one of the large wall-mounted screens in front of him were three women walking with their arms linked, all having been flagged as from the _Fortune's Favour_. Each face had a box around it, with information about who they were.

One of the boxes was flashing red, and the accompanying text was what elicited his comment.

"Should we forward this information along to the appropriate people, sir?" his assistant inquired from his spot behind the man. A different screen was showing a vid loop of the little girl with curly brown hair eliminating a group of men with her knives.

"Certainly not, Jarvis. This, right here, this changes the game. A former Blue Sun Agent, missing and presumed dead, turns up as a crew member on this ship? What can you tell me about her?"

The subordinate tapped a few keys on his handheld and another one of the large screens on the wall changed, showing a picture of Kelly Connely and some biographical information.

"Yes, of course..." the man in the chair mused. "She most likely would stay with the ship, guaranteeing its safety. Providing intel, remote assistance... perhaps some hacking, look at her skill level there... Oh, this is good. This is very good. Bring up the captain's information."

Jarvis complied, and the screen changed to the profile and photo of Danielle Grant.

The man stood up and strode over to peer closely up at the screen showing Dani's information, tapping his chin with one manicured nail.

"You, my Angel, will become very useful to me, I have the feeling. Yes, very useful indeed... even if you won't be aware of it. But first, my dear, I think I need to devise a few more tests to see if your crew's digital attributes transfer to the real world..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Episodes come to me in funny ways sometimes. This one, as I was doing my walk on a trail near my apartment, and the Hannah Montana song of _G.N.O. (Girl's Night Out)_ came on my playlist, and then the whole episode came to fruition in my head.
> 
> And I can hear you laughing at me. Stop that. I have eclectic music tastes, okay? Don't judge.
> 
> Also, you might know _Dr. Feelgood_ as the song by Motley Crue. Are my musical creds restored now?
> 
> Now, as for the themes. I am not totally certain on the legal drinking age in the 'Verse, but I would assume by this point, at least on the more civilized worlds, they figured out that the Puritanical method really doesn't work well. So we're gonna say it's eighteen and just roll with that. Outside of the civilized worlds, I'm gonna guess they stick whiskey inside baby bottles to help them sleep at night. Meaning there's no such thing as a drinking age on most Rim or Border worlds (Beaumonde is an exception, as it is one of the most civilized planets outside the Core). I did contradict this with an earlier episode where I state that Cali was too young to drink, so I may need to go back and fix that.
> 
> Additionally, I do touch upon the sexual morals of society here. It's implied in the series that those from Core worlds are much stuffier when it comes to sex, whereas the Border and Rims worlds have a more open view of things. I decided to solidify that attitude. Haven't really seen it before, so there we go. Consider it canon. Or don't.
> 
> Finally, I posted another pair of one-shots that chronologically take place after this episode. The first one (actually the third that I've written) is called [Space Bazaar Blues](http://archiveofourown.org/works/4588008) and the next is [Closer](http://archiveofourown.org/works/4147092). Check 'em out!
> 
> Stay shiny!


	59. One-Shot: Space Bazaar Blues

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rain and Feather go out onto a space station on a date, and adventures ensue.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was originally published as a one-shot.

Space Bazaar. Red Sun.

Rain shook her head, laughing softly to herself as Feather pulled on the short-haired brunette’s hand to thread the couple between the milling people. _How’d I ever agree ta this anyways?_

Of course, she knew the reason, as sure as she knew her girlfriend’s eyes, blue as a sun-filled sky, were sparkling with excitement over the colorful wares, flavorful aromas, and bustling noises that made up the busy marketplace corridors of the Space Bazaar.

Feather had been very insistent that Rain take her into the space station during their layover. She’d always dreamed of visiting it and she knew Rain would keep her safe and in good company. _Didn’ take ‘er long to figure out my buttons to push_ , she thought to herself wryly. _Even t’overcome my hatin’ of crowds_.

She examined the woman who had managed to, slowly yet surely, break down so many of her barriers as she glided ahead of her. Rain had previously noted that she seemed to prefer wearing cargo shorts and simple tee shirts, like today’s top which was a startlingly bright green, as well as functional athletic shoes whether onboard or off. For her part, Rain wore her standard shipboard outfit of cargo pants and baggy dark tee with oftentimes snarky sayings (today’s proclaimed ‘ _Not Deaf Just Ignoring You’_ ), as well as her button-laden flight hat, boots, and patch-filled flight vest, all in black. She’d managed to get a patch for each port they’d set down at and by this point it was pretty well filled up. She also had her slim Beretta pistol snug in its holster and strapped low on her hip.

While Feather stopped to excitedly browse through a stall selling colorful scarves, Rain stood by and watched the auburn-haired beauty amusedly. _Never really been one fer scarves_... Her head perked up suddenly as a strong emotion filtered through her mental shields. She was quite adept at keeping her barriers in place, otherwise she’d never be able to survive around crowds at all, but every so often something powerful enough would break through with a whisper that demanded attention.

Right now she was feeling fear, loss, and utter depression. She looked around curiously. _What’d get a person that far down?_

“Hey, _wo de ai_ (my love), you okay?” Feather moved into her field of vision, a look of concern on her face.

“There’s someone...” Rain trailed off uncertainly. She wandered over to the next stall, which was empty, and peeked over the edge. “Oh.”

Feather looked over as well to see a young girl, maybe eight or ten years old or so, huddled against the front wall and weeping softly. “Hey there, what’s the matter hon?” she asked gently.

“Please don’ chase me off, I gots nowhere t’go,” the small girl whimpered. She wore a simple brown dress and shoes and her dark blonde hair was tussled. There was a small knapsack at her feet.

“Don’ you worry ‘bout that none,” Feather smiled. “What’s yer name?”

“Abby,” the girl replied. “Abby Jones.”

“Pleased t’meetcha. I’m Feather, and this’s Rain. C’n ya tell us what happened, Abby?” Feather asked, leaning over to pat her head. Rain had to smile at the tenderness her girlfriend was showing the little waif. _S’pose she’s had experience, as big a clan as the O’Toole’s an’ O’Donnel’s are. Lots o’ younger kids._

“I wuz travellin’ t’get to my gran’parents place on Harvest,” Abby sniffled. “An’ I gots offa one ship here, an’ then hadda pick up ‘nother. But some _hundan_ (bastard) stole my wallet this mornin’. It gots my money innit, an’ my ticket, an’ my IdentCard...”

Rain gave a little growl. _I ruttin' hate bullies._ “C’n ya describe ‘im?”

Abby nodded. “Skinny guy, black hair, kinda greasy. Wore grey clothes. He wuz workin’ with another guy, they wuz pickpocketin’ some folks, an’ saw me watchin’.” She sighed despondently. “He didn’ even try to lift my wallet sneaky-like, just took it an’ laughed. His buddy called ‘im Burt.”

Rain glanced at Feather and nodded decisively. “Alright Abby. Here’s what yer gonna do. Know how ta navigate the berths here?” Abby gave her an uncertain nod. “Good,” Rain continued. “You get yerself to number eighteen, that’s one-eight, right on this level. You ask fer Dani, she’s a nice lady an’ my _Kaasan_ (mother) t’boot, tell ‘er Rain sent ya. We’ll get yer billfold an’ return it to ya there. Okay?”

“‘Kay,” Abby sniffed as she rose to her feet, holding her worn knapsack. “Y’sure this ain’t a trouble to y’all?”

“No worries, Abby,” Feather smiled warmly. “We gots this.”

They made sure the little girl was headed in the right direction before starting back off, looking around warily.

“How d’ya think we’re gonna find ‘im?” Feather asked curiously. “Lotta folk on the station.”

Rain came to a halt and looked around her at the seething mass of humanity rolling along the tight corridors of the space station. She knew the easiest way to do this would be the hardest for her. _Gorramit. This’s gonna gimme sucha ruttin’ headache_.

“Okay, _wo de ai_. I need ya to just stand by nexta me, an’ not ask any questions just yet. C’n ya do that fer me?”

Feather looked at her curiously, but nodded. “Sure, I c’n do that...”

“Alright.” She took a deep breath, closed her eyes, held her arms slightly out to her sides...

And dropped her shields completely.

Immediately she was assaulted by images and feelings and desires... Anger, love, fear, desperation, greed, all the emotions across all the spectrums that a person could experience. She furrowed her brow against the searing pain, concentrating, filtering... _Need to find the right kinda focus in a person, someone... right_... there.

Her hand shot forward and grabbed the collar of a young teenaged boy who was just about to bump into them. He looked startled as Rain opened her eyes and grinned at him.

“Gotcha.”

She hauled him over to the side of the corridor and in between two stalls. The vendors studiously ignored them as she threw him up against the wall. Feather followed her, puzzlement written across her expressive face. Rain had already pushed the incoming headache to the back of her mind and pulled her shields up into place as rapidly as she could. She wouldn’t need them to deal with this little thief.

“Y’know, on some planets, pickpockets have their hands cut off still.” Rain gave the teen a dark smile.

“What?” the boy sputtered. “I dunno what-”

“Save it,” Rain cut him off. “How many wallets am I gonna find on ya?”

The boy didn’t answer, just whimpered pathetically.

“Color me impressed,” Feather giggled. “So what now?”

Rain peered into the captured boy’s frightened eyes. “‘Nother pickpocket named Burt. Skinny guy, greasy black hair. Know ‘im?”

The boy gave another whimper and nodded quickly.

“There, see? Makin’ progress already!” Rain beamed. “Where is he?”

“I dunno ‘xactly,” the young thief stammered out. “But I know where his best mate is right now. Right behind ya, service door there, takes ya to the halls that run behind the markets. Make yer first left at th’innersection, and through that doorway, he’ll be waitin’, name’s Zeb. He’s waitin’ there, right now, I swear it. I ain’t lyin’ to ya.”

“Oh I know yer not lyin’,” Rain assured him. “Now hold out yer hand.”

“But... but...”

“Now,” Rain ordered sternly.

Trembling, the boy complied, squeezing his eyes shut. Rain reached into her pocket and placed a five-credit coin in his palm.

“Thanks fer the information,” Rain said nonchalantly as she released her grip and left him sagging against the wall.

Feather linked her arm with Rain’s, giggling. “That was kinda mean.”

“Yep,” Rain replied cheerfully. “But fun.”

They entered the door that the young pickpocket had indicated and moved along the dim passageway. Partway down, Rain’s comm chirped quietly in her ear.

“Rain, this is Home. I gots a lil’ girl here who sez yer helpin’ her out?”

Rain smiled at the concern in Dani’s voice. She’s always such a worrier. “Yep, we gots everythin’ under control, Capt’n,” she replied cheerfully. “Just givin’ Feather a taste of adventure, as it were.”

Feather barked out a laugh that was echoed over the comm. “Alright _baobei_ (treasured one), you just watch yer _pigu_ (ass) an lemme know if’n ya get in over yer head any. _Dong ma_ (understand)?”

“Yes, _Kaasan_ ,” Rain replied with a sigh.

“So’s this’s is all fer my benefit, then?” Feather giggled.

Rain grinned at the auburn beauty next to her as they came up to the turn in the corridor. “Yep. I like playin’ the _xiong jiao_ (handsome hero).”

Feather snickered as she leaned over to plant a kiss on Rain’s cheek. “Y’are at that. An’ my _jue dai jia ren_ (prettiest girl ever), too.”

“Stop that,” Rain blushed. _She’s always gotta make me get embarrassed an’ all..._

Her girlfriend let out another giggle as she put her hand on the door in front of them. “Alright then, _lian ren_ (sweetheart). You ready?”

“Let’s do this,” Rain smiled back.

They walked through the doorway to find a grungy-looking young man in a rumpled coat and pants leaning against the wall. His long hair was lank and a reddish color, and he glared up at them when they entered. “Whaddya want?” he growled.

“Well if’n that ain’t the most unfriendly greetin’ I ever did receive,” Feather replied brightly. “You Zeb?”

“What if’n I am?” the man glowered back.

Rain sighed. _Enuff of this_ pi hua _(shit, nonsense)_. “Lookin’ fer Burt. Where’s he at?”

The grungy man barked a laugh. “ _Qu nide_ (fuck off) ya _chou biaozi_ (stinking whore).”

Rain gave a growl and reached down to place her hand on her gun, but halted when Feather placed a hand on her arm. “I gots this, _wo de ai_ ,” she smirked.

With one smooth motion, she turned and slammed her fist into the hoodlum’s face. He stumbled back, surprised, and fell back on his rear.

“Gorram, girl, that’s a mean right hook ya gots,” Rain said admiringly.

The former waitress laughed. “Gran’pa never bothered with bouncers. Us family were always enuff. Now then,” Feather addressed the stunned thief on the ground. “You gonna give us any more trouble?”

He shook his head wordlessly.

Rain crouched down to his level. “Where is he?”

“Yeah, okay, sure. Just don’ let ‘er hit me no more.”

Rain smirked over her shoulder at Feather, who returned it with relish.

“Okay, yeah so Burt, he’s gonna be at Marjorie’s Diner right ‘bout now. Always gets ‘is meals ‘round now.” Zeb nodded his head rapidly, eyes shifting nervously between the two women. “I swear it, he’s there. C’n I go now?”

Rain kept her smirk in place as she rose to her feet. “Yeah. _Nigeiwogun_ (get out of my sight).”

The two women linked arms again and headed back the way they came, but Feather pulled them to a halt. “ _Ai ya, huai le_ (shit on my head), shoulda asked fer directions.”

“No worries, _lian ren_. I ‘member passin’ it ‘fore we came onto the marketplace. It’s back towards the berths.”

They started forward again and walked in silence for a minute. “So, gotta question fer ya,” Feather said cautiously.

Rain sighed. “Ya wanna know how it works, right?”

“I’m curious, but only if’n ya wanna share.”

“Okay.” Rain slowed her pace and studied the ground. “Ever since I was young I could pick up on stuff. Feelin’s and such. As I got older, it got stronger, an’ I hadda start blockin’ things out. It’s why I hate crowds so much, makes it harder to keep my shields up an’ block stuff.”

“Sooo... c’n ya read minds?”

Rain shook her head. “Nope, it don’t work like that none. Like I said, feelin’s mostly. Sometimes images, ‘specially if’n it’s someone I’m close to. I c’n usually tell if’n someone’s lyin’ to me, an’ if’n I’m used to a person I c’n recognize ‘em when they’re near me. Kinda like a radar, of sorts, but it don’ always work. An’ it’s really hard to concentrate on one body when there’s a buncha ‘nother bodies nearby.”

Feather laid a hand on her arm, bringing her to a halt. Rain looked up into her favorite blue sun-eyes, which seemed to be very intent on her at the moment. “What if’n there’s nobody else nearby but the one body?”

Rain swallowed nervously. “Well, I s’pose I could drop my shields down an’ see. Never done tried it like that.”

“Couldya? Please?” Feather smiled sweetly at her, a look of trust and understanding on her face.

Rain blew out a breath and nodded. She closed her eyes, and slowly lowered her shields.

She was inundated by images and feelings of love and tenderness and lust, soft bodies intertwined and pleasuring... to her shock, she realized that her own face was on one of the figures, and it seemed that the other was Feather.

She jerked her head back and popped her eyes open, slamming her shields back into place. “Feather...” she whispered, shocked.

“Shhh,” Feather said gently, placing a finger over her lips. “I just wanted ya to know how I felt, ‘cause I’ve been too chicken to let ya know. An’ I ain’t gonna rush ya none, but it don’t change what I think ‘bout ya. Lots.” She smiled, and removed her finger to replace it with her lips for a short but sweet kiss. “I’m patient,” she whispered. “I’ll wait fer ya to get there.”

Rain blinked uncertainly. _So that was... sex? Huh. Weren’t like I’d ever imagined..._ “Um. Mebbe we c’n talk ‘bout it... later? But yeah... I do wanna talk. ‘Bout it. I don’ think I’m ready yet, though...”

Feather nodded happily and slid her hand into Rain’s, intertwining their fingers and starting them moving back forward. “I talked to Em ‘bout it some,” she said casually.

“Oh?” Rain replied intelligently.

Snickering, Feather gave her hand a squeeze. “Don’ worry none, it was all confidential-like. Just asked how she thought we could, well, move forward, y’know? An’ she had a really good idea, an’ I’m hopin’ yer gonna be open to it...”

Rain squeezed her hand back. “I’m always willin’ to listen. An’ willin’ to try, leastways...”

“Well, she suggested we try just sleepin’ t’gether in the same bed, with clothes on. Just to get used to bein’ close t’each other.”

Rain pursed her lips thoughtfully. _That actually don’ sound all that bad, really..._ She knew she was neurotic about... closeness. And other things. But if there was any one person who she could imagine becoming close to... “Okay. Yeah. Mebbe we could try it.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

The couple shared a happy look before they reached their destination. Giving Feather’s hand one last squeeze, Rain reached out to open the door. “Right. Well, here we go...”

They entered the smoke-filled diner together and paused to look around. The place was dingy, dirty, poorly-lit and even worse ventilated. “What a _diyu ban di difang_ (hellhole),” Rain murmured.

“Musta got some kinda appeal, though,” Feather murmured back. The diner was fairly packed. Most tables or booths were occupied. There wasn’t anyone to seat them, or any signs regarding such matter, so the two just started strolling along the aisles.

Halfway down, they found their target sitting in the back of a booth by himself, shoveling a plate of some kind of meat into his mouth.

They walked over casually and slid into the booth, one on either side to box him in. Rain took the left and Feather the other side.

The greasy-looking man looked up, startled. “Wha-”

Rain had already pulled out the butterfly knife her sister Sara gifted to her and had begun twirling it in front of his face. “Shush now, Burt. We’re gonna talk, an’ yer gonna listen. _Dong ma_ (understand)?”

Burt nodded, eyeing the knife nervously.

She stopped her motions with the blade snapped open and speared one of the morsels from his plate, examining it curiously.

“You sure you wanna try eatin’ that?” Feather asked nonchalantly.

“Well, mebbe it’s the food here that makes the place so appealin’,” Rain answered, just as nonchalantly.

Rain popped the piece of food into her mouth. It was chicken, she believed, with a light sauce that was sweet and spicy at the same time. “Hmm. This’s pretty good. You wanna bite, _wo de ai_?”

Feather grinned over at her. “Sure!”

She speared another piece and held it across. Feather gingerly took it in between her teeth and leaned back. “Mmmm, yer right. Tasty.”

The pickpocket situated between the two women just looked back and forth, mouth agape and eyes unbelieving.

“So, Burt,” Rain continued as she wiped her blade on the man’s jacket with her left hand. “We’re lookin’ fer a billfold ya took offa lil’ girl. I think ya know the one I mean. Where’s it at?”

“Oh, um, sorry there, girls,” he replied smarmily. “Already gave it to my handler, yeah?”

Rain glanced over at Feather and shook her head.

“May I?” Feather asked politely.

“How ‘bout we both?”

“Sounds good!”

In unison, the girls brought their fists back, Rain’s right and Feather’s left, and slammed them into his face. His head bounced off of the wall behind him and then hit the table with a wet crunch of cartilage.

“Oooh, that sounded like it hurt,” Feather said sympathetically.

“I c’n cut it off fer ya, mebbe make it all better?” Rain snickered.

“What... how would that make it better?” he wailed, sitting back up and clutching his bloody nose in one hand.

“Well, it’d make me feel better,” Rain smirked. “Now, you wanna try yer story again?”

“Okay, okay, _ching-wah tsao duh liou mahng_ (frog-humping son of a bitch), it’s right here,” Burt moaned, reaching into his rumpled coat and withdrawing a small leather wallet. Rain checked it and saw that the money was still inside, as well as a passenger liner ticket and Abby’s IdentCard.

“See, now, that weren’t so hard, were it?” Rain said pleasantly as she closed her knife and put it away. She noted that Burt was already beginning to show signs of two impending black eyes. “Better get yer nose an’ those shiners looked at. An’ we better not see yer face around again.”

The couple slid out of the booth and headed for the exit. “ _Dao xie_ (thank you)!” Feather called out cheerily over her shoulder.

_Fortune’s Favour_. Space Bazaar.

Abby was ecstatic to get her billfold back. The two women assured her it wasn’t any trouble at all, really, but they were showered with hugs nonetheless as they stood there in the cargo bay.

“So then, _baobei_ , let’s get you t’yer ship now, alright?” Dani smiled down at the little girl. She’d taken the urchin under her wing as she was apt to do. “What berth, an’ when’s it head out?”

“Ummm....” Abby looked at her ticket carefully. “Lesse... dockin’ bay thirty-four, level eight... an’ leaves at... oh no.”

Rain shared a glance with Feather at the sudden despair in Abby’s voice. It was pretty evident what that meant. “It already leave, hon?” Feather asked quietly.

Abby nodded in response, tears trickling down her cheeks.

“Well, now, don’ be gettin’ all upset there, sweetie,” Dani said gently. “Where were ya headed towards?”

Abby gave a sniffle. “Harvest,” she replied miserably.

“Yer in luck!” the lanky captain exclaimed. “We’re headin’ right by there! C’mon back, an’ we’ll get ya situated inna bunk, okay?”

Abby slipped her hand into Dani’s and they headed back towards the rear cabins. “But I ain’t got enuff credits fer ‘nother ticket!”

“No worries, hon, you just gimme yer old one an’ I’ll take care of it. We’ll get ya to where yer goin’.”

Rain grinned at their retreating backs. _Kaasan’s such a softie. She knows gorram well we weren’t headin’ anywhere near Harvest originally._

En route to Harvest.

They departed Space Bazaar without further complications. Rain sat back in her seat, course already plotted in and set. Smiling to herself, she luxuriated in the trust that her Kaasan showed her by leaving the bridge operations primarily to her but helping out when needed or requested. _S’pose that means I’m grown up some, huh?_

Since she had let Feather so far into her head, without any shields, she felt much more attuned to her. Without even trying she could tell when she was approaching the bridge, like now.

Rain turned in her chair to see her auburn-haired girlfriend enter. Feather was dressed casually, perhaps in sleepwear of a sort, with sweatpants and a tee shirt. Her medium-length tresses were back in a ponytail and her feet were clad in socks only.

“Soooo,” Feather drawled softly as she sat down in the captain’s chair and tucked one foot under her. “I was wonderin’... you want me t’stay with ya tonight, when ya get off yer shift?”

Rain looked over at her girlfriend with a grin. “Yeah. I think I like the sound of that.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thought it might be fun to explore Rain a little more and her relationship with Feather. The more I write them, the more fun I have.


	60. One-Shot: Closer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Em gives Sara some TLC after a rough mission.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was originally published as a one-shot. 
> 
> **WARNING:** This one-shot contains a very heavy-duty dose of **LEMONS** that I’m not going to bother marking. You have been warned, don’t even read if this might offend you.

Harvest. Red Sun.  
Late evening.

 

Sara was about as exhausted as she’d ever been before.

 

The five-member ground team from the _Fortune’s Favour_ had just gotten back from pulling a late-night recon mission that turned into an assault when the opportunity had presented itself. The skinny little scout had found herself with the rest of the team cut off and outnumbered, a large group of wicked-looking bandits closing in with evil leers on their faces.

 

 _Okay, so mebbe that particular rendition was a lil’ bit dramatic_ , she smirked to herself as she stumbled into the cargo bay. _Still, we showed ‘em not to_ ta ma de gen women _(fuck with us)_. Her small stature belied the fact that she was extremely deadly with her shivs, a fact that the bandits had learned far too late to save most of them. But all four members of her family had returned with her, relatively unscathed.

 

Keith and Jess murmured their goodnights and shambled up the steps towards their bunk. Dani, her _Kaasan_ (mother) and Captain, closed the cargo bay doors and locked them up, then slipped an arm around her wife Lori. “Hey there _baobei_ (treasured one), you gonna be okay? That’s a nasty-lookin’ cut on yer forehead.”

 

Sara shrugged. It didn’t hurt much anymore, really, just a little sore, but she knew if she didn’t take care of it there could be an infection. “I’ll just go an’ clean it out in th’infirmary, _Kaasan_. Don’ worry none, go ahead an’ get to sleep.”

 

“Okay sweetie. Nice work tonight.” Dani smiled warmly at her and then headed up the stairs, Lori in tow. “‘Night, Sara,” the redheaded sniper called out wearily.

 

“‘Night, Lori,” Sara replied with a smile as she headed back through the workshop towards the rear of the ship.

 

She stumbled slightly on the steps leading down towards the lounge and decided she’d better sit down for a spell before moving any further. _Mebbe I took a harder hit than I thought_.

 

Parking herself on the large and comfortable couch, she leaned her head back and closed her eyes for just a minute. _What a day. Leastways the job’s done now, an’ we c’n get paid an’ push on._

 

Her musings were interrupted by a soft sound of distress. “Sara?”

 

She peeled her eyes open to see one of her best friends in the ‘Verse standing in front of her. Emily was a woman of height with her, maybe a little taller by a couple of centimeters, but that’s where the physical similarities ended. Whereas Sara was skinny with long, curly brown hair that hung past her shoulder blades, Emily was buxom and curvy with short dirty-blonde hair. The freckles sprinkled across her nose and cheeks were hard to see in the dim light, but her look of concern was evident.  “Sweetie, yer bleedin’! Why ain’t ya taken care of that yet? Did y’all just get back?”

 

Sara sighed and nodded, closing her eyes again. “Yep. Just got in. I was about to go an’ clean this out. Didn’ make it far.”

 

Her friend and confidant gave a quiet giggle. “Alright, lemme get somethin’ fer ya, sit right there.”

 

She heard Emily move off and into the infirmary, then return to kneel on the couch next to her. “Stay still, hon. I’ll get ya fixed up.”

 

“Thanks, Em,” she smiled softly. “Yer the best.”

 

Emily giggled again as she pressed a warm, wet cloth to her forehead. “That’s what friends’re for, right?”

 

Sara laughed quietly, still not opening her eyes. “Yer more’n my friend, y’know. I mean, yeah yer family and all, sorta my cousin now, right? But still, I don’ know how I could’ve gotten through the last few months without ya. Seriously, I owe you my life.”

 

“Oh don’ go bein’ like that. I keep tellin’ ya, yer stronger than ya realize. An’ plenty sweet. Yer a decent person, Sara, with’r without me around.”

 

Sara opened her eyes then and came to realize that Emily had just gotten out of bed. This was evident from the extremely skimpy sleepwear she was wearing, as was habitual, and the presence of the barely-covered breasts hovering in front of her face.

 

Her mouth went very dry, and she felt a warm tingly feeling start to move from her stomach down to between her legs.

 

 _Whoa, whoa, whoa. Where’d that feelin’ come from?_ She tried to look away, but found herself riveted to the soft, jiggling sight as Emily continued to clean and then bandage her forehead. _I never done looked at a girl like that ‘fore, why am I all gooey now over Em? She’s_ Em _, fer the love of Buddha!_ All the logic in the world, however, couldn’t seem to tear her eyes away.

 

“Enjoyin’ the view?” Emily snickered, causing her breasts to jiggle more.

 

Sara blinked rapidly and blushed just as fast. “I, um... Em, I didn’...”

 

Emily gave a laugh and finished taping the bandage, leaving a kiss on Sara’s forehead before sitting back on her heels, still within reach of Sara. “I don’ mind none, _baobei_ (treasured one). You ain’t never been with a girl ‘fore, right?"

 

Sara just shook her head, eyeing the barely-dressed blonde beauty perched next to her.

 

“You wanna?” Emily asked in a whisper.

 

Sara’s eyes just about popped out of her head. “Em...” She was at a complete loss for words.

 

“Look, sweetie, I know you ain’t all that experienced, ‘kay? But bein’ with a girl’s completely dif’rent from bein’ with a guy. An’ if’n ya wanna try it, I’m willin’. No regrets, no recriminations, ‘kay? I care alot about ya, an’ I wanna see ya happy.” Emily leaned in closer, her green eyes looming large and expressive. “D’ya want me to make ya happy?”

 

Sara gave a little whimper of need that she didn’t realize she even had within her. _This’s so... not wrong, well mebbe it is, but God I want this, an’ I dunno why..._  Finally she nodded very slightly, eyes still wide and somewhat unbelieving.

 

Her blonde cousin smiled widely and leaned in closer, sealing her lips over Sara’s. It was indeed very different from any other boy she’d kissed, her lips were soft and plump and tender... and then Emily slipped her tongue into Sara’s mouth. Suddenly the crotch of her trousers was completely soaked.

 

Sara pulled back, panting hard. “ _Ta ma de_ (fuck me blind),” she whispered in a strained voice.

 

Emily grinned, pleased with Sara’s reaction. “I c’n steer fer ya, if’n ya want. C’n I take you, an’ pleasure ya?”

 

“ _Ai ya, huai le_ (shit on my head) yes!” Sara whispered back desperately. “But... here? What if’n someone comes by?”

 

The grin on Emily’s face didn’t change a bit as she leaned over and grabbed the hem of Sara’s shirt. “Don’ worry ‘bout it none. It’s still the middle of the night, everyone’s asleep.” And with that she slipped Sara’s shirt up and over her head.

 

Sara blushed again at the revealing of her less than impressive assets. She was barely an A-cup, and had the bodily proportions of an adolescent girl, not an almost-twenty-year-old. But Emily didn’t falter at all, just slipped her sports bra up and over her head as well, and then leaned down to lick Sara’s left nipple very slowly.

 

Throwing her head back in ecstacy, Sara closed her eyes and moaned softly. “ _Wang ba_ (son of a bitch), that feels so good!” she whispered.

 

Emily just gave a hum of contentment as she lavished attention on both of Sara’s small breasts, pulling and sucking on her nipples until they were rock-hard and pointed. By this point Sara was breathing like she’d been running for a few kilometers. “Em, I... _cao_ (fuck), I can’t take much more...”

 

Emily giggled and lifted her head back up. “Nope, don’ want ya to come just yet, _bang jiar_ (lover). I gots other ideas fer yer first time with me.” With that she grabbed ahold of Sara’s waist and slid her down on the couch and onto her back. She moved her fingers around her waistband, undoing her belt and then slipping her pants off, underwear and all.

 

Then she crawled up and over her, lowering her head down to give Sara another kiss. “What wouldya like, fingers or tongue?”

 

Sara blushed even harder and licked her lips uncertainly, staring at the tip of Emily’s tongue that she poked out between her own lips.

 

Emily gave another soft giggle. “Tongue it is, then.” And while Sara watched, she moved very slowly down her body, trailing kisses and licks further and further until she was positioned between her legs.

 

“Ready?” Emily asked quietly. Sara could only nod frantically, the suspense almost killing her.

 

And then Emily had her clitoris covered with her mouth, licking and devouring her, probing with her tongue until Sara felt like she was on fire. Every nerve ending was tingling as she wrapped her fingers into the hair at the back of Emily’s head, squirming and moaning in pleasure. _God, this feels so good... oh_ cao _(fuck), I’m comin’, I’m gonna-_

 

“Sara?”

 

She jolted upright from the couch with a gasp, drenched with sweat and her heart thudding in her chest. Emily was standing in front of her with a look of concern on her face. “Are you okay, hon? I thought I heard yellin’... Oh, yer bleedin! Why ain’t ya taken care of that yet? Did y’all just get back?”

 

Sara looked down at herself frantically. She was fully clothed, though her pants were completely drenched between her legs. Her breath was still coming in frantic pants, and she looked back up at her cousin with wide eyes. “Em...”

 

“Hey what’s wrong sweetie? D’ya want me to take care of that fer ya?”

 

Sara closed her eyes, refusing to look at Emily in her very skimpy sleepwear. “No! No, I’m... um, I’m okay, I gots this, just... just go back t’bed, okay? Please?”

 

“Okay, but make sure ya wash that out sweetie. Ya sure ya don’ need to talk none?”

 

Sara shook her head rapidly, her eyes still closed. “Nope, I’m good, everythin’s shiny, I’m gonna bandage it up an’ get to bed myself.”

 

She waited until Emily had moved off and back into her bunk before she would open her eyes. Darting to her feet, she lunged into the infirmary and grabbed what she needed to clean and bandage herself. She stood in front of the mirror and began to clean the wound on her forehead, but stopped to stare into her own terrified brown eyes.

 

“ _Wo kao_ (holy shit),” she whispered to herself. “What the _ta ma de diyu_ (fucking hell) was that?”

 

She went back to digging furiously at her forehead, resolving to never, ever think about that... _whatever_ it was... again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally this one-shot came about from me shipping two characters in my story that I knew I’d never bring together. Sara has been adopted into the Grant family, and fully considers Emily to be her cousin, even if not by blood, as well as her friend and confidant. For Emily’s part, she would never jeopardize the trust that she and Sara have built up as she helps the girl six years her junior deal with her Dissociative Identity Disorder. But still. I shipped it. And fantasies are just that, fantasies.
> 
> Title track _Closer_ is by the group Tegan and Sara.


	61. One-Shot: The Inner Light

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fifteen years in the future, Danielle Grant is an old and broken woman, with few of the _Favour_ 's crew still by her side. How did this come to pass?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was originally posted as a one-shot.

_Fortune’s Favour_. Unknown space.

Danielle Grant slowly opened her eyes with a groan of effort. She was lying on her back, alone in bed. Something told her it had been that way for a number of years now, but she struggled to remember the why of it. She lifted a trembling hand to her face, but paused as she saw the paper-thin texture of her skin and the blue veins clearly standing out.

_I’m old_ , she thought to herself wonderingly. _How’d that happen?_

With effort, she turned her head to look around her bunk. Nothing seemed changed, really. There were fewer clothes and such strewn about, perhaps, but other than that, the only thing missing was...

“Lori?” she croaked, her throat parched.

As if summoned, the hatch to her room opened and legs appeared, moving down the ladder. Instead of her wife, however, she saw her sister-in-law, Jess. The Asian-featured woman looked almost ageless, really, slight crows-feet at the corners of her eyes the only thing to suggest she had grown older as well. She gave Dani a small, humorless smile.

“I see we’re awake,” the raven-haired woman said briskly. She carried a mug of what smelled like broth in her hands, and set it down on the table. “Let’s get you situated so you can have breakfast.”

As Jess helped Dani sit up, adjusting pillows behind her with an ease that spoke of the many times she’d been doing this, Dani noticed from the wisps of hair that fell forward that she was no longer a brunette. Her thick, wavy hair had gone stark white and lifeless.

She gratefully accepted the broth, and took a few sips while Jess looked on dispassionately. “Mmm,” Dani sighed, leaning her head back. “Thank you, Jess.”

“Well, at least you remember my name today,” the other woman sighed. “You going to be okay for a bit? I need to get back onto the bridge.”

“Wait, please,” Dani implored. “I don’ understand... where’s Lori?”

Jess closed her eyes wearily. “Ah. It’s going to be one of those days.” She opened her eyes back up. “I’m sorry, Dani, I don’t have the strength or patience for this right now. I’ll send your daughter down, alright?”  Without waiting for an answer, she turned and climbed rapidly back up the ladder, almost as if she were trying to escape the confines of the bunk.

Dani frowned to herself, fighting to remember. _What happened? Why can’t I ‘member none?_

Eventually, just as she finished her mug of broth, another pair of legs made their way down the ladder. Dani blinked watery eyes and squinted, but sure enough it was her eldest daughter Rain. She was undeniably older now, her previously pixie-cut hair now just brushing her shoulders. She looked a little bit wearier as well, but there were obvious laugh lines now creasing her cheeks.

“Hey there _Kaasan_ ,” her daughter said gently, a neutral look on her face. “Can’t stay long none, we gotta make some course changes soon, ‘pending on the Capt’n’s orders.”

That seemed to at least clear a few things up in her head. “Jess is Capt’n now?” Dani asked.

Rain nodded solemnly, still standing. “Right, been that way for a few years now, ever since... Well. What d’ya ‘member? Jess said ya don’ ‘member ‘bout Lori, yeah?”

Dani nodded, a tear trickling down her cheek. “Please, _baobei_ , I’m havin’ trouble...” She took a deep breath that seemed to rattle in her withered chest. “C’n ya tell me what happened to Lori? Why ain’t she here?”

“Okay,” Rain replied quietly, stepping back after retrieving Dani’s mug to sit at the chair next to the desk. Dani noted she didn’t move it first to sit near her. “Been through this ‘fore, more times’n I c’n count, but I gots the time to at least give ya that much.”

Her eldest daughter sighed and leaned back in the chair, staring down at the deck between her feet. “Fifteen years ago, now,” she started quietly. “We landed on a lil’ moon orbintin’ the gas giant called Dragon’s Egg, ‘round Blue Sun. Moon’s name was Nakula.” She smiled to herself bitterly. “Wish I never hadta say that gorram name ever ‘gain.”

Dani shifted slightly so that she didn’t have to crane her neck to look over. “I ‘member that name somehow...”

Rain nodded. “I ‘spect it’s pretty much burned inta yer brainpan by now. Anyhow, y’all went down on a mission, don’ rightly recall the details. But while y’all were down there...” She paused, glancing up at Dani. “Well, while y’all were on this job, Lori got herself killed.”

The old woman felt her breath hitch in her chest. She felt like she’d been told this a million times before, but the rawness of it still hit her like a knife between her ribs.

Rain nodded again, and went to stand. “Feather just got outta the shower. I’m gonna have her come down ‘gain fer a spell, bring Noelle.”

“Noelle?” the other woman repeated, her voice a harsh whisper.

Rain let out another sad sigh. “Yeah, _Kaasan_. Yer granddaughter. Feather an’ I been married fer some time now.”

She left at that, without having touched Dani at all. The old woman stared at the chair she had been sitting in, thoughts whirling through her clouded mind. _Lori’s dead. An’ I gots a granddaughter. Who all is still on the Favour?_

She started to drift off to sleep, but was startled awake by a small form jumping down the hatch and landing with a _thud_. Bright, curious green eyes looked at her from under a mop of unruly brown wavy hair.

The little girl, perhaps five years old, was followed at a more sedate pace by a pair of shapely legs encased in shorts. Feather huffed when she hit the bottom. “ _Baobei_ , what’d I tell ya ‘bout jumpin’ down inta this here bunk?”

“Ya said not ta,” a small voice piped up. Dani looked at the girl wonderingly. _Those eyes, they look like_... “She gots my eyes,” she said out loud, wonderingly.

Feather smiled over at her. “Hey _Kaasan_ , sorry ‘bout the lil’ scamp here. She’s been wantin’ ta visit ya fer a spell. But she still knows better’n ta jump in like that,” she finished sternly, looking down at her daughter.

“Sorry mama,” Noelle said contritely, before turning back to Dani. “Hi, _wai po_ (maternal grandmother). Been workin’ on a picture fer ya. Wanna see?”

“Sure, _baobei_ ,” Dani replied gently. “I’d love to see whatcha been drawin’.”

“Yay!” the little girl cheered, before leaping onto the bed with her drawing book clenched in her fist.

“Noelle,” Feather sighed, pulling the chair up to the side of the bed.

Dani smiled, her lips feeling rather thin and bloodless. “It’s fine, I don’ mind none.”

Noelle excitedly showed off her latest coloring. It was supposedly a cherry blossom tree from Sihnon, though it was a little rough around the edges. Still, for a five-year-old, it was quite detailed.

“Tha’s beautiful, _baobei_ ,” Dani said finally. She laid a trembling hand on the top of her granddaughter’s head. “Ya gonna finish it soon?”

“Yeah!” the girl cheered, leaping back off of the bed. “I’ll do it right now, so’s I c’n leave it here with ya!”

Dani smiled at her granddaughter affectionately as she pulled her crayons out of her pocket, stretched out on the floor, and got busy coloring. Her feet kicked idly in the air behind her as she lay on her stomach and hummed contentedly to herself.

“She’s wonderful,” Dani sighed, and Feather chuckled lightly at her words.

“She’s a handful, too. Rain keeps tellin’ me I should be grateful she ain’t as bad as she was at that age.”  The auburn-haired woman, still looking vibrant but with a few age lines on her face, placed a hand on Dani’s arm. “So, Rain’s tellin’ me yer a lil’ more coherent today. She toldya ‘bout Lori, yeah?”

Dani nodded, feeling the tears welling up in her eyes again, but not wanting to disturb Noelle. “I don’ ‘member anythin’ else after that, neither. Where’s ev’ryone else?”

“Right,” Feather sighed, lightly grasping the old woman’s arm. “So, after Lori died, ya kinda went on a downward spiral, yeah? Yer niece, Em, she tried to help some, but ya pushed ‘er away. Pushed us all away,” she amended quietly, but gave herself a little shake before continuing. “Well, she was the first to leave. Hooked back up with the Far Reach. Far as I know, she’s still with ‘em. Ain’t heard from her in some time.”

The woman leaned back in her chair a bit, crossing her arms in front of her as if prepared to deliver news worse than that of Dani losing her wife. “After that, ya gots less interested in runnin’ the ship, though we still called ya Capt’n an’ all. Keith picked up mosta the slack. Until the War broke out, mebbe ten years ago.”

“War?” Dani asked curiously.

Feather nodded wearily. “Been goin’ since. Second War fer Independence, been tearin’ the ‘Verse apart. Startin’ ta wind down some, now, looks like Kalidasa might become an independent system. Anyways, gettin’ ahead of myself.

“The War got yer interest somethin’ fierce. Ya gots really involved with the rebellion, left the ship fer a spell by yerself to try an’ train pilots. Leastways, that’s what ya told us. Really, you were flyin’ missions ‘gain, runnin’ blockades an’ such. Finally got yerself captured ‘round Hera, sentenced fer death.”

Feather swallowed, as if the memory were still raw for her as well. “Keith decided to lead an effort ta break ya outta prison. He an’ Jess, Sara, an’ even Kelly went in to fetch ya.” Feather looked away briefly. “Jess was th’only one ta come back with ya.”

Dani felt as if the world was spinning around her. She let out a soft moan, leaning her head back. “They’re all dead? Sara too?”

“Yeah,” Feather replied softly. “I think Cali took it th’hardest. You were back ta bein’ a shell ‘gain, hardly speakin’ no more. Seemed bein’ in prison, an’ then losin’ th’other three, just sucked the life right outta ya. So she left too. Took a job on ‘nother transport, big one. She’s Chief Mechanic now.”

The old woman stared up at the ceiling morosely. “I killed ‘em.”

“No, _Kaasan_ ,” Feather protested weakly.

“I did,” Dani interjected, tears silently running down her face. “I killed ‘em, an’ then drove everyone else away. I understand now why Jess can’t hardly stand the sight of me none. Even Rain, she looked pained t’see me.” She looked over at Feather, who also had tear-streaked cheeks. “Why didya stay?”

Feather smiled warmly, grasping Dani’s hand in her own. “I lost my mom a long time ago. An’ you were so welcomin’ to me... Yer my _Kaasan_ now too. My family. An’ there ain’t no O’Donnel who gives up on her family none.” She glanced over at her daughter, still oblivious to the emotional turmoil. “‘Sides, once you join up with the _Favour_ , why wouldya ever leave? This’s our home now.”

“Yeah, it is,” Dani said sadly.

Just then Noelle jumped up, paper clenched triumphantly in her fist. “All done!” She leaped back onto the bed, thrusting the paper at Dani. “Here ya go, _wai po_!”

“Noelle,” Feather sighed good-naturedly. “Please be careful...”

“It’s fine,” Dani reassured gently as she unscrolled the paper with arthritic hands. “Oh, _baobei_ , it’s wonderful... Now, who’re these two folk down here? Are you in there, or are those yer two mamas?”

Noelle shook her head, her curly brown locks whipping around her face. “Nope. Tha’s you, an’ tha’s my other _wai po_. Gramma Lori, my mama an’ mommy done told me all ‘bout her.”

Dani brought a trembling hand up to her mouth and gasped slightly. Sure enough, one of the figures had short red hair, and was holding hands with the other figure, white-haired but standing upright. “It’s beautiful, Noelle,” she choked out quietly.

“Okay, _baobei_ ,” Feather addressed her daughter, tears threatening to spill out over her cheeks anew. “Why don’ you go an’ visit with yer mommy fer a spell? I’ll be up inna tic.”

“Okay mama!” the little girl chirped merrily. She sprang up, stuffed her crayons back in her pocket and then scampered back up the ladder. With the coloring book clenched between her teeth, she moved like a nimble monkey.

Dani was staring at the picture, enraptured. Her face was dry, as if she had no more tears to offer. “I’m tired, _baobei_ ,” she whispered. “I hardly ‘member what all happened, but it seems like just yesterday I still had my Lori. I miss ‘er, an’ I’m tired.”

“Here, _Kaasan_ ,” Feather said gently, getting up from the chair. “Lemme get ya one of yer blankets, alright? You rest fer a spell...”

She trailed off as she turned back to the bed. Dani was lying so very still, her eyes closed and hands still clutching the picture. There was a faint smile on her face, but Feather could tell she was no longer breathing.

The auburn-haired mechanic choked back a sob, and sat the blanket back down carefully. Leaning over, she placed a gentle kiss on the old woman’s forehead and whispered, “Bye, _Kaasan_. I love you.”

_Fortune’s Favour_. En route to Nakula, moon of Dragon’s Egg.

Dani opened her eyes slowly, taking in the room’s surroundings. She was in bed again, but she wasn’t alone. There was a freckled arm across her chest, and she heard the soft snore of her wife in her ear.

She hitched her breath as the memories of her dream came back to her in a rush. It all felt so real... _It was justa dream, Lori’s safe, an’ she never went down to..._

“Nakula.” With that word, she sat upright suddenly, sweat beading her brow.

Lori woke up next to her, face wrinkled in confusion. “Whazzat...? _Wo de ai_ , what’s wrong?”

Dani bolted out of bed and threw on her pants. “Stay here, love. I gotta make a quick course change, an’ then I’m comin’ back, an’ I want ya ‘wake when I do.”

“Oh, really?” Lori smirked at her sleepily, propping her head up on one hand and letting the sheets fall from her breasts. “An’ what ‘xactly arya plannin’ on doin’ when ya get back?”

Dani grinned as she tugged her tank top over her head. “I’ll let yer ‘magination figgure it out.”

She turned and headed up the ladder towards the bridge. Keith would be on watch, she’d let him deal with the client tonight. There were other planets in the Blue Sun system they could get jobs at, New Canaan was always good for such. She’d set the new course and then rejoin her wife shortly.

And she silently vowed to herself to never, ever let Lori set foot on the moon of Nakula.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whew, that was a little more emotional than my usual one-shots. I took inspiration from the excellent ST:TNG episode by the same name, where Picard is struck with an energy beam from an unknown probe that causes him to live out more than forty years of memories of Kamin, a member of a human-like species on a planet that is threatened by its local sun going nova, while only twenty-five minutes passes for the rest of the USS Enterprise crew as they try to revive Picard. It’s arguably one of the best TNG episodes.


	62. Intermission VIII

Hey y'all! Hope life's been treating you well. There's some sake left over from a couple episodes ago if you want a sip. Grab it quick before Dani gets ahold of it.

Speaking of which, just want to drop a quick info dump when it comes to sake, since I like mentioning it so much in my episodes. Sake is a strong alcoholic beverage made from rice, but instead of being fermented like wine (sometimes it's called "rice wine") the process is closer to making beer. It can be served cold or warm, personally I prefer it warm but it really kicks in faster that way (much to the amusement of my children, who like to mess with me when I have a healthy buzz going). Sake is sometimes served in special ceremony. Sake is either served cold from or is gently warmed in a small earthenware or porcelain bottle called a _tokkuri_ , and sipped from a small porcelain cup called a _guinomi_ or, as is often the case in the Firefly 'Verse, from a small metal cup called a _chirori_ as it's cheaper and easier to maintain. There are a wide variety of other vessels to use in serving sake besides these two, and even more varieties of sake itself. From the wiki article, "Sake can have many flavor notes, such as fruits, flowers, herbs, and spices. Many sakes have notes of apple from ethyl caproate, and banana from isoamyl acetate." So it all depends on where it was brewed (often locally) and what's available on the planet.

I also wanted to take a second to hit upon something that might be useful to cover now, before Episode 50 (the one after the next ep). It's a mammoth one by the way, the longest I've written, but I couldn't find a decent way to split it up midway without disrupting the flow.

So anyways let me talk a little about the rifle configurations, as that might be (or will get) a little confusing. The Callahan Modular Rifle, and it's military version the HK G38 Assault Rifle, can be configured in three different ways: Close-Combat, where it shoots a long burst of automatic fire and usually has a shortened barrel to look like a carbine, Assault, where it fires in three-round bursts and has a medium-length barrel, and Sniper, single-shot per trigger pull for greater control and a longer barrel, as well as a scope attached. When in Close-Combat it can also be switched to fire three-round bursts, and in Assault configuration it can be switched over to automatic fire (though the magazines are usually smaller and will deplete faster). In Sniper mode, it can be switched to three-round bursts, although the use of a scope, in this case, makes accuracy highly unlikely.

In their usual full load-out, the ground team carries the following: Keith has his HK G38 configured in Close-Combat with extended magazines and grenade launcher. Jess has her Callahan in Assault with plenty of extra magazines and a grenade launcher as well. Lori carries her Callahan exclusively in Sniper configuration, with the scope attached and a few of the smaller magazines as well as several normal-sized ones. Hope this helps some, and doesn't create additional confusion!

The next episode was fun to write. I get to expand somewhat on Dani and Lori's relationship. It's not too long in length, but features a lot of warm & fuzzy moments. If that's not your thing then the one after will definitely pick up with the action.

Okay, and now I get to send out my thanks and appreciation! All my love to my fantastic Betas, **Silvana_Croew** ,  **CaliopeGrant** , and  **KellyConelly**. You're the shiniest of shiny. Hugs out to the others in my family who might eventually get to this point in reading, thanks for letting me play around with fictional representation of your likenesses.

And finally, all homage, credit, and hugs to the great Joss Whedon. Every time I go back to one of your works I'm stunned by the depth of creativity and love you give everything you do. Thank you for giving us this wonderful 'Verse for us to explore with our imaginations.


	63. Episode 49: Pour Some Sugar On Me

En route to Sihnon. White Sun.

"Hey, Lori?"

"Hmm?"

"Got a lil' somethin' I wanna discuss..."

Lori grinned widely, looking up into her wife's startlingly green eyes. "Shoot."

The couple were on the bridge for Dani's morning shift. Since few folk were up and about yet, Lori had decided to stake out her favorite spot, namely Dani's lap. She was curled up against her lanky lover's chest, resting her head on her shoulder while she ran her fingers along Dani's arm. They had both decided on simple tee shirts and cargoes for the day, though Lori's were more capris, ending just below the knee, and she left her feet bare. They were listening to some of Dani's music playing softly, the current one a hauntingly beautiful melody from an old Earth-That-Was group Dani had called Evanescence.

"So we gots our anniversary comin' up..." Dani continued with a mischievous glint in her eye.

"I like where this's headed already," Lori giggled. "Please do continue."

"Why thank you kindly, ma'am," Dani snarked back. "Anyways, so we're headin' to Sihnon, an' our anniversary is right around the corner, so's I was thinkin' we could do a lil' celebratin' while on-planet. Mebbe stay an extra day or so, off-ship-like."

"Ooooh, I _definitely_ like where this's goin;" Lori said excitedly, sitting up to get a better look at her wife's lovely face. _Don' really even notice the scars no more, just all part of what makes 'er beautiful._ "Gots anythin' in mind?"

"Weellll," Dani drawled, grinning. "I found a cozy lil' resort, with a fancified place t'eat, an' a spa. Problem is, it's a lil' on the expensive side."

Lori quirked an eyebrow. "Wanna go in on it together?"

Dani nodded eagerly. "Tha's what I was hopin' you'd be thinkin'. Want me to make the reservations?"

"Yeah..." Lori said musingly. "Been meanin' to talk to ya 'bout finances an' such..."

"Oh?" Dani asked, mimicking Lori's earlier eyebrow quirk.

"When I came on board, an' we were just seein' each other, we kept our money separate an' all... but I'm kinda likin' the idea of mebbe puttin' it all t'gether now, y'know?"

Dani smiled and leaned in for a gentle kiss. " _Zhi'ai_ (most beloved), I don' mind at all if'n ya wanna just keep it all in one big 'ole pile. I already adjusted the paperwork an' stuff."

Lori's forehead creased in confusion. "Paperwork?"

"Well yeah, darlin'," Dani laughed. "Yer my wife, an' my _zhi yin_ (soulmate). What's mine is yers. Already changed my will to reflect it, addin' ya in with all my _nu'ers_ (daughters), an' yer name's on the ship registry too."

"It is?" Lori asked incredulously.

Dani snickered. "Sorry, gorgeous. Thought I didn' need to make it obvious none. But I usually take a smaller pile of the share anyways, an' put most of it into the ship's coffers. She's my baby, an' I wanna make sure she's taken care of, first an' foremost. Well," she amended with a grin, "after you are, 'course."

Lori could feel the tears welling up in her eyes. "I love you, _lian ren_ (sweetheart). Yeah, let's just pool it all together, now, an' you make reservations fer the nicest coupla days, 'cause I wanna spend it with my _jue dai jia ren_ (prettiest girl ever)." She gave her wife a slow kiss, and when they parted she smiled brilliantly. "What didya have in mind fer us, 'sides the fancy eatin' an' the spa. Which, by the by, I'm lovin' that idea already."

Dani gave her a sultry look. "I wanna take you, in a real bed, an' have my way with you. I wanna make you come over an' over an' over again, with my tongue an' fingers an' every milligram of my bein'."

Lori's eyes had grown wider with each sentence. "God, woman, how d'ya keep comin' up with that kinda stuff, soakin' me with just yer words?" she asked breathlessly.

Dani smirked. "I keep a notebook."

"I gotta take a peek at it sometime," Lori grinned. She loved the look that Dani was giving her, a heat in her eyes that promised so very much more for their getaway. She, however, was not in a mood to wait.

She sat up further and twisted herself around so that instead of facing the pilot's seat, she was facing the left wall of the bridge, still sitting on Dani's lap. Her lover squirmed in her seat, sending a flush of heat through Lori.

 

" _Wo de ai_ (my love), what're ya-"

Lori cut her questioning off with a fierce kiss that deepened by the second. She felt Dani wrap her arms around her, pulling her in tight as they tasted each other and regained the connection that she craved every waking moment. Lori's hands wandered over Dani's front, caressing her breasts softly, then more urgently, tweaking her nipples through her tee shirt.

Breaking off the kiss, Dani threw her head back, eyes closed, and murmured in a husky voice, "Oh, _ta ma de_ (fuck me blind), Lori, y'know how that... oohhh..."

Lori elicited a soft moan from her as she leaned down and bit gently on one of Dani's already rock-hard nipples. She knew full well how sensitive her wife's breasts were, in fact, she was specifically counting on that consideration right now.

Dani's moans increased in volume above her as she began to pant and squirm further. Realizing the door to the bridge was still open, Lori spotted a small flaw in her plan, though she was unwilling to break off at this point now that she could feel Dani on the brink of an orgasm. _Don' scream, don' scream, for the love of Buddha don' go screamin' none..._

"Oh, _cao_ (fuck!)" Dani screamed as she came, hard and fast.

As Dani lay in Lori's arms, panting, they heard quick footsteps in the hallway leading up to the bridge. After a second or two, Jess walked in, looking at the pair with concern. "Everything alright? I heard a scream."

Lori started giggling helplessly, burying her head back in Dani's shoulder. Her wife lifted a hand to wave away Jess's concern and answered in a breathless voice. "Fine, we're fine, sorry t'bother ya any..."

"Oh, merciful Buddha, were you guys just...?" Jess snickered and shook her head. "Know what, nevermind. Breakfast is ready when you want some."

Jess stalked back off, still shaking her head. Dani joined Lori in her giggling until the two were red in the face and gasping for air from their laughing fit.

Finally, Dani lowered her head to Lori's and placed a gentle hand against her cheek. "Yer so bad," she murmured.

"An' ya love me fer it," Lori murmured back against her lips, smiling.

Dani didn't feel the need to answer, just kissed her long and tenderly.

* * *

Sihnon. White Sun.

Dani and Lori stood together, holding hands and looking up at the imposing building in front of them. It had a rather large marble edifice with tall columns bracketing the doorway, with intricate golden script across the top proclaiming this to be the White Lily Spa.

"Wow," Lori murmured, impressed.

"Yup," Dani responded just as softly. They turned to each other, grinned, and then marched forward and into the lobby, carrying their bags in their off-hands.

They walked up to the reception desk, taking in the elaborate and luxurious furnishings of the large foyer. There was a fountain in the middle, large enough it would barely fit inside the _Favour_ 's bay. In fact, Lori mused to herself, they could likely fly their ship right inside with some room to spare. _Our ship_. _Our home._ She was still a little stunned that Dani had just added Lori's name to the ownership papers of the _Fortune's Favour_. Every time she thought about it, she got a goofy grin on her face that was usually reserved for Dani alone. _As a gesture of 'er love an' commitment to me, she couldn' do much better'n that._

When they reached the desk the elegantly-dressed receptionist smiled professionally at them. "Good morning, ladies, how may we assist you?"

"Mornin'," Dani replied pleasantly. "We gots reservations under Grant."

"Of course, we've been expecting you, Mrs. Grant. If you would just insert your IdentCard here, I'll get the keys to your room for you." As Dani did so, the woman checked her display. "You and your wife are scheduled for your spa appointment on the second floor in a little over an hour. You are welcome to visit the shops here on this level, or the other facilities in the basement. There's a brochure in your room. If you have any questions, or if there's anything more I can assist with, my name is Hannah and I would be happy to help."

"'Preciate it, Hannah," Dani replied, smiling and accepting the pair of mag card keys.

As they walked towards the elevators, Lori called out over her shoulder, " _Dao xie_ (thank you) Hannah!"

A busboy hurried over to intercept them. "Ladies, can I get your luggage for you?"

"Not a problem, _pengyou_ (friend), we've got 'em," Dani smiled, and slipped him a twenty-credit piece.

As they got into the elevator, Lori murmured to her wife, "Yer pretty gorram smooth there, girl. When didya get so slick?"

Dani blushed slightly. "I talked to Keith an' Jess 'forehand. Got some tips."

Lori snickered and wrapped her arm around Dani, leaning in close and breathing in her fragrance. While her wife eschewed perfume of any sort, Lori always liked how she naturally smelled. It was a combination of gun oil and leather to remind her of her dangerous side, and yet the citrus smell of her shampoo and body wash accentuated her softness that she only let her family and close friends see. _An' she's all mine,_ she grinned to herself joyfully.

They exited onto the eighth floor and walked together in companionable silence until they reached their room. "You ready fer this, _bang jiar_ (lover)?" Dani asked with a smile.

Lori answered with an anticipatory smile of her own. "You betcha."

Dani inserted the card and ushered Lori in first. She didn't get very far, however, as she stopped, open-mouthed, just inside the entrance.

The entire suite was the biggest single bedroom that Lori had ever beheld. It had walls of a cool light green color with mostly-white furniture and plush carpeting. There was a sitting area in front, with a pair of facing loveseats, and a door leading into what appeared to be the bathroom off to the side. And in the back, against the windows which were bordered by gauzy curtains, was a bed the size of the _Fortune_ 's hover Mule.

" _Ta ma de_ (fuck me blind)," she whispered reverently. She whirled around to face her grinning wife. " _Zhen'ai_ (true love), how much did this cost?"

Dani shrugged as she closed the door behind her and tossed her bag onto one of the couches. "A bit. Not gonna tell ya til we get back home, 'cause I don' want ya thinkin' 'bout it none. We're here t'enjoy ourselves, right?"

"Right!" Lori laughed, slinging her own bag onto the other couch.

"Now, get yerself into the bathroom and check it out. I'm right behind ya."

Still laughing softly, Lori slipped her sandals off and padded over the soft plushy carpet towards the bathroom. If she thought the bedroom itself was enough to take her breath away, the sight before her rendered her completely speechless.

Aside from the usual commode (though it was almost a work of art in itself), there was one long counter with two huge sinks against a wall of mirrors. And on the other side, right by the door, was a giant bathtub, already filled with warm water. The gentle water jets were causing the rose petals floating on top to swirl around in aimless patterns, illuminated softly by the dozen or so flickering candles placed around the tub's rim and encased in small glass globes.

" _Wuh duh ma huh tah duh fong kwong duh wai shung_ (Holy Mother of God and All Her Wacky Nephews)," she finally murmured softly.

"You like?" a gentle voice asked from behind. Warm, strong arms encircled her waist, and Lori leaned backwards into the embrace, linking her fingers with Dani's.

"Oh yeah," Lori replied, unable to keep the wide smile off of her face. "I most definitely like."

"Small problem, though," her wife said with a mischievous grin as she turned Lori around in her arms. "Yer not dressed fer the party."

Lori looked down to note that Dani had completely divested herself of clothing. "Well now, _bang jiar_ (lover), why don' you help me with that?"

After a luxurious and rather steamy liaison in the bathtub, the couple dried themselves off and donned the white fluffy robes that had been helpfully left out for them. They headed down towards the second floor in the elevator and entered the spa portion of the resort.

"Oh, wow," Lori said, her eyes glistening. The foyer was lined with vids and pics of massages and various other methods of pampering, including a few she had never even fathomed before, much less heard of.

She turned to her wife suddenly, unable to keep the tears from falling. "Yer so good to me, beautiful," she whispered. "This's more'n I ever coulda dreamed of."

Dani smiled tenderly and kissed away the tears from her cheeks. "Yer more than worth it, _wo de ai_ (my love). An' we gots a lotta stuff to do still." She grabbed Lori's hand and led her over towards the young woman working behind the counter, who was smiling at the lovers.

"Hello ladies," the woman said cheerfully. "Welcome to the White Lily Spa. I'm assuming by your robes that you are guests here. Do you have an appointment?"

Dani nodded and gave her their room number. Within minutes they were whisked inside the compound and showed to their room where a pair of massage tables were set up close together. The two women disrobed and lay down on their stomachs with towels laid across their rears. After only a brief wait a man and woman entered.

Lori looked over her shoulder to see who would be taking care of them. First through the door was the woman, petite but powerful-looking and busty, with tanned skin and long, thick black hair that framed her round, open face.

Next was the man who seemed to be almost a copy of the woman, though his hair was cropped short. He had a muscular torso under his tight white tee shirt and a friendly smile.

"Ladies, my name is Marco," he began in what sounded like a slight accent from Santo. "My sister Michelle and I are very pleased to be serving you today."

Michelle nodded and placed down the towels she was carrying. "And which of you is Danielle, please?"

"That would be me," Dani said as she raised a hand, her voice muffled from the pillow in her face.

"And then you would be Lorraine, yes?" Marco said, moving over to Lori. "Do you have any preferences for your massage?"

Lori grinned to herself. _Dani did this on purpose, got a guy for me an' a girl fer herself. She's such a sweetie._ Her suspicions were confirmed when Dani rolled her head to the side to glance up at the male masseuse. "Marco, I just want ya to take good care of my girl here. Full-body okay with you, love?" she directed the last bit towards Lori.

"Works fer me," Lori giggled, stretching out her hand so she could hold her wife's.

* * *

The Sihnon Gem. White Lily Resort.

After a long and relaxing time spent at the spa, the two women retired back to their bedroom. Lori took full advantage of Dani's languity and dragged her into bed for a brief but passionate lovemaking session. Granted, her wife didn't resist all that much, but they had to hurry a little bit to get ready for their dinner reservation downstairs.

Now they stood together in line in the restaurant lobby of The Sihnon Gem. It seemed to be as opulent as everything else at the resort, boasting several floating chandeliers, live string music, and, if the aroma was any indication, exquisite food.

Looking over at her lover and _zhi yin_ (soulmate), Lori was of the opinion that everything else paled in comparison to her.

Dani was wearing the gorgeous _cheongsam_ -style bright cherry-red dress that she had worn when she surprised Lori on Greenleaf. _Seems like an eternity ago_ , she mused. Still, it had just as striking an effect on her now as it did back then, with its sleeveless body-hugging form falling just to above the knee but cut high up on the side, exposing lots of delicious leg that made Lori wish she could drag her back upstairs again. _Lots of time fer that later_.

She had picked out one of her slinky emerald green dresses that she knew Dani really liked on her. It flared slightly where it fell to her knees and had spaghetti straps. She knew the main reason her wife liked it so much was the exposure of her freckled shoulders and neck, but that didn't bother her in the slightest. In fact, she rather enjoyed the sultry looks she got from Dani because of it.

They chatted together happily about their visit so far, and how much the others in their family would have enjoyed things there (except for Cali, she was not very big on getting touched by strangers). Eventually, they got to the head of the line and Dani gave her name for their reservation. Lori grinned to herself, appreciating the way she sometimes took charge of things in the relationship, but knowing she would just as easily let Lori lead the way if she were so inclined. _We share so much, more'n I ever woulda expected in a relationship._ The smile slipped from her face, however, when the maître d' informed them their table had been given away.

"I don' understand," Dani said quietly but firmly. "We gots reservations, an' we're here on time."

"Actually, your reservations were fifteen minutes ago."

"An' actually, we've been standin' in line fer thirty minutes," Lori growled.

"I am so terribly sorry, but if you could simply wait for just a bit longer, no more than an hour, I assure you..."

Lori opened her mouth and was about to explain to the suited popinjay exactly what she thought of his suggestion, but stopped when a low and cultured voice spoke up from behind.

"Pierre, I'm dining alone tonight, why don't you let these lovely ladies sit with me."

The two women turned to see a refined woman with exotic features standing behind them. She wore a dark blue kimono and had her luxurious black hair piled up on top of her head artfully, with just a touch of eyeshadow to accentuate her pale blue eyes. _Now_ that's _what a Companion looks like,_ Lori thought to herself. _At least, I think so,_ she amended hesitantly.

"Certainly, Miss Elena. Ladies, if you would all follow me?"

As the maître d' headed off, the woman paused next to the other two. "You don't mind, I hope?"

Dani glanced at Lori, who nodded her head with a relieved grin. Turning back to Elena, she gave her a grin of her own. "Not at all, we 'preciate it!"

They sat at a round table towards the back of the busy restaurant. When they were seated, Elena graced them with a smile. "I couldn't help but overhear the two of you in line. I really wanted to get to know you better, if I could."

The two women shared a laugh and reached over to hold hands on top of the table. "Well, we're celebratin' our first anniversary," Dani explained.

"An' figured on doin' it in style," Lori snickered. "Though I'd be just as happy spendin' the whole time in bed, I really 'preciate all of this." She sobered suddenly, looking over at the exotic woman. "Oh, um, I'm sorry, I just kinda made the assumption, that you were, um..."

"It's fine, dear," Elena said with a low laugh. "I am indeed a Companion here at the spa. There are three of us in residence. Trust me, you cannot possibly scandalize me with any discussions about sex."

"Izzat a challenge?" Lori snickered.

Dani almost choked on the sip of water she had taken. "Lori! Behave yerself!" she admonished, though it was spoiled somewhat by the grin threatening to break through her stern facade.

Elena laughed again. "Oh, I can see this was an excellent idea. Now, if you would, please, tell me all about yourselves. I take it you are spacers?"

The three women shared an enjoyable evening over drinks and food that was, as Lori suspected, exquisite. She let Dani take over the conversation as she dug into her steamed salmon imported live from New Melbourne, while Dani took her time with her very fancy but filling salad. Elena had chosen what appeared to be a rather common dish of thin noodles and chicken in a peanut sauce. "It's from an ancient Earth-That-Was recipe, called Pad Thai," she explained.

They spoke to great lengths about their relationship as well, though it was mostly Dani doing the talking again. Lori was perfectly content to watch her as she spoke. The lanky brunette always got a twinkle in her bright green eyes and a soft smile on her face when she talked about the two of them, and watching the range of emotions play across her face, from longing to intense love, always made Lori feel so secure in what they had.

After awhile, Dani glanced back over towards her and stopped quizzically. "You okay, hon?"

Lori just nodded dreamily, intent on the way her mouth moved. "I love you so much," she murmured.

Grinning, Dani leaned over and gave her a gentle and warm kiss. "Love you back, _lian ren_ (sweetheart)."

"It's a rare thing," Elena murmured, "to find a love as sure as yours. It seems you've both had many trials to get to where you are today, but you've both come out the stronger for it." She smiled then and raised her champagne flute. "I do know about these things, you know. And I feel incredibly blessed to have met the two of you."

Both Dani and Lori blushed slightly at her words. " _Dao xie_ (thank you)," Lori murmured. Dani nodded in agreement with a smile.

"And we've gotten a whole lot more adventuresome together as well," Lori continued with a wicked grin. "Who'da thought my lil' beautiful girl here would ever go fer a threesome?"

Now Dani was blushing hard. " _Ai ya, huai le_ (shit on my head), c'n I just hide under the table now?"

Elena laughed merrily. "Oh, you are too precious."

"Izzat somethin' you do at times?" Lori asked curiously, switching attention to give her wife a break. She reached over to squeeze her hand in apology, and Dani squeezed it back affectionately.

"I have at times, yes dear," the Companion replied demurely. "I'm afraid I'm all booked up this evening, though."

"Oh! No, that's not what... I mean..." Lori stammered, flustered. "I weren't askin' ya to, honest!"

"Although," Dani mused. "My sister-in-law has been thinking about doin' such fer my brother. Do ya have anythin' open tomorrow by any chance?"

"Well yes, but I'm afraid it's not as simple as that," Elena chuckled. "Companions choose their clients, and we choose very carefully. I'd need to vet them first."

"Oh, of course! Sorry again," Dani apologized. "I'm a lil' ignorant with this kinda stuff..."

They finished their meal off with a delicate iced dessert that Elena called "sorbey", or something similar that Lori didn't quite catch. Whatever it was, it tasted delicious, both light and refreshing.

The three ladies were loathe to break off their evening, but Elena had to get ready for her evening appointments, and Lori was getting anxious to get back to their room and spend some more quality time with her wife. More specifically, with her naked and willing wife.

On the way out of the restaurant, however, they ran into a pair of familiar faces.

" _Didi! Meimei!_ " Dani exclaimed, striding over to give Keith and Jess hugs. "What are y'all doin' here?"

"It's only the best restaurant in the area, _jiejie_ ," Jess laughed lightly. "I grew up not too far from this town."

Keith nodded and smiled. "We really didn't know you would be here, sorry."

"Oh, no worries," Lori smiled at the other two ground team members. Grinning wider with sudden inspiration, she turned towards Elena to include her in their circle. "Elena, this's Dani's brother an' his wife that we were talkin' 'bout earlier. Retired Sergeant Major Keith Grant an' Jessica Grant. Guys, this's our new friend, Elena. Oh," she turned back, suddenly concerned. "I don' even know yer last name, hon!"

Elena's eyes widened for a fraction of a second as Lori casually threw in the names of the other couple. "It's fine, dear. A pleasure to meet the both of you, I'm Elena Storybrooke."

"Sergeant Major, Mrs. Grant, your table is ready," the stuffy maître d' interjected.

"Nice to meet you, Elena," Jess smiled warmly. "Ladies, see you on the ship tomorrow."

"Will do, darlin', have fun tonight!" Dani called out merrily as they moved away.

As Dani, Lori, and Elena moved out of the restaurant and into the lobby of the resort, Elena turned to Dani. "That was your brother. Keith Grant, the war hero."

"Yep!" Dani grinned.

Elena just shook her head in amusement as she fished into her clutch and withdrew a pair of cards. "Here, dear. One business card for your brother and his wife, and one for the two of you. Thank you both for a highly enjoyable evening." She gave them one last gracious smile and then glided off towards the elevators.

Dani handed one card to Lori and then hoisted the other over her head like a trophy. "Yessss!" she exclaimed. She whirled around to face her wife. " _Deng yi miao_ (hold on a sec)!" she said excitedly. She spun around again and rapidly trotted off back into the restaurant. Lori enjoyed the sight of her rear as she walked away.

"Yer such a lovable dork," she sighed, completely smitten.

Happily, Dani returned only a few moments later. "Alright, they're set!" she snickered. "I slipped it to Jess, an' Keith's none the wiser."

Lori laughed, linking her arm with her tall, dark and beautiful lover. "Yer somethin' else, beautiful."

"Ain't seen nothin' yet," Dani said, giving her a lusty smile that made Lori go a little weak at the knees.

"Bedroom?" Lori whispered hopefully.

"Oh, yeah. Tha's definitely our next stop," Dani answered, tugging her along towards the elevator.

Perhaps fortunately, they did not have the elevator to themselves initially, otherwise, they might have gotten a little out of control right away. As it was, they were barely able to keep their hands off each other.

 

The last of the other guests got off on the fifth floor. As soon as the doors closed, Dani turned towards Lori and mashed her up against the wall, crushing her lips with her own. They drank each other down hungrily, eagerly, and Lori lifted up a leg to wrap around Dani in order to pull her in closer. Dani was more than willing to go along with the idea and grabbed on to Lori's thigh, but then slid her hand further up her skirt and underneath until her nimble fingers slipped inside Lori's panties and found her sweet spot.

Lori flung her head back with a gasp, breaking contact with her lips. "Dani, we're almost to the room!" she squeaked breathlessly.

"Almost ain't fast enough," Dani growled against her neck as she nipped her lightly. That, along with the finger that knew exactly where to stimulate inside of her, was enough to send Lori over the edge, and just as the elevator doors opened she screamed Dani's name in shuddering ecstasy.

Dani helped her out of the elevator and the two of them wobbled on uncertain legs to their room. She fumbled with the mag key while Lori leaned against her, panting. Finally, they got the door opened and quickly moved inside only to start stripping each other's clothes off as rapidly as possible. Their hands roamed possessively over each other, claiming their lover's body and renewing the contact that each desperately craved.

As they collapsed backwards on the first loveseat they could reach, Lori rolled so that Dani ended up underneath her. She broke away from Dani's mouth and leaned up, smiling seductively. Arching her back, she rubbed the length of her body down along her lover's, until she was crouched at her feet. Dani looked at her, the brilliant green orbs that so captivated her from the very first day staring down at her, intensely and a little bit wildly. Lori grinned and ran her hands along both inner thighs of the lanky woman, up and down, finally lifting her knees up and over her shoulders until she could give Dani's clitoris a gentle lick.

Dani shuddered and squirmed above her. Laughing softly at the reaction she was able to get, she wasted no more time in covering her entire sex with her mouth, licking and probing with her tongue and lips. Lori kept her hands on her wife's thighs, squeezing and caressing them, while she did her very best to devour Dani.

She could feel it as Dani started to crest, the muscles of her thighs tightening around her head and the increased tempo of her throaty moans. She moved both hands up Dani's body until they could reach those wonderfully sensitive breasts and gave them a gentle squeeze, rubbing the nipples lovingly.

Finally, Dani stiffened all of her muscles and gave a scream, "Lori, oh _cao_ (fuck), Lori!" Then she collapsed back down on the sofa, completely spent.

Lori crawled back up the couch until she could sit next to Dani and intertwine her legs together with her wife's. They lay like that for awhile, Dani trying to control her breathing and Lori just smiling widely, heartily content.

"You... are beyond wonderful," Dani finally panted out. "I dunno how ya keep doin' stuff like that to me. But I don' ever want ya to stop."

"Never ever," Lori purred. "An' I love the way you touch me, an' hold me. The things ya do to me... I've never experienced it with nobody else." Sitting up, she looked into Dani's eyes intently. "Yer my whole life, _wo de ai_ (my love), an' my _zhi yin_ (soulmate). I'm never gonna stop lovin' you."

Dani reached up and cradled Lori's face in her strong hands. "I love you, Red. Never gonna stop lovin' you, neither."

They sat like that for some time, just grinning at each other like the star-struck fools that they were until Lori gave a grunt of discomfort. "I gotta pee."

Dani laughed merrily as she let her go. "How romantic."

"Someone's gotta be practical," Lori snickered, giving her arm a gentle swat as she got up and headed towards the bathroom.

"Oh, fine, be that way," Dani groused good-naturedly as she got up as well. She waited outside the door while Lori relieved herself, then took advantage of the facilities as well. "Go sit back on the couch, gorgeous. I got somethin' to give ya."

"Thought y'already did that," Lori snickered again on her way back into the room. She bent over and picked up their discarded clothes, placing them neatly on the unused couch while Dani finished up. When Dani walked out of the bathroom, Lori was sitting demurely, though naked still, on the first couch again, her knees crossed and hands folded in front of her. The angelic expression on her face was spoiled slightly by the appreciative eye she gave Dani's nude body as she walked over towards their bags and fished around.

"Are you checkin' me out?" Dani asked mildly without turning around.

"Might be, at that. I c'n 'preciate yer assets just fine. Yer certainly worth checkin' out."

Dani gave a little laugh as she stood, concealing something behind her back. "Well, I'm hopin' you c'n 'preciate what I gots fer ya." She walked over slowly, swaying her hips, until she stood in front of Lori, looking down. Then she moved her hands in front of her to reveal what she was concealing.

It was a rather large and anatomically correct sex toy.

"Is that... fer me?" Lori squeaked, her eyes wide.

"Mmhmm," Dani murmured, smiling wickedly. "An' I plan on usin' on ya. Repeatedly. I wanna take real good care of ya, an' make sure yer thoroughly pleasured."

"You do, _zhi'ai_ (most beloved)," Lori smiled up at her wife. "You always do."

Dani smiled widely back, the dimples that she always insisted didn't exist creasing her cheeks. "Now get yer cute lil' freckled _pigu_ (ass) over on the bed, gorgeous."

"Yes, ma'am!" Lori replied with gleeful anticipation as she obediently jumped up off of the couch and skipped to the back of the bedroom. _I am the luckiest gorram girl in the whole wide 'Verse,_ she thought to herself happily.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The very apt title track was done by Def Leppard, one of my favorite 80's hair bands.
> 
> I had originally planned for a lemon-heavy episode, but I just really wasn't getting in the mood for it. Eventually, I realized that what was really needed was a more romantic tone to celebrate Dani and Lori's anniversary, and maybe explore their relationship a little bit. Partway through I realized that I had unconsciously switched over to Lori's POV, but I just kept it there as it fit with the tone so well. I had a lot of fun writing it finally, and I hope you enjoyed the read. Next episode, the action picks up again, and our mysterious man in the shadows stretches his claws once more... (cue ominous music).
> 
> Thanks again for reading, and please drop a review and tell me what you thought!
> 
> Stay shiny!


	64. Episode 50: Welcome To The Jungle

Londinium. White Sun.

The man adjusted the cuffs of his silk tailored suit, schooling his aristocratic features to keep the irritation from showing. "I believe I've said all that needs to be said on this matter for now. We will reconvene next week." He reached over to tap a key, and the display in front of him, previously displaying another haughty face dressed in a Core-styled-suit, switched to a scrolling screen of stock market reports.

" _Bendan_ (idiot)," he muttered under his breath. He glanced up as a light knock sounded at the office door. "Yes, Jarvis, enter."

His faithful assistant walked in with rapid and sure strides. "The initial reports on Mr. Donaldson have come in, sir. He appears to have thrown his support behind you now, as expected."

"Excellent," the man said genially. "Well done. Anything more on the matter of that transport?"

His subordinate nodded. "We have assembled some more information, sir. And the other item has been set up as well, per your specifications, through one of our rarely-used subholdings." He paused briefly. "Were you concerned about this returning to us?"

The man steepled his fingers in front of him as he reclined in his desk chair. "Indeed. I have not gotten as far as I have by underestimating the abilities of others. I suspect Miss Connely would be able to connect the dots before long if we were to get sloppy. Speaking of which," he said as he sat back up again and tapped some keys in front of him. "I'd like to reassign my daughter. Her abilities are in need again. I want her to start shadowing this crew, get more information on... Oh, now this is interesting..."

Jarvis quirked an eyebrow behind his steel-framed spectacles. "Sir?"

"This new information here. Past acquaintances and family members... The previous mechanic aboard the _Fortune's Favour_ , Michael Wilson, who was the brother of the Captain's deceased wife. He has a daughter in the Alliance Navy." The man looked up from his display, a dangerous grin on his face. "Send a message to my son, have him meet with this young lady. Perhaps we can expand on our profile while we await the results of our latest test."

"Sir," his assistant nodded but hesitated before moving off. "If I may, sir, you are spending an inordinate amount of attention and resources on this common transport crew. Might I ask your reasoning?"

The man sighed lightly. _Anyone else would be terrified of asking such a brazen question, but your years of faithful service have awarded you my confidence._ "For the assimilation of power, of course."

"Sir," his subordinate nodded again and left the room.

"And they are most certainly not common," the man murmured to himself, reviewing the details of the contract he had set up. "Let's see how you and your crew fare on this little exercise, Captain Danielle Grant..."

* * *

Inbound to Liann Jiun. White Sun.

Sara sat cross-legged on her bunk, sketching intently on her pad. Her brow furrowed as she worked on the details of the disembodied hand that stretched out from the left side of the paper. Walking towards the hand, in the middle, was a girl, her face obscured by her hair. She was reaching out for it with a certain sort of longing that was evident in the body language alone, something Sara couldn't have relayed when she first started drawing months ago.

_Gotten a lot better, an' Em thinks so too._

Behind the girl, as she walked forward were a trail of discarded knives, as well as dark footprints left by her bare feet. Sara had managed to convey the fact that they were wet and bloody, even though she only used her pencils.

She sat up and scrutinized her work, then leaned back in to look more closely at the hand. Sure enough, what she had intended to just be a generic hand looked to be more masculine. _Like Justin's hand,_ she thought somewhat forlornly.

She hadn't heard from Justin since she left him on Aberdeen four months ago. _Not a gorram peep._ And yet she couldn't stop thinking about him.

She knew now, for certain, it wasn't just the sex she missed. Hooking up with the young pup Timothy assured her of this. She actually missed Justin himself. He was the first man to really show an interest in her, and it hurt her a little that she was thinking about him more than he was thinking about her. _I should just Wave 'im an' get it over with_ , she sighed to herself.

_An' what if'n he's moved on then, found someone else to sleep with, t'hold 'im every night?_

Sara snorted softly at the little voice of doubt. _I c'n always just shiv the both of 'em, then_ , she thought sarcastically.

Just then she felt the ship shudder as it entered atmo. She gathered up her materials and sketch pad and put them away in her little satchel, which she tucked under her pillow.

Climbing out of her bunk, she could hear an alarm beeping urgently on the bridge. Sara strode on over to see her _Kaasan_ frantically toggling switches on and off while her older sister Rain clenched the controls.

"I ain't seein' anythin' wrong, _Kaasan_!" she heard her younger sister, Cali, pipe over the comm. "There's no alarms goin' off here, and she's behavin' just fine! Tell 'er, Feather!"

Rain's girlfriend came over the comm next. "Sorry Capt'n, there just don' seem to be nothin' wrong on our end!"

Dani sighed and grabbed hold of the mike. "I sure hope yer right, girls, 'cause we're gonna hafta land now, with or without that fault!"

Sara jumped into the nav seat and strapped herself in. "Are we gonna crash?"

Rain snickered over her shoulder. "Not likely, _Kaasan_ 's just bein' a worrier like usual."

"Ain't worryin' fer nothin' if'n there's somethin' wrong or not," Dani muttered.

Sara was still trying to puzzle out the logic of that when the _Favour_ finally settled down on her struts on the night-side surface.

"See?" Rain proclaimed. "Nothin' at all-"

And then all the lights on the bridge went out.

" _Ta ma de yuangu_ (for fucks sake)," Rain sighed.

"Ah-HA!" Dani exulted. "Toldya!"

"Oh fer..." Rain grumbled. "Yer not lettin' me live this one down, arya?"

"Nope," Dani replied smugly as she unstrapped herself from her seat. "I'm gonna go talk to our mechanical geniuses an' see where the actual problem is."

Rain sighed and unstrapped as well. "May as well come with, no reason to sit in the dark none. C'mon, Sara."

The three of them filed down towards the engine room, passing the galley where Kelly and Emily were engaged in a particularly fierce game of Chinese Checkers. "Problems?" Kelly asked as she looked up.

"Might be," Dani said grimly. "Findin' out 'bout that now."

They arrived at the engine room to hear Cali cheerfully recounting her adventures against the Reavers that she had with both Sara and their Uncle Keith. _Likely fer the hundredth time,_ Sara giggled to herself. Feather didn't seem to mind, though; she was enthralled as always by tales of the _Favour_ 's travels as the two sat cross-legged together in the middle of the deck. Cali was wearing her ever-present panda hat, though it would need some washing soon as evident by the grease stains, and her panda-patched dark brown coveralls. Feather was wearing a dirty white tee shirt, grease-stained and grungy, while her high-rise cargo shorts fared little better. Sara did note amusedly that her bare legs were very much in evidence, as she spied Rain giving them an appreciative eye.

"Girls!" Dani barked out. Both Cali and Feather jumped up somewhat guiltily.

"What'd we do?" they asked simultaneously.

Sara could tell Dani was working very hard to maintain her stern look and not grin at the two mechanics. "There a particular reason why there's no lights on my bridge?"

"Oh! I know!" Cali said excitedly. "Could be a short in the mains comin' through under the bunks!"

"Hey, that could explain the alarms!" Feather interjected.

"Right, if'n it was a slow wear..."

"...Then it'd be an intermittent short, an' the bridge alarm would pick up on it..."

"...An' then it'd set off the fault alarm, thinkin' that's what it was!"

At that both girls turned to Dani, grinning widely at their deduction. Sara had to hide her smile behind her hand, while Rain actually turned her back as she could no longer contain her snickers.

Dani spared her two older daughters a withering glare before turning back to the pair of oddly-matched mechanics. "And c'n ya fix it?"

"You betcha _Kaasan_!"

"No worries, we'll get right on it Capt'n!"

"Yep, no need ta fret, everythin's gonna be shiny in no time!"

"'Specially if'n Rain helps us out, she's _jingcai_ (brilliant) with th'lectircal stuff!" Feather gave her girlfriend a wink.

The duo started scrambling around for tools, arguing over who got to wear the toolbelt this time and who had to carry the tool bag.

Dani sighed and started to walk back towards the galley, shaking her head. "I think I've made a terrible mistake puttin' the two o' them together."

"I dunno, _Kaasan_ ," Sara snickered. "If'n ya c'n figure out a way ta power a ship on th'optimism an' cheerfulness alone, we'd save a fortune on fuel."

"Just so long as I don' hafta go crawlin' 'round in the 'lectrical ducts no more," Rain groused. "Had enuff of that the last time."

"Well," Dani remarked thoughtfully. "I'm sure you could think of some way to bribe Feather inta doin' the crawlin'." She gave her daughter a wicked smile. "I'll let ya decide on the nature of yer bribery. User yer 'magination, mebbe."

Both she and Sara shared a giggle at the blush that spread across Rain's face. Her pilot didn't answer, just turned and stalked back towards the engine room again with a scowl on her face.

"Love you, _baobei_ (treasured one)!"

" _Wen wo de pigu_ (kiss my ass), _Kaasan_!"

Sara and Dani continued forward, still snickering, to see Keith standing in the middle of the very dark bridge. The night sky of the Liann Jiun docks did little to illuminate the interior.

"Aren't we supposed to have lights on in here?" Keith snarked.

"They're workin' on it," Dani replied nonchalantly. "Hey, need to talk to ya 'fore we go."

Keith sat in the pilot's seat with a grunt. "I'm listening."

Dani sat down in her own chair, while Sara perched curiously back in the nav seat again.

"I wanna make Kelly th'official Second Officer. Make 'er in charge-like while we're on ops."

Keith stared at the deck for a few seconds without answering. "Is that your order as Captain, or a request as my sister?"

"Gorramit, _didi_ , she ain't a danger to us no more," Dani argued heatedly. "She c'n keep 'em safe. Keep our ship safe, til we return."

"Like she did on Jubilee?"

Dani glared at him for a beat. "You sayin' none of us can screw up?"

Keith sighed heavily. "No. I'm not saying that. I'm just... finding a hard time trusting her again, _jiejie_."

"I know, _didi_ ," Dani replied softly. "But we gotta give 'er the chance. I'm willin' to stake the lives of my family on 'er, an' the welfare of my ship. C'n ya give it a try?"

Keith sat still for another minute, then nodded.

"Alright, I'll talk to 'er 'fore we leave," Dani smiled gratefully. She got back up and headed towards the galley again.

"Fer what it's worth, _jiujiu_ (uncle, mother's brother)," Sara said quietly as she got up as well. "Rain trusts 'er, an' ya know what she c'n do, right? Ain't she the one who caught onta her first, when she was still an Agent?"

"No, you're right _wai sheng nu_ (niece, sister's daughter)," Keith sighed as he stood up and stretched his arms over his head. "I've just got too many bad experiences on giving some people second chances. Came back to bite me."

"Don' think that's gonna be the case this time 'round," Sara smiled. "Let's get movin', yeah?"

"Right," Keith replied as the two of them headed towards the cargo bay. "We've got a client to meet."

As they walked out, they passed Rain and Feather arguing in the hallway.

"Look, I just don' like crawlin' through the ducts none!" Rain was complaining quietly. "Even if'n I know the 'lectric systems better, it's dark an' creepy down there!"

"Aww," Feather sang in a teasing little-girl voice. "Is my widdle cuddle-bumpkins scared of the dark?" She dropped her voice down to a seductive purr. "C'n I come hold yer hand fer ya, my lil' stormy-cloud? Keep ya nice an' safe?"

Sara snorted softly to herself as she halted around the corner, still within earshot, letting Keith walk on down the stairs by himself. _Never thought I'd see the day where Rain would let a person get away with that kinda stuff._

There was a beat of silence, and then she heard Rain reply quietly. "Ain't funny none. An' if'n ya keep callin' me names I'm gonna start callin' ya Feather-bear."

"Oooh, I like that one! C'n ya call me that? C'n ya?"

Rain sighed deeply but with great amusement. "There're times, _lian ren_ (sweetheart), when ya just get my brainpan all shook up an' turned around." She continued in a slightly louder voice. "Almost as irritatin' as yer lurkin', Sara!"

Sara gave a guilty jump and scurried down the hallway, giggling. _'Nother way I know she's inta her somethin' fierce - no way in_ diyu _she'd not notice me 'fore then if'n she weren't so distracted-like!_ She sighed happily to herself. _Now, if'n they'd just do the_ _deed an' get it over with, all that tension would go away..._

* * *

Liann Jiun. White Sun.

Their current job had been transmitted anonymously via a job board. The payout seemed to be nice, but not suspiciously so, and the terms would be settled upon meeting with their client.

Even so, the experienced _Favour_ 's ground team were wary of a setup of some sort, perhaps a secluded and abandoned warehouse like one of the times they were met by a Blue Sun Agent.

They were unprepared for the location that the address led them to, however.

"Really? This's the place?" Dani asked skeptically.

"Seems to be," Keith answered cautiously.

The building was atypical of most bars they had been to. It had a rough stone facade, and was mostly featureless, not even a blacked-over window, except for the front door and the sign. The former was a heavy wooden affair, metal-shod and studded with unnecessary bolts, while the latter read "The Dungeon" in stark red glowing words.

"Alrighty then," Dani sighed resolutely and strode over towards the large muscular bouncer who was guarding the door.

The man held his hand up as the five approached. "Invitations, please."

"Um." Dani looked around uncertainly at the others, but they all shrugged back. "We don' gots any."

"Then I can't let you enter."

Dani snorted. "Seriously?"

"If you're not on the list, I can't let you in," the bouncer replied unemotionally. "That's final."

Keith sighed. "Alright, fine. I understand."

The team stepped back from the entrance to regroup. Dani leaned in and whispered. "Arya thinkin' what I'm thinkin', _didi_?"

Keith nodded. "Yes, unfortunately." Keith turned around and started to talk into his comm. "Home, I need the contact info for the client-"

He cut himself off as he saw out of the corner of his eye Dani whirl around and deliver a high kick to the bouncer's forehead, spinning him into the wall to collapse to the ground, out cold.

" _Shenme ta ma de_ (what the fuck), Dani?"

Dani smirked as she dragged the bouncer out of the doorway. "We agreed on this!"

The rest of the crew collapsed against each other in helpless laughter.

Keith sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Never mind, Home." Looking over at Dani, he gave her a mock glare. "You are so lucky we share the same mother."

"Aww, you know ya love me," Dani smirked. "Let's go on in."

They entered the dimly-lit foyer where they paid the entrance fees, a rather exorbitant amount for a bar, but were not asked to check in their firearms. As they stepped into the bar itself, they noticed that it was more of a club instead of just a bar, with heavy techno-funk music piped in overhead and several bodies writhing on the dance floor.

The five crew members paused to let their eyes adjust. They slowly came to realize the true nature of the locale they had entered.

It was a fetish club.

They took in the garb of the other patrons, ranging from leather harnesses to vinyl bodysuits and everything in between. Some elected to forego clothing altogether, others were led about by dog collars and leashes.

And along the sides of the club on raised stages were several performances, if it could be called that. Actually, they were basically blatant sex acts that any audience member could participate in.

"This is so _niubi_ (fucking awesome)," Sara giggled. "Best client meetup ever!"

"I don'... I just don'..." Dani stammered, her eyes wide and unbelieving. " _Shenme ta ma de_ (what the fuck) is this _shen jing bing_ (insanity)?"

Lori tucked her arm into Dani's and looked about with a curious smile on her face. "Lighten up, _bang jiar_ (lover), mebbe we'll pick somethin' up here."

Keith snorted in amusement. "Like a disease or two. Alright, try to ignore the... copulating. Our contact will have a red scarf."

"Did it mention where he would be wearing the red scarf?" Jess giggled.

They moved through the bouncing and writhing clientele, Dani trying very hard to keep her eyes on the ground, Lori looking around in an intrigued fashion, and Sara just grinning in high amusement at the whole spectacle. Keith and Jess were the only ones who managed to remain focused on their task, searching out their client.

"What are those folks doin'?" Lori asked curiously as they passed by one of the sideshows.

"Not rightly sure, an' I don' wanna know," Dani said, determinedly not looking in that direction.

Lori stopped, fixated on the sight on the side stage. "But that thing they're usin', it looks kinda like-"

"Lori, I swear t'Buddha, I don' wanna know none!" Dani said loudly.

"Okay, _wo de ai_ , but I'm pretty sure we've used somthin' like that, just not in that way."

"Wait, what?" Dani sputtered, finally looking at the stage. "Oh. Yeah, it kinda does, don' it? But here's no way in _diyu_ (hell) I'm lettin' ya do that t'me."

"Y'all have one of _those_?" Sara exclaimed, laughing.

Dani blushed, having momentarily forgotten that her daughter was along. "Never you mind none. Keep movin'."

Sara snickered and sidled up to Lori. "Ya think I could borrow that sometime?"

Lori grinned at her friend. "Right after I convince her ta use it on me like that."

"Yeah, jus' make sure ya wash it afterwards, huh?" Sara said with a snort.

"Still right here, people!" Dani said over her shoulder irritably.

Keith and Jess were walking arm in arm, not even bothering to hide their laughter. "We call dibs after Sara, alright _jiejie_?" Jess said humorously.

" _Tai-kong suo-yo duh shing-chiou sai-jin wuh duh pee-goo_ (shove all the planets in the universe up my ass)," Dani sputtered indignantly.

Keith paused suddenly as he almost bumped into a leather-clad male patron who wore a mask over his face. It covered his features save for his eyes, and had zippers all over it. The two stared at each other for a beat and then passed on by.

"Hey, hon, you looked like you recognized him," Jess said curiously.

Keith nodded and smirked over towards his wife. "That was General Martin Brice, decorated Alliance Officer. Dealt with him plenty of times in my career, carried out lots of ops under his command." He let out a chuckle. "First time I'd ever seen him like that, though."

"Hey, whatever makes him happy..." Jess laughed.

Keith turned back to where the other three women were arguing about the custody of a certain sex toy and whistled to get their attention. "Remember why we're here, ladies? Client meet?"

Dani, Lori, and Sara shared an abashed look. "Sorry, One," Dani muttered. She stopped in place then, her head cocked to the side as the music changed. "Hang on, I know this one..."

"You do?" Lori asked, her eyebrow quirked.

"Yep!" Dani smirked, and started singing the rapid-beat tune, off-key and at the top of her lungs.

_I am the Lecher Bitch and I wear the X of castigation  
_ _I am the whore of the extreme  
_ _I am the heretic and I crave your excommunication  
_ _Look in my eyes  
_ _Get a little star struck and a little insane_

" _Ta ma de yuangu_ (for fucks sake)," Keith rumbled, grinning widely.

Lori and Sara clung to each other, tears streaming down their faces from laughter at the relish with which Dani was bouncing around on her toes and singing along to the music belting out over the audio system.

_I said HEY! You're coming all the way  
_ _I've got some hell to pay  
_ _I'm diggin' all the way  
_ _All the way down_

Keith shook his head and laughed as they moved further through the leather-clad crowd. "Swear to _Ji du_ (Christ), just when I think I've gotten a handle on you..."

Jess's head swiveled as she continued to search, and then halted at a corner table. "There, our three-o'clock. Spandex costume, he's got a red scarf on and is sitting alone."

The five crew members headed towards the table and Jess and Keith took the two seats available. The other three kept watch at their backs.

The man they were meeting had a bland, nondescript face, but a somewhat pleasant smile. "Are you the crew of the _Fortune's Favour_?"

Jess nodded. "We are. Do you have the job details for us?"

The man nodded back and handed over a datastick. "The objective and payment info. Good day." And with that he got back up and headed into the crowd, the red scarf left on the table.

"That was pretty gorram weird," Lori muttered.

As they headed back out, Dani was shaking her head. "An' he didn' even make no mention at all 'bout the strange meetin' place he chose?"

"Yep, it's weird alright," Sara replied both to Dani and Lori. "Oh, hey, they gots a new toy over there now! D'ya have one of those?"

They all stopped in their tracks, staring curiously. "I don' think that's supposed to be used like that," Lori said cautiously.

"Hon, I don' even think tha's a sex toy," Dani replied, her eyebrows furrowed.

The five crew members winced in unison as one of the participants let out a painful shout.

"Right, tha's our cue t'head on out," Dani said, grabbing both Lori and Sara by the arms and rapidly dragging them towards the door.

They got halfway there before they were stopped by a skinny man, somewhat older, wearing what seemed to be a three-piece suit made of leather. Instead of a tie, however, he wore a dog collar.

"Are you old enough to be in here?" he asked Sara.

"Yep, just turned twenty," she replied cheerfully, even though Dani was trying to steer them around the leather-clad man.

The gentleman obstructing their passage stared at the diminutive girl with wide eyes. "You're twenty, and look like that?" Before Sara could start bristling with anger, he continued. "Do you know how many credits you could make here?"

Sara's scowl turned into a look of confusion. "Wait, what? How would I make credits?"

"There are quite a few fetishists who prefer much younger women. _Much_ younger," he emphasized. "And they'd pay quite a bit of good coin to be with you, legally. The usual ladies barely look underage here."

"Ew. No," Dani said determinedly, and let go of Lori to allow herself the leverage of both hands to get Sara moving towards the door.

"How much credits are we talkin' 'bout?" Sara called out curiously.

"Sara!" her _Kaasan_ admonished incredulously.

"What? I'm just askin'! Ain't hurtin' to ask none, izzit?"

"You change your mind, _ni zi_ (little girl)," the man called out to Sara, "you come back and ask for me, my name's Arnold."

"Okay, _dao xie_ (thank you) Mr. Arnold!" Sara yelled over her shoulder as Dani pushed her out the door. Lori, Keith, and Jess didn't waste any time in following them out, chuckling heartedly. The group stepped over the still-prone form of the bouncer and headed back towards the ship.

"You ain't seriously considerin'... Arya?" Dani asked, concern written across her face.

"Prob'ly not, I c'n likely make more credits on ops. But would ya really stop me from doin' it if'n I wanted to?"

" _Baobei_ (treasured one)..." Dani sighed. "No, I wouldn'. I know yer an adult, an' c'n do what ya will... I just don' understand it none. I'd accept it, but I just don' understand it none."

Sara smirked. "Well, then, mebbe I'll keep it in mind if'n I'm ever low on coin." She skipped ahead a few steps as Lori moved up to link her arm with her wife's.

"I don' know where I went wrong, _lian ren_ (sweetheart)," Dani lamented quietly. "I tried to raise 'er right..."

Lori snickered. " _Wo de ai_ (my love), ya realize you've only had 'er fer, what, two years now?"

"Really?" Dani asked wonderingly. "Huh. S'pose so. It's just... it feels like she's always been my _nu'er_ (daughter), y'know?"

Sara must have overheard the conversation, as she spun back around and hurled herself into Dani's arms, hugging her tightly. "I love you, _Kaasan_."

Dani laughed and returned the hug warmly. "Love you too, _baobei_ (treasured one)."

Sniffing, Sara let go and skipped back to the forefront of their procession. "Don' go fergettin' none, I still get ta use the thingie we saw once yer done with it!"

"An' then she gots to go an' spoil it," Dani muttered good-naturedly, to the laughter of the others.

* * *

Warehouse district. Liann Jiun.

They had returned to the ship to go over the job details on the datastick. It seemed to be fairly straightforward, insert into a warehouse before a certain party shows up and provide backup for the client to meet with them. There would be a vantage point for Lori to set up, and they'd have plenty of time to scope out the interior before anyone showed up.

Within an hour, and after verifying that the electrical short on the bridge had been taken care of, they were at the job site, all with their full load-outs. The building was a mammoth structure, actually several warehouses joined together covering a couple of blocks, and about six stories high.

Lori whistled softly. "Big sucker, ain't it?"

"Well, we only need to cover the one section," Keith commented as they headed towards the single entry door. "Let's keep on our toes, though."

With that, the five shifted smoothly into their usual formation, Sara gliding ahead to look for trouble, Keith and Dani next, and then Jess and Lori bringing up the rear. The latter four all unslung their long arms, and Dani pumped the manual release to chamber a new shell in her automatic shotgun.

Sara reached the door, listened for a second, tested the handle, and then nodded. Keith and Dani stood to one side, while Lori and Jess stood back to cover them. As Sara opened the unlocked door the first two slipped inside, Keith to the right and Dani to the left. The other three held position until Keith's call of "Clear" was heard.

They entered into a darkened room, illuminated only by the streetlights behind them. It seemed abandoned, with only another door at the opposite end. As all five entered in, Sara started forward along the right edge of the room, slipping her shivs into her hands. "One, somethin' ain't feelin' right..." she whispered.

As she spoke the words, the door slammed shut behind them and large bolts flew from the door frame to seal the portal tightly. Bright lights came on overhead as the team faced outwards, scanning for targets.

"Whelp, go figure. 'Nother setup," Dani sighed.

"Why ain't we gettin' better at sniffin' these out?" Lori complained quietly.

"I knew it, knew something' didn' feel right none," Sara muttered darkly, as she paced the perimeter of the room. She paused at the other door, testing the handle. "Locked," she reported. "An' nothin' to pick on this side."

"Any ideas, One?" Dani asked tersely.

Keith shook his head slightly. "Still working on that."

At that point, there was a crackle of static, and a voice came from a hidden speaker somewhere overhead. "Welcome, entrants, to the Jungle Run! Please remain calm, for now, as I explain the rules and objectives."

"Wait, what?" Dani sputtered. "Are we in some kinda game?"

The voice continued. "You have been recruited for entry into an exclusive competition. In order to win, your team must survive numerous stretches of obstacles, some of the terrain indoors and some outdoors, so to speak. You will be opposed by several bioengineered creatures as well as some convicts who are fighting for their freedom. So long as one of your team survives to the finish of the course, you will receive the prize money. Teamwork is highly recommended."

" _Shenme ta ma de_ (what the fuck)..." Jess trailed off wonderingly.

"You will be timed, but will not receive penalties for slow performance. Instead, bonuses will be given to you and your patron for completion quicker than the average time. Non-cooperation is not an option, as you would simply be gassed and disposed of."

Keith scowled. "And what's this about a patron?"

Dani looked at her brother incredulously. " _That's_ what's buggin' you the most here?"

"Good luck, entrants," the voice finished, and with a pop of released pressure the door in front of them opened slightly to let in the dank smells and insect buzzes of a jungle.

"How much ya wanna bet this thing takes up the entire buildin', like fer the whole two blocks?" Sara muttered, peeking around the corner of the door.

"Think we could just blow our way out? Jess asked hopefully.

Keith strode over to the outer wall and examined it. "No, looks reinforced," he said, shaking his head in disgust. "We'd need heavier ordnance than we have on us."

"Well, I trust yer judgment on that, _didi_ ," Dani sighed. "Whadda we do, then, play along with this sick Core-boy's game?"

"Don't see any other alternative. Anyone else?" Keith looked around and was greeted by slow head shakes in the negative. "Right, then. Standard formation, don't be shy with the grenades, Three, so long as it's an open area. Stick close together, you too Four, and we can handle anything they throw at us." He glanced around one more time, his gaze full of confidence in himself and his team. "Ready?"

He was met by a chorus of "Ready," and the five of them headed out into the indoor jungle, weapons out and covering all fields of fire.

As they glided along, Keith kept up a running commentary, whispering into the comm to try and pass along what he could to help keep the others alive. "Watch where you step, if they're trying for authenticity then we may come across deadfalls, pit traps, or just plain old quicksand. Don't step into a bush if you can help it, might disturb a nest or maybe a small but deadly animal. Look up when you can as well, some predators like to drop down."

"If'n yer tryin' fer reassurance, One," Dani muttered, wiping the sweat from out of her eyes with her offhand, "yer failin', I'm gettin' more freaked out as we go."

Keith chuckled lightly. "Just stay frosty."

"In this heat an' humidity?" Lori complained.

Jess snorted as she pointed her gun up, scanning the jungle roof. "This is murder on my hair."

Sara pulled to a halt, her hand raised. The others followed suit quickly, rapidly scanning all around.

"Four?" Keith asked succinctly.

"Somethin's comin'," Sara whispered back. "Somethin'... big, I think. Thataway," she finished grimly, pointing off to the right.

Using hand motions, Keith spread the others out in a semicircle as Sara crept backwards until she was in the center of their ring. They could all hear the snuffling grunts and cracking branches by this point as some creature head towards them, not trying for stealth in the least.

And then the monster broke through and snarled upon seeing its prey.

It looked like some sort of giant cat, the size of a bear, though it was bristling with black quills that reddened and shook angrily upon seeing them. As it crouched, they could see massive muscles bunched at its hind quarters, though most of them were primarily concerned with the razor-sharp teeth prominent in its snarling mouth.

" _Ta ma de_ (fuck me blind)," Keith snarled. "It's a rutting Hell Hound."

"A what now?" Dani squeaked, her shotgun trained on the creature's face.

Keith didn't answer, just sighted down his rifle. "Shoot for eyes or belly only," he barked before the animal leaped at him.

Though the leaping creature exposed his stomach in the attack, Keith knew that to take the shot would mean letting it rake its claws across him, and his survival instincts were too strong to allow for that. Instead, he tucked his body into a roll and slid to the side.

The boom of Dani's shotgun echoed through the clearing, but her shot missed the face, as the creature moved much faster than its large frame would suggest. Instead, the pellets bounced off of the Hell Hound's skull harmlessly. The rifle shots from Lori and Jess fared little better, ricocheting off of its hide but fortunately not hitting any of the team.

As the beast landed it whirled around to close its jaws around the fallen Keith, but he was prepared for the maneuver. He had bunched his legs up and kicked outward, taking the Hell Hound by surprise. It rolled off and onto its back, exposing its belly, and Sara wasted little time in taking advantage of the predator's weakness. She lunged, sliding across the creature's middle, avoiding the thrashing claws, and leaving a pair of deep slashes behind her.

The beast quickly regained its feet, but staggered slightly, shaking its head and leaking entrails below. It let out a snarl that trailed off to a whine as it slumped to the ground, panting, before its eyes closed and it ceased to breathe.

Keith regained his feet and looked around at the others, checking for injuries. Finding none, other than shock at surviving the ferocious attack, he grinned and threw his head up to let out an exultant shout. "It that the best you've got?"

He was answered in the form of rustling in the jungle from all around them. More creatures poked their snouts out, perhaps drawn by the commotion or sensing blood.

"You had to ask," Jess muttered, as the group pulled back together into a circle facing outwards to fight back-to-back.

The new creatures were much smaller than the Hell Hound and seemed to be operating in a pack. They were the size of large dogs but much leaner with striped fur, extended snouts, and long matted fur along their back. Several of them growled and snapped at the air, exposing pointed canines that would likely latch on powerfully if allowed to do so. Their body ended in a long, whip-like tail.

"One, are these bullet-proof as well?" Jess queried.

"No, I think they're called Jackals. Should be soft targets, dangerous in numbers." He looked around at the gathering creatures. "Which we seem to have plenty of."

" _Niubi_ (fucking awesome)," Jess grinned darkly in reply. "Let's do something about that."

The lean Asian-featured girl selected a switch on the end of her rifle, pointed it at the largest concentration of Jackals, and let a grenade fly. It detonated with a muffled _whump_ of noise, startling the other animals and sending pieces of them soaring out from the blast radius.

With that, the others began opening fire as well. Keith sent a grenade of his own shooting out before switching over to rapid automatic fire, as did Jess. Lori, her rifle configured in sniper mode, sent highly-accurate three-shot bursts to bring down individual creatures. Dani was dropping a Jackal with each blast from her shotgun until it ran dry when she dropped it at her feet and drew her trusty Ares sidearm to continue the assault. Sara slid her right shiv back into her sleeve and drew her customized Nova pistol to join in with the slaughter, keeping her left-hand shiv ready for use if needed.

Before long they ceased fire as all the creatures were either dead or run off. They checked each other quickly, but not a single beast had managed to close within striking range.

"Alright, let's keep moving along the path," Keith ordered quietly. They set off again warily, Dani taking the opportunity to reload her automatic shotgun.

"So, _didi_ ," she began casually as they walked. "How 'xactly is it yer all knowledgeable-like 'bout these critters?"

"You really need to ask that?" Keith retorted in his quiet baritone.

Dani snorted in humor. "No, s'pose not. Anything else we might 'xpect?"

"Might be," Keith replied thoughtfully. "There are a few other bioengineered creatures to look out for, some can only tolerate the dark, so we should be okay there. Oh, and let's avoid any pools of mud we come across."

"Like that one?" Sara piped up as they rounded a bend in the path.

"Yes, definitely," Keith muttered, eyeing the large mud pool cautiously. "Let's go off the path a little bit and move around."

Dani eyed the pool doubtfully, but then she noticed several bones lying about next to the path. Any further thoughts of arguing the case went out of her head when she saw the surface of the pool ripple slightly. _I don' wanna know, I really, really don' wanna know none._

They managed to skirt the pool without incident and rejoined the path several meters down. Before long they came to a large wall with a single door. Once they reached it, they could see beyond the jungle canopy to notice there was indeed a roof over their heads, just high above and with skylights to allow for illumination.

"Okay then," Lori sighed. "Guess that's the outdoor phase, huh?"

Sara tried the door, which was unlocked, and the team repeated their entrance maneuver from the first door to the warehouse. They entered another room very similar to the first. And again, as they entered, the door closed behind them and bolted shut. The expected overhead speaker crackled to life.

"Congratulations, entrants. You have done very well so far. The rating for our live broadcast has surpassed any other contestants to date."

"Yay, we're famous," Dani joked weakly as she slumped to the floor against the right wall. Lori followed her down and they leaned their heads wearily against each other, the stress and exhaustion from the heat finally catching up to them.

"You have gained a short break with the speed at which you attained the previous stage. Please take advantage of the next fifteen minutes to replenish yourselves. There are refreshments in the small cooler by the door."

Sara walked over to the nondescript box bolted to the floor across from them and peeked inside. "Ooh, Blue Sun Fruity Soda! They gots grape, my favorite!"

"Ugh, too sweet," Jess sighed as she walked over to join Sara. "Hey, they've got some bottled water as well. And other soda flavors, looks like orange and berry." She glanced over her shoulder. "Requests?"

Keith gave a small laugh. "I'll take a water, hon, but don't worry about the others for now." He indicated the couple on the floor who were still leaning against each other, eyes closed and snoring softly. Even in sleep, however, they clasped each other's hand tightly.

* * *

Londinium. White Sun.

"I'm very impressed by their cohesiveness," the man in the tailored suit said thoughtfully. He was standing in front of his wall of screens, hands clasped behind his back. On one screen was a replay of the ground team's fight against the Hell Hound, looping continuously, while the other was a private feed into the room they were currently resting in. On a third was the official broadcast, only available by invite to a very select group of very wealthy individuals, including past and current sponsors of teams. It was currently running a series of advertisements regarding future broadcasts, and details on the betting going on.

"I liked the Black Ops team from last season better," replied a soft but somewhat bored voice.

The man chuckled and glanced over his shoulder at the young woman lounging against the opposite wall. Her appearance, both of youth and relaxation, was deceiving, as he well knew.

"Is that your personal opinion, or that of a Parliamentary Operative?" he asked in rare humor.

The woman, dressed in a simple unadorned blue jumpsuit, shrugged slightly. "Take your pick," she replied carelessly as she brushed her bangs out of her face. Her short bob of black hair matched her black eyes perfectly, framing her heart-shaped face like a doll. _Also very deceiving._

"Well, I'm surprised at their success so far," he said with a smile, also a rarity that he reserved usually only for people he was close to. Turning back to the screens, he looked at the countdown timer in the bottom corner of the main broadcast. "Ah, they should be finishing up now and moving on to the next stage. I wonder if they'll handle human opponents as well as they did the creatures?"

The woman snorted softly as she walked over with lithe steps to sit in one of the plush chairs in front of his desk. "Those scum? They're pretty well animalistic in their own right."

"True enough," he replied casually as he settled into the next chair alongside her. "Though their use of weaponry is a bit of a factor."

Sighing, the woman stretched her legs out in front of her and slouched insolently, which amused the man as he knew it was all an act. And she knew that he knew, but it amused the both of them to ignore their respective knowledge. "Wish I'd brought a snack," she muttered.

He smiled indulgently and pressed a key on the console built into the arm of his lounge chair. "Jarvis, my daughter would like a snack. Would you attend to her, please?"

* * *

Jungle Run factory level, first floor. Liann Jiun.

The team had set out again when the next door had opened and it was announced that their rest time was over. All were greatly refreshed and so far uninjured. They kept in their formation, Sara ranging slightly ahead of them this time as they moved through the wide, winding corridors of the labyrinthine structure.

The passageways were alternately stone and rickety wood as if they were moving in between different structures somehow joined together. They passed several empty chambers, checking each one carefully for ambushes, but for the first twenty meters or so encountered not a single soul.

When they did bump into the first group of convicts and murderers, they were each rounding a corner and were momentarily frozen in surprise.

Fortunately, Sara, being on point, reacted first and went tumbling low into their midst. She swung her arms out wide, spinning in a circle, until all five of the enemy were on the ground, howling in pain. She quickly and efficiently ended their screams with downward thrusts of her shivs.

"Well, _ta ma de_ (fuck me blind)," Lori giggled as they headed forward once again. "You better leave some fer us next time, Four, or we're gonna get bored back here."

Sara snickered back, not looking away from where she was scanning in front of them. "I'll try ta 'member that, Five."

Their good humor ended in the next chamber, bordered by rickety wooden walls and an even more uncertain floor. Several convicts poured out from in front of them, as well as a few from the side passageway to their right.

"Move left!" Keith ordered tersely, and they started shifting that way, firing quickly at the incoming enemy before they could be targeted themselves. Several shots pinged off of their bodyarmor, but fortunately, nothing hit any exposed body part.

And then what looked to be an hastily-concocted explosive charge went sailing towards them to land near Dani.

" _Wang ba_ (son of a bitch)!" she cursed loudly as she bent to pick it up and throw it back at the originator.

Unfortunately, being an improvisational device, the timer wasn't set as it would be on a normal grenade. Though Dani thought she had time to reach it, it went off just as she was bending over.

The brilliant flash of the concussive charge shook the room and stunned all within, ground team and foe alike. Dani took the brunt of the explosion and was lifted off her feet to slam backwards into the wall. It proved to be strong enough to hold her, but the floor where the charge went off did not. As she hit the ground, the floorboards cracked and she went falling bonelessly into the depths of the building.

" _Cao_ (fuck)!" Sara screamed, recovering first and quickly dropping down the hole after Dani.

The others quickly shook off the lingering effects of the explosion and finished off the other assailants. Lori was first over to peer down into the dark hole. "Dani!" she screamed. "Dani! Answer me, gorramit!"

Keith moved back, eyes roving around for more opponents. "Four, do you have eyes on Two?"

There was no answer for a few seconds, while Lori screamed Dani's name again, tears starting to flow down her cheeks.

They all breathed a collective sigh of relief when Sara's voice came back. "Sorry 'bout that, guys, lost my comm in the fall. Looks like Two went down through a second floor, an' is in the basement. I c'n see 'er, but I stopped at the next floor down. I need ta drop down another floor, but it looks like hard concrete. Mebbe there's a stair nearby..."

"Stay there, Four, keep an eye on her," Keith ordered, then looked around intently. "Haven't seen any stairs yet, but we could try dropping down carefully to join them."

"But what if'n there ain't no other stairs?" Lori asked fearfully. "What if'n she's hurt, an' we can't get 'er out none?"

Jess sighed in frustration. "No rope in our kit. I'll make a note to add it in next time. Right now, maybe we can improvise-"

She was cut off, and the decision saved for them, by the howling sounds of a great many convicts as they pounded towards them from the passageway off to the right. The three team members quickly brought their guns up and started to break up the charge with their gunfire, but Keith could quickly tell they were in danger of being overwhelmed.

"Four, position untenable, we're heading off!" he barked into the comm as they started moving backwards down the other corridor. "Stay put!"

* * *

Jungle Run factory level, basement. Liann Jiun.

" _Shi a_ (yes, affirmative), One," Sara replied agitatedly as she paced by the dark hole with her shivs out. She could just barely make out the unmoving form of her _Kaasan_  and the stillness terrified her. _I should drop down there, she could be hurt, or in danger... but Uncle Keith told me ta stay put, an' I can't go disobeying him none, I'm part'va team now..._

She growled softly to herself, the indecision making her more irritable by the minute. It was almost a relief to hear the sinister chuckle coming from the darkness around her.

" _Ni zi_ (little girl) shouldn'ta be out alone," said a creepy voice.

Sara rolled her eyes and suppressed a giggle, hiding her shivs behind her back coyly. "Oh, no, I'm all alone an' defenseless, whatever shall I do," she said in a high-pitched voice. Unable to contain her laughter as three menacing forms drew closer, each holding long knives, she withdrew her shivs and chuckled evilly. "C'mon, _biao zis_ (bitches). Come git some," she practically purred in her normal voice.

The three lunged simultaneously, which she easily dodged. She spun to the side, leaving a wet trail of blood arcing from one convict's neck. On the completion of her spin, she plunged the other shiv into another's back, ripping upwards and exposing his spine, and then her first blade tore his throat out as he stumbled forward.

Both collapsed from their gruesome wounds, gasping out their last breaths. The last convict lunged again, managing to grab ahold of Sara's right wrist, but she twisted to the side to avoid his knife thrust. She sent her left blade into his eye but couldn't get her other arm free from his hold.

The man stumbled forward as she lost her grip on her shiv implanted in his skull. He plunged down the hole, already dead, but his grip didn't relinquish Sara. She fell with him, cursing vociferously.

As the tumbling corpse plummeted it twisted to trap Sara's arm underneath it. The last sounds she heard were a sickening crunch and her own scream of pain before blackness overtook her.

* * *

Jungle Run factory level, first floor. Liann Jiun.

The other three had finally outpaced their pursuers, circling around and frantically searching for a stairway, when they heard a distant scream. They halted in place, guns still up and ready.

"Four, you copy?" Keith asked urgently. "Four?"

Lori let out a growl of frustration and started cursing a stream of Mandarin.

"Hold up," Jess said softly, moving toward the wall. "It came from here."

"The scream?" Keith asked, moving over as well.

Jess nodded. "Maybe there's a boarded-up doorway or something here?"

"C'n ya blow it mebbe?" Lori suggested anxiously.

"No, it's too rickety, both the floor and the wall..." Keith replied thoughtfully. " _Deng yi miao_ (hold on a sec)."

He felt around on the wall, indistinguishable from the rest of the passageway. Nodding to himself, he stepped back and kicked solidly in the middle of the area Jess thought she heard the sound coming from. A section of the wood broke inward and then collapsed, revealing what had been a doorway leading to a stairwell.

" _Niubi_ (fucking awesome)," Jess grinned. "Nicely done, hon. Let's go."

As the three crew members headed cautiously down the stairs, Lori could be heard muttering to herself quietly. "Hang on girls, we're comin' fer ya, please be okay, please be okay, oh merciful Buddha please y'all be okay..."

* * *

Jungle Run factory level, basement. Liann Jiun.

The total sum of Sara's unconsciousness was perhaps five to ten minutes or so, but it was spread out a bit. The first time she woke, she tried to shift, and the agony in her right arm immediately made her black out again. The second time, she tried to carefully maneuver her arm out from under the corpse lying halfway on top of her, and she fared little better. By the third and last time she decided to simply push the corpse off, and was able to roll it away enough to uncover her gruesomely twisted arm before blacking out once more.

"Well, willya lookit that _ta ma duh_ (fucking) thing," she said, staring numbly at her broken arm when she came to again. "That can't be good none."

Her forearm seemed to have snapped right in the middle. The shiv from that hand was still stuck in the corpse's side, fortunately, but she really didn't think she should try moving the arm. It looked like the bone could break through the skin at any time.

Sara rolled her head back and stared at the ceiling with a huff of frustration. It didn't hurt now, which kind of scared her in a way, but she didn't feel quite in shock. _Take it as it comes._ Craning her neck, she could make out Dani's still form, which didn't seem to have moved a centimeter. " _Kaasan_?" she called out softly.

Not getting a response still, she tried to roll slightly onto her right side, careful not to jostle her arm, so she could get a better look. She almost wept for joy upon seeing the slow rhythm of Dani's chest. "Oh, thank Buddha," she whispered. "One, you copy?"

"Four, I copy you. You alright? We heard a scream, and lost contact."

Sara rolled carefully onto her back again. "Yeah. Bad guy fell an' took me with 'im. Broke my arm, it's pretty bad. I'm with Two, though, an' she's alive, ain't movin' or respondin' any." She looked around the room they were in as best as she could. "I see only one entrance to the room, no door. Arya on yer way?"

" _Shi a_ (yes, affirmative), we're movin' towards ya," Lori broke in urgently. "She's okay, you c'n see 'er?"

"She's breathin', Five, but still won' answer me none. Ain't goin' nowhere, sing out when you think yer close enuff an' I'll tellya if'n I c'n hear ya."

* * *

Jungle Run factory level, first floor. Liann Jiun.

"I read you, Four," Keith replied as they stealthily moved down the stairwell. He glanced back at Lori and his wife. "Keep an eye on our rear, I don't know if-"

A shot pinged off of the wall next to him, and he lurched to the side with a curse. Lori, last in line, braced herself on one knee and started sending short bursts up over her head. "Keep movin', lemme know when ya get to the bottom door!"

Keith and Jess hurried downward and got to the ground level after a few more turns of the staircase. There was no doorway to be seen.

"Gorramit," Keith growled over the sound of gunfire overhead. He closed his eyes, trying to figure out the turns they took, but gave it up as an exercise in futility. Opening them again, he glanced at his wife. "Which wall do you think?"

"Logically? Should be this one," she replied, indicating the one directly across from where the stairs ended.

Keith nodded and felt around, but couldn't tell any difference. He stood back and slammed his foot into the wall to no avail.

"Well, either that's not it or we need to blow it," he grumbled. He tried the other walls as well with the same result.

" _Ta ma de diyu_ (fucking hell)," he grunted irritably, then shook his head. "Alright, got to try it. Go up to the next landing, _lian ren_ (sweetheart)."

Jess complied, calling out, "Don't blow us up, you _lan ren_ (loon)!"

Keith barked a laugh as he slipped a grenade out, changing the direction of the force and working the variable timer. "Thanks for the confidence, honey." He slapped the grenade against the wall with adhesive and hurried up to join his wife. "Five, hang on, might get a little shook up!"

"Hurry, One!" Lori shouted back. "There's a whole mess of bad guys comin' down here!"

And then the improvised charge went off, showering the couple with dirt and debris.

"What did I just say, you _si pi yan_ (damned asshole)?" Jess yelled over the ringing in her ears.

Coughing, Keith chuckled. "Love it when you talk dirty, woman." He stepped back down to see that the wall was not the correct one, revealing only stone underneath, but that the wall to the right had been exposed and weakened. Keith ran over and managed to open it enough for them to slip through, just as pieces of the stairway above started to rain down on them.

"Five!" he shouted into the comm.

"What?" she yelled back irritably.

"Get your _pigu_ (ass) moving before the stairway collapses!"

She didn't reply directly, but they could hear her screaming obscenities at the convicts, at Keith, even at the stairs as she bolted down to join them. Keith grabbed ahold of her and hauled her into the corridor next to Jess just as the stairway collapsed in a heap.

" _Ching-wah tsao duh liou mahng_ (frog-humping son of a bitch)!" Lori panted, her hands on her knees.

"So, I don' know what all y'all are doin'," Sara's calm voice came across the comm, "but I c'n hear ya just fine. Might be right across the hall from us."

That got Lori up and moving rapidly as she stuck her head into the next doorway, giving an exultant shout before running inside. Keith and Jess followed just as quickly.

"Oh, honey..." Jess gasped as she saw Sara's arm.

"Hey there, Aunt Jess," Sara smiled weakly from her back. "I can't move it none or I pass out. C'n ya check on _Kaasan_ first please?"

Both Jess and the sobbing Lori were able to confirm that while she seemed to be suffering numerous injuries, Dani wasn't in life-threatening danger at the moment. They shifted debris off of her and were relieved to see no evidence of broken limbs, though she did wince slightly without waking up when they tried to shift her.

"Might be a broken rib or two," Jess murmured as she looked her over. "We need to be careful in case she damaged her spine." She had taken out her extensive field medkit which Keith had insisted that, as their medic, she need to bring along on each op. She quickly bandaged up where she could see bleeding before heading over to Sara.

Keith was crouched down next to his niece, looking at the arm. "We can splint it, but I'm afraid we're going to have to set it first. And that's going to hurt. A lot."

Sara looked wanly up at Jess who nodded at her husband's assessment, then wearily closed her eyes. "Okay. Go 'head."

"Let me give you a mild smoother first," Jess murmured. She did so while Keith collected from the debris what they would need, including a sling from the clothing of the convict's corpse.

Jess sat by Sara's head, placing her hand on her forehead, and Lori crouched by her left side to hold her hand tightly.

"Alright," Keith murmured, and with a swift motion pulled Sara's arm back into alignment.

Sara's back arched as she let out a piercing scream and then fell back, unconscious. Keith took advantage of that state to get the arm rapidly splinted with Jess's help, and had it tied across her chest with the sling so that it would not move.

"Whew!" Lori exclaimed. "That was exhausting, an' it didn' even hurt me none!"

They left Sara as she was for the time being and set to work rigging up a stretcher for Dani. After only a minute or two Sara regained consciousness again with a groan.

"So, let's not ever do that again, 'kay?" she joked weakly.

Lori bent over to help her up. She stood, swaying on her feet for a beat or two before nodding her head. "I'm good, thanks, Lori."

"Anytime, _huoban_ (buddy)," Lori smiled. "Here, lemme gather up yer shivs fer ya."

They decided that Lori and Jess would be the best candidates to carry the stretcher, while Sara walked ahead and Keith brought up the rear this time. Privately, Keith thought it best to keep Sara ahead of them anyways to keep an eye on her and make sure she hadn't suffered any other injuries.

As they started to carefully move Dani over to the stretcher, she suddenly stirred and sucked in a lungful of air before coughing weakly.

"Where... what..." she murmured, blinking uncertainly.

"Hey there, _zhen'ai_ (true love)," Lori smiled as she leaned over and gave her a gentle kiss. "We've got ya, just try an' relax, 'kay? Gonna put ya on a stretcher now."

"Lori?" she asked weakly. "Whyzzit so gorram dark?"

The other four team members shared a glance in the dim light. "Um, sweetie, it's not all that dark..." Lori began and then hitched a breath as she noticed how Dani's searching eyes were glazed and unseeing.

"Am I... oh, God, am I blind?" Dani started to try and sit up, wincing in pain.

" _Wo de ai_ (my love), I'm here, I'm right here," Lori tried to sooth her as she grabbed hold of her hand. "Calm down, 'kay?"

"Lori, I can't see none!" Dani wailed despondently. "Why can't I see ya none?"

Jess leaned over quickly and injected Dani with the rest of the smoother from her kit. It was enough to knock her completely out.

"It's going to be alright," Jess whispered soothingly to a very tearful Lori and Sara. "We'll get out of here and get to a hospital. We're in the Core, they'll fix her right up."

"Okay," Lori replied with determination. She stood and brushed off her legs, then bent over to help move Dani again. "Let's do this an' get outta this _diyu ban di difang_ (hellhole)."

The rest of the level they had to endure was relatively anticlimactic. All of the convicts were evidently trapped on the upper levels, leaving the way clear for the team to exit. It took some searching to find it, but eventually they came to an elevator door.

Keith pressed the up button, and they all stood ready to face whatever was waiting for them.

As it turned out, it was an empty elevator car with another door in the back.

They all fit inside, lying Dani across the middle of the car as they rode it up to the ground level, where the back door opened to reveal an empty, white, sterile room.

The crew members cautiously entered it, and the expected voice came back overhead.

"Congratulations, contestants! You have successfully completed the Jungle Run!"

"Yay, us," Sara sighed wearily.

"The prize money will be sent to your designated ship's account, as per the job details," the voice continued. "Also a rather large bonus for both completing in a new record time, as well as having all five of your team survive the run! That hasn't happened in almost eight years, the audience has been thrilled with your performance!"

"So let us out already, ya _fay fay duh pee-yen_ (baboon's asshole)!" Lori shouted up at the ceiling irritably.

Whether in answer or because it was simply programmed to happen, the door across from them popped open to reveal an abandoned underground garage.

The group limped out wearily to find their Mule waiting for them. They loaded Dani and Sara carefully into the back, and Keith headed out into the night to find the closest hospital.

* * *

Londinium. White Sun.

"All told, this was a very successful exercise, sir," the subordinate said as he finished with his briefing.

The man in the tailored suit leaned back in his desk chair thoughtfully. "They did seem to have a little more trouble with it than I expected. Analysis?"

"Mostly bad luck, on first glance. You can tell by the vid that the only injuries sustained were from the fall through the floorboards. Both subjects are expected to fully recover."

"Hmmm. Yes, it did seem that way on the live broadcast." The man stood up and walked around his chair to look out over the cityscape. Night had fallen, and the trails of light wound through the towers as people headed home from work. _I shouldn't work late again, Marie will be cross._

"Any word from my son?"

"Not yet, sir. He will be meeting with the relevant subject soon."

"Very well, thank you, Jarvis. You're dismissed. Oh," he added curiously, turning back. "What was our net take on the betting?"

His assistant smiled. "Very lucrative, sir. A little over ten million credits, more than offsetting the cost of sponsorship."

"Lucrative, indeed. Pity we won't ever get them to do that again," he murmured. "Very well."

Dismissed, his subordinate left and closed the door behind him.

 _I should take Marie out for dinner,_ he mused as he locked his terminal and gathered what he needed to leave the office for the day.

* * *

Federal Hospital. Liann Jiun.

Dani regained consciousness slowly. She could tell she was lying in a hospital bed, but she couldn't see a thing, not even a dim light. _Oh, right, blind. That explains the bandages 'round my face._ She refused to panic this time, however, and merely took note of her surrounding as best she could.

She could feel a small form curled up in bed with her and against her right leg. _Too small for Lori, or Cali or Rain for that matter... must be Sara._ She affirmed this as the form shifted slightly, and then she felt the press of a cast against the top of her thigh. _Did she break her arm? An' if'n that's Sara, then where's..._

"Lori?" she croaked.

"Hey, easy now _zhi'ai_ (most beloved)," she heard Lori's voice say from the left next to her head. "Gave us all a scare. You've been through a lot, take it slow-like, alright?"

"Where am I?" she whispered hoarsely.

"Yer in a hospital," her wife answered as she held a straw to Dani's lips, which she drank greedily from. "Been fixin' ya up for a couple a days now."

Sara stirred from where she was perched. "Hey _Kaasan_ , welcome back."

Dani tried to reach out towards both girls, but her left hand was wrapped in tubes and such. Lori grabbed ahold of her hand and squeezed it, while Sara did the same for her right. "You okay, _baobei_ (treasured one)? Did we all get out? Who all got hurt?"

"Shhh, easy beautiful," Lori cautioned. "Yeah, we all got out. Sara's the only other one who gots themselves hurt bad, broken arm."

Just then the door opened and Dani heard a new voice, an older male. "Ah, excellent, you're up. Let's see what we can... Excuse me, we can't have this many people in here. Family only, please."

She grinned to herself as she heard the shuffle of many bodies fill the room. "We're all family here," she heard Keith grunt irritably. "Brother, my wife, daughter, daughter, niece, niece. And next to her is another daughter and her wife."

The man grumbled to himself over the quiet snickers coming from inside the room. "Fine, but everyone needs to stand back against the wall, don't crowd, please. Lights ten percent."

Dani felt him move next to her and Sara shift as she moved off of the bed. Lori kept ahold of her left hand, holding on tight. "Now, Mrs. Grant, we did some surgery to fix your retinas which were severely damaged, among other things. We've been monitoring the results of the other surgeries, your internal damages taken have been healing up nicely, including the compression fracture to your spine and three fractured ribs. You will have little to no inhibition to your mobility, so long as you take it easy for the next few weeks, hmm? No exercising, heavy lifting, or intense sexual activities." The last bit set off a new round of snickering, mostly from her daughters, though she thought she detected a groan from Cali.

"My eyes, doc? C'n I... are they healed up?"

"Well now, let's see about that." Dani felt cool metal press along the side of her head as the doctor started to remove the bandages, cutting them away slowly and carefully until there were only pads covering her eyes. "Alright now, keep your eyes closed, and just crack them a little bit. Take it slow."

She felt the pads being removed, and opened her eyelids gradually, only to wince. "Bright," she muttered.

"Lights five percent. Try again, Mrs. Grant."

She was able to open them further, squinting around the room. To her relief, she was able to make out the smiling and hopeful faces of her family gather around. Her gaze swept the room, grinning at everyone assembled until it landed on Lori. "Hey, gorgeous. Yer lookin' good."

"You too, beautiful," Lori said tearfully and leaned down to kiss her long and hard.

"Right, she's fine, I'm outta here," Cali grumbled to the laughter of the rest.

* * *

 _Fortune's Favour_. Outbound from Liann Jiun.

Sara stumbled into her bunk, thoroughly exhausted from the last few day's ordeal. It was nice to get back to her room again as she'd spent all her time, ever since they left the bizarre Jungle Run game, at the hospital with her _Kaasan._ She'd had plenty of time to think but still hadn't come to any decisions.

She felt the ship shudder as it lifted and she stumbled slightly, managing to reach out with her left hand to grab the ladder. _Tha's gonna get gorram annoyin', only havin' one arm t'use._ Fortunately, it wouldn't take all that long to heal, even as horrendous a break as it had been the doctors were able to use a device to speed up the bone regrowth. Now it just needed time to take hold and firm up. _Far cry from what we'd have available out on the Rim._

Instead of sitting on her bed she paced irritably, pausing to slip her shoes off and remove her blades from their numerous hiding places. She did grin at the three throwing blades she took out from her sling. _Convenient, that._

Finally, with a huff, she sat down at her small table and chair and faced the Cortex unit on the wall. She checked first to make sure nobody else was using the line and then pulled out the slip of flimsi that Feather had given her with a long number written on it.

Sara sighed, staring at the flimsi, and she felt the quiet as the ship broke atmo. _Alright, Sara. Stop puttin' it off. You c'n do this._

Holding her breath, she punched the numbers into the Cortex unit and waited impatiently. _Oh, what if'n it's night time there? I didn' even check that none! I'm sucha_ bendan _(idiot) sometimes..._

Before she could berate herself any further, however, the unit lit up and an unfamiliar face appeared. The woman looked to be around her _Kaasan_ 's age but with a soft round face bordered by blond hair starting to turn white.

"Yes, hello? C'n I help you any?"

"Um, hi, Mrs. O'Donnel? My name's Sara, an' I was hopin' to talk to Justin, if'n he's 'vailable."

The woman's face lit up with a wide smile. "Oh, so you're the Sara my boy keeps goin' on 'bout! _Deng yi miao_ (hold on a sec), darlin', he's visiting for dinner, I'll go get 'im."

Sara felt a smile of her own creep onto her face. _He's been talkin' 'bout me? With his folks?_

The smile creased into a full-blown grin of pleasure as Justin came into view. Well, hurtled might be the better word, he moved so fast he practically missed the chair. He quickly righted himself and gave Sara an insolent grin. "Hey there," he said softly, his tone belying the casual look on his face.

"Hey yerself," Sara said, her eyes almost brimming with tears. "Um, I missed ya."

"Me, too." Justin looked around and then leaned in slightly. "An', um, just so y'know, this's th'only Cortex we gots, an' it's in the family room, 'kay?"

"Oh! Sure, yeah, okay." _Right, behave myself an' no embaressin' details._

"So what've you been up to?" he asked casually.

"Well, just lifted offa Liann Jiun. Got roped inta some kinda weird game killin' beasts an' bad guys. Oh, an' I broke my arm." She stood up slightly so he could see her cast.

Justin's mouth was hanging open. " _Wo kao_ (holy shit)!" he exclaimed.

"Justin! Language!" his mother's voice came from somewhere behind him.

He blushed slightly. "Sorry, Ma!" he said loudly over his shoulder.

Sara giggled as she sat back down. _That's so sweet._ "So how 'bout you? Whatcha been up to?"

"Oh, um, nothin' so excitin'..."

"Mebbe, but I wanna know," Sara replied softly.

Justin cleared his throat and rubbed his hand through his tousled mop of dark hair. "Well, been takin' on more responsibility at the pub, doin' some waiterin', even workin' behind the bar with Uncle Jeb a few times."

"Really? Tha's _niubi_ (fucking awesome)!" Sara exclaimed, but then paused as he saw the consternation on Justin's face. "Oops," she muttered, then called out loudly, "Sorry Mrs. O'Donnel!"

"Tha's fine, sweetie, never you mind none!"

Sara snickered as Justin shook his head in amusement. "Suck-up," he laughed quietly. She stuck her tongue out in response, which caused him to blush. After a second she blushed as well, realizing the thoughts that were going through his head. "I really, really been missin' ya," she whispered.

"Yeah," Justin sighed. "I wish I coulda heard from ya earlier, I ain't had any way to reach ya..."

"Really?" Sara frowned. "But we used ta get calls all the time from..." She trailed off as realization dawned upon her.

Justin nodded. "Right, my cousin Feather, an' she's th'only one who had y'all's ship id to Wave. By the by," he grinned, "let 'er know 'er parent's are wantin' to talk to 'er real soon. I 'spect she's in a lil' spot of trouble with 'em fer not Wavin' sooner."

Smiling like a _lan ren_ (loon), Sara nodded happily. _He really did wanna talk with me, just didn' know how to reach me none!_

"Alright, well, I gotta go, dinner's ready now," Justin sighed. "Wish I could talk more..."

"No, it's shiny," Sara replied, still smiling. "Ya gots my number now, right, on the screen there? An' I gots yers, we c'n Wave whenever we wanna! Well, I c'n Wave ya when yer home, leastways..."

"Ya want me to Wave ya again later tonight?"

Sara was tempted but shook her head with a sigh. "I'm really tuckered out, been a long few gorram days. Oops," she snickered and then said loudly, "Sorry again Mrs. O'Donnel!" She lowered her voice again. "Mebbe Wave me tomorrow night? It'd be later fer the ship, but I'll stay on the bridge with Rain till I hear from ya."

"'Kay," Justin smiled back, but before he could say anymore a small head with bushy dark hair belonging to a young teenaged girl popped into view.

"Oooh, izzat yer girlfriend? She's pretty!"

"Josie, I swear t'Buddha, lemme alone! I'm talkin' here!"

"Y'ain't ever talked to a girl over the Cortex 'fore, is she a special sorta girlfriend?"

Sara covered her mouth with her hand and giggled as she watched the siblings fight for control over the unit.

Justin finally gave up and looked over apologetically. "Sorry, Sara, gotta go now!"

She waved merrily at his image before it vanished, and then sat back with a smile.

"Well, how 'bout that," she murmured to herself. " _Shenme ta ma de_ (what the fuck) was I so worked up 'bout?"

Humming contentedly to herself, she got ready for bed, with some effort as she only had one arm to use, and then turned out the lights. Crawling under the sheets, she laid back with a happy sigh. _Just a normal girl. With normal girl problems. Kinda feels nice fer a change..._

Still smiling, she closed her eyes and let the exhaustion of the past few days take over.

* * *

 _IAV Endeavor_. Deep space.

Petty Officer Third Class Kacy Wilson stood nervously at parade rest, alone in a small conference room aboard her assigned Tohoku-class cruiser, the _IAV Endeavor._ The lanky woman didn't recall having screwed up lately, but that didn't always matter within the Navy. _Reasonin' out the logic of the Brass is an exercise in futility._ Hoping she wasn't under observation, she took her uniform hat off briefly to run her fingers through her short-cut blond hair and then quickly replaced it.

Just then the door behind her opened and she snapped to attention. An officer in Navy greys strode in and sat down at the only furniture in the room. "At ease, sailor," he said in a bored tone from his seat behind the table. He looked over some notes on a handheld as she changed herself back to her previous stance.

As he looked up at her, Kacy was startled by his eyes, dark pools of black that seemed to absorb light.

"My name is Commander Cavendish," he began. "You are not in trouble, per se, but Naval Intelligence would like some information from you regarding potential... interests."

Kacy swallowed nervously. _Gorram spooks._ "Are you Intelligence, sir?"

Cavendish glared at her, the aristocratic lines in his face stark and unforgiving. "I'm asking the questions here, sailor. Now, then," he began, glancing back down at his handheld. "Let's discuss your Aunt, Danielle Grant."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, the ever-awesome Guns n' Roses did the title track for this ep. Keep on rockin', Slash, even though I think you may be a zombie at this point... And _Lecher Bitch_ (love that song!) is by Genitorturers from the _Vampire: The Masquerade: Bloodlines_ game soundtrack.
> 
> Do we have a hint dropped here, a name to attach to the mysterious man? Why yes indeed! (Not that it means anything yet, but hey, I've gotten tired of referring to him as "the man".) Also, we've now been introduced to the mysterious Mr. Cavendish's children, who are sure to make a reappearance at some point...
> 
> Both the Hell Hound and the Jackal are courtesy of the Riddick movies. The first was found on Crematoria, used by the guards there to munch on prisoners too slow to escape to safety, and the second from the unnamed planet where Riddick tamed one from a pup. And yes, I do believe the Riddick universe ties in wonderfully with that of Firefly. So while this is still not a crossover, I like to borrow from those movies, animations, and games. Lots of fun material.
> 
> Small easter egg, the bit with the bouncer comes from a Deadpool / Green Arrow comic. (Merc with a Mouth for teh win!) And yes, the part about "Is that the best you've got?" was plucked from _Avengers: Age Of Ultron_.
> 
> So this was an enormous episode, and I apologize for that. I might have split it up, but couldn't find a good midway point to do so. And yay for Episode 50! Merciful Buddha, have I really been writing that much?
> 
> Stay shiny!


	65. Episode 51: Livin' On The Edge

Avalon. Moon of Albion. White Sun.

A little over a month had passed since the _Fortune's Favour_ had visited Liann Jiun and the injuries sustained there were fully healed. Dani had been testing the limits of her healing with the assistance of her wife Lori, much to the consternation of the rest of the crew who were left without a doubt that she was still, indeed, a screamer.

In celebration of her and Sara's return to full activity, Dani had told the crew she would treat them all to drinks at a bar of her choosing once they touched down on Avalon and discharged their cargo. Kelly elected to stay aboard ship, as she was still not entirely comfortable showing her face on a Core world, even after changing her hair style significantly to one less refined and more casual-vid-star-unkempt.

The crew strolled along in good humor down the fairly neat and orderly street of the town of Caliburn. It was located a little outside of the spaceport but still seemed to cater to spacer folk.

"You gonna tell us where we're goin' yet, beautiful?" Lori wheedled as she clung to Dani's arm.

"No need, gorgeous. We're here," the lanky captain replied, indicating the bar across from them.

It was, like the rest of the town, fairly clean and orderly looking. It had a dark grey facade and the letters "The War Room" were spelled out in bold purple neon letters up top.

"Hey, _lian ren_ (sweetheart)," Jess murmured to her husband Keith, last in line to enter the building. "Does this look like an Alliance-friendly bar to you?"

"Does seem that way," Keith rumbled. "But it's not Unification day, so maybe it's an innocent coincidence."

Jess snorted softly. "You obviously still don't know your sister very well," she muttered under her breath.

The group sauntered in and managed to grab a large table in the middle of the room. It was fairly crowded but the patrons within the bar shifted between the outer tables and the back room, where there were VR war simulations advertised.

"Hey, lookit here," Lori remarked curiously as she perused a brochure left on their table. "They gots all sorts of popular battle simulations."

Jess was also looking at one of the brochures after they had ordered their drinks. "And I see the most popular is the Independent defeat at Serenity Valley," she noted quietly. "Embellish the superiority of Alliance troops much?"

"What was that, hon?" Keith asked.

"Nothing, dear," she replied and smirked over at Dani. Her sister-in-law saluted her with the bottle she had ordered, an answering smirk on her face. _Yes, I see what you're up to,_ jiejie.

Conversation drifted around the table as the group enjoyed their drinks. They were on their second round when Dani sat up with a glint in her eye. _And here we go,_ Jess thought humorously.

Dani took a swig from her bottle and set it down with a loud bang. "Alright, people, I gots somethin' I need ta talk 'bout here," she announced. The crew's chatter ceased as all eyes turned towards her. Lori quirked her eyebrow curiously, as she hadn't been let into the details for the evening's activities either.

"I'm sorry to say," the lanky captain began, still seated, "that I've been remiss as both a capt'n an' parent. They're too many of y'all who ain't been inna decent bar brawl." She looked around the table, grinning mischievously. "An' I figures to remedy that tonight."

Lori snorted humorously. "Yer serious." It was more a statement than a question.

Feather leaned over and whispered to Emily, "Is she, serious I mean?"

"I'm thinkin' so," Emily chuckled.

Keith smirked and stretched his arms above his head, loosening his muscles, while Jess stood up to touch her toes. _Called it._ "C'mon, girls," she snickered. "Better loosen up some."

" _Niubi_ (fucking awesome)!" Cali exclaimed, leaping to her feet and trying to emulate Jess. She managed to catch herself before she toppled over onto her face.

"They're really serious," Feather remarked in an unbelieving tone.

"'Friad so, hon," Rain sighed. "Izzit too late to run away?" she asked her _Kaasan_.

"Yep," Dani replied, grinning. She then stood up to shout loudly, her ringing voice reaching all corners of the bar, "An' I still say all purplebelly Alliance-lovin' _hundans_ are ruttin' cowards not worth a spit!"

After a brief pause of stunned silence, most of bar rose up out of their seats to face their table.

Rain muttered darkly in Mandarin while Lori shook her head in amusement, both rising up with the rest of the crew not already on their feet. "Last gorram time we let Dani pick out the evenin's entertainment," Lori joked.

The brawl that ensued was remarkable for both its intensity and duration. While some of the patrons involved had expected to quickly overwhelm the small group of nine spacers, they were soon disabused of that notion.

Jess enjoyed her usual game of goalie, tossing people back into the fray when her husband kicked them towards her. With the increased number of foes, however, she soon had to rely on her own fighting skills to prevent getting swarmed under. Fortunately, between Keith's tutelage and her _tai chi_ , not to mention her slim but powerful physique, she was more than up to the task.

Feather held her own admirably as well, her powerful right hook knocking a number of patrons onto their backs. Rain kept by her side, gamely trying to throw a punch in every now and then, but generally letting Feather handle most of the assaults. Until, that is, the young mechanic was grabbed by her auburn ponytail and yanked backwards, letting out a yelp of pain.

On her back and stunned breathless, Feather looked upwards at the grinning hulk of a man who was raising a boot to stomp on her face. He was interrupted by the pixie-cut brunette screaming banshee that tackled him from the side, bringing him to the ground. Rain straddled his chest, pummeling him in the face repeatedly. "Don' you touch my girlfriend none!" she roared.

Feather blinked a few times and a slow smile graced her face as she watched Rain defend her honor. "My _xiong jiao_ (handsome hero) an' _jue dai jia ren_ (prettiest girl ever), all rolled inta one," she murmured to herself under the crashing din of the surrounding brawl. She knew her heart just melted a little at the sight, but she didn't mind in the least.

Rain stood back up, her knuckles bloody and raw, and glanced over at her, concern in her eyes. "You okay, _lian ren_ (sweetheart)?" she shouted.

Seeing Feather nod reassuringly, she launched herself into another knot of brawling patrons being pushed back by Keith, who were threatening to trample where Feather lay. Rain screamed obscenities as she laid into them, swinging ferocious punches and landing powerful kicks. Keith actually moved back a step in surprise, but then gave his niece a grin and neatly divided the group of patrons up amongst themselves to quickly deal with.

Feather staggered back to her feet and reached her girlfriend just as she finished off the last attacker, a wiry man with a broken nose already, by giving him a fierce uppercut that sent him to his toes before toppling backwards, unconscious.

"Hey _wo de ai_ (my love)!" Feather said loudly. "I think Aunt Lori could use a hand!"

Rain turned to her, grinning bloodily from a punch she'd taken to the face and nodded. "Long as yer with me, hon!"

 _Always,_ Feather grinned to herself as they headed over to the other corner where Dani had just joined Lori to fend off another swarm of the seemingly unending bar occupants. _Ya may not realize it yet, but I ain't lettin' ya get away from me none._

It took some time for the brawl to wind down, mostly aided by those who decided that discretion was the better part of valor and that there were surely other bars they could visit that evening. Those who were simply too stubborn, or prideful, or perhaps just too combative, paid for their poor decision with a nap on the floor of the bar.

Of the nine crew members from the _Favour_ , only Emily needed to be helped off of the floor. They all headed out of the bar together, in good spirits for the most part, but everyone with some sort of injury evident.

Cali sported a black eye but was grinning widely as they walked out. "I gots t'beat a _hundan_ over the head with a chair!" the diminutive mechanic with pigtailed braids exclaimed cheerily. "When c'n we do it again?"

Sara laughed, limping alongside her. She was pretty sure her knee would be swelling up later that night. "How 'bout we all heal up fer a spell first, huh?"

Emily was staggering along on the other side of Cali, having failed to dodge another chair wielded like a club. She was nursing a massive lump on the back of her head, and just groaned in response, eliciting a chuckle from Keith and Jess who followed closely behind. The big ex-spec forces trooper was actually showing a bruise or two, but that was nothing compared to the massive splotch of ugly purple that was starting to form on his wife's jaw. He leaned over to plant a very light kiss on it, and she grinned happily in return.

Rain and Feather walked with their arms linked behind them and holding each other up. " _Wo de ai_ (my love), you gots the shiniest _Kaasan_ ever," Feather murmured. She'd made sure to wrap Rain's hands up, and promised to clean them and provide ice when they returned to the ship.

Rain grinned, wincing from her split lip. "Don' I know it. She's still _feng li_ as anythin', though, Feather-bear."

Feather leaned over and gave Rain a kiss on her cheek. "An' yer the shiniest girlfriend ever, too. Shiniest of shiny."

Though Rain didn't reply, the wide grin on her face was enough of an indication of her mood.

"An' you thought we weren't gonna have a good time none," Dani said cheekily to Lori, her arm wrapped securely around her wife's back.

Lori snorted softly in response, and immediately regretted it as her nose started to bleed again. She winced, testing it once more to assure herself it wasn't broken. "Yer a _lan ren_ (loon), beautiful. A _feng li_ , gorgeous _lan ren_ an' a wildcat t'boot. An' I love ya fer it." She grinned over at her. "I'll love ya even more if'n you'd consider giving yer poor injured wife a massage when we gets back."

Dani gave her a kiss. "Yer on, my _zhen'ai_ (true love)."

* * *

Odin. Moon of Aesir. Himinbjorg protostar. Red Sun system.

A few weeks later saw the _Fortune's Favour_ and her crew, healed up from their excursion on Avalon, parked on a landing pad in a mostly-deserted spaceport. The moon Odin didn't get a whole lot of regular traffic, which made it an ideal spot for those less legally-inclined to hide out.

It also made for a nice spot to locate a secret research facility.

The five members of the ground team, plus Kelly, were gathered around the table in the galley to examine the job that brought them to the remote moon within Red Sun.

"So this is from Iskellian, hitting a secret Blue Sun research facility," Kelly summarized.

"Actually, it's hitting the shipment heading out from the facility before it can reach the Blue Sun cruiser on the landing field," Keith corrected without rancor.

Dani glanced up at her brother. He seemed to have finally given over to working with Kelly, at least in a professional manner. The two of them, side-by-side, wore almost identical expressions of concentration, two experienced operatives planning out an op. Jess caught her eye and grinned, evidently following her line of thought.

"We're gonna hafta move fast, wherever we hit 'em," Lori interjected. "Both the site an' the cruiser are gonna have response teams, yeah? So we needs ta get in an' out, speedy-like, 'fore they know what hit 'em."

"Right," Kelly replied. "We're going to need several mobile teams."

Keith nodded thoughtfully. "Overwatch, capture, and delay."

Kelly chuckled lightly. "I would have used different names, but that's the essence of it, yes."

Their conversation paused as Feather came charging through the galley from the direction of the bridge, clutching in her hand a piece of still-wrapped chocolate triumphantly.

"It's mine now! Yer not gettin' it from me, Grant!"

Rain barreled through in close pursuit, laughing but with a very determined look on her face. "Just you wait, O'Donnel, when I get my hands on you..."

"Ain't happenin'!" Feather giggled merrily as the two flew down the hallway and then the rear stairs. Dani winced as she heard several large crashes.

"So obviously we've got Lori in overwatch," Keith continued unfazed. "Myself and Sara for the capture, Dani and Jess for delay?"

Kelly sighed. "I'd prefer a bigger team, but that sounds workable."

Cali walked in then from the rear stairwell. " _Kaasan_ , they're breakin' the ship!" she complained.

"Well, you tell 'em they fix what they break," Dani replied absentmindedly. "An' don' get in their way none, or we'll need ta fix you up as well."

Cali trudged back off again dejectedly, muttering Mandarin curses under her breath.

"Never a dull moment, huh, _wo de ai_ (my love)?" Lori giggled softly next to her.

Dani snorted quietly. "I'd be worried if'n it were otherwise."

"What 'xactly is it we're stealin' here?" Sara piped in curiously.

"It's a piece of advanced cybertech, not sure on exactly what the details of it are," Keith replied, glancing at the notes from the job description. "Should be the size of a briefcase, locked and sealed. There will be other containers there, but we're not concerned about them. This one will be bright green with white markings."

"Lil' dif'rent from the usual Blue Sun color scheme," Dani commented dryly.

"Couldn't we just swoop in with th' _Favour_ an' make a grab an' dash?" Lori asked curiously.

" _Wangdiao ta_ (forget about it)," Keith replied, pointing to an item on his handheld. "The cruiser will be escorted by an Alliance ASREV, parked right next to it and waiting to scramble. Good chance we'd risk interception if we used the _Favour_ right away. We'll need to get away first, escape and evade, before we link up with the others."

Kelly nodded determinedly. "We'll be standing by, ready to run in and pick up whenever you send the clear signal. Or earlier," she smirked in a very Grant-like manner, "if you get into trouble."

"Who, us?" Jess asked mildly.

Sara snorted. " _W'rin bu lai_ (things never go smooth)..."

"Alright," Keith stated, standing up with his hands on his hips. "We're going to plan this out carefully, with plenty of redundancy for change in transport direction or composition, even for a delay in their schedule. We have an excellent vantage point here," he indicated a spot on the map, "and that's where we're going to hit them."

"What about here, closer to the facility?" Kelly asked curiously.

"You said it yourself, if we had a bigger team we could do more," Keith replied firmly. "It's too risky even with the firepower we carry to hit them that close. Better over here."

Kelly nodded thoughtfully. "No, you're right. Okay, so let's get to it then."

* * *

Milano Lounge. Odin.

They had stayed together for several hours and planned out in detail how the job would unfold. The crew took a short break for dinner, and then Keith, Jess, Dani, and Lori headed off the ship to do a little reconnaissance.

There was a pub nearby that was very popular for employees for the nearby research facility. Of course, to everyone else they worked for a nondescript accounting firm and were never seen in their Blur Sun uniforms while off-duty, but Kelly had been able to glean that much from her indirect methods of investigation while still remaining on the ship.

"All right, people," Keith said as the four gathered outside the lounge. "We ready to undertake what will solely be an informational mission in which we go inside and gather information? Informationally."

"Wait," Dani said. "Wait. Yer sayin' we _shouldn't_ run in, arms wavin', and yell we're here to hijack Blue Sun's shipment?"

Lori snickered. "I think that'd defeat the purpose of bein' all stealthy-like, beautiful."

"Oh," Dani replied, faking her nonchalance. "Right. S'pose so. Well then, let's go gather information."

As she strode inside, linking her arm through her wife's, Keith sighed heavily. "You know she teases you because she loves you," Jess snickered as she took hold of her husband's arm.

"Oh I know," Keith replied. "I'm just biding my time until I can scare the pee out of her next time I sneak up on her while on the bridge."

Jess laughed heartily as they entered the crowded pub. "You two are such siblings."

After a good two hours of mingling and casual questioning, the four gathered together again in a booth near the back of the pub.

"Got anything good?" Dani asked the others.

"Well, I know which fellas like to try an' pick up girls on their off-hours," Lori snarked. "An' which of 'em are married. Oh, an' which ladies feel the same way. That reminds me, we gots invited to another threesome, babe, one of the girls didn' wanna take no fer an answer."

"Yer just a magnet fer horny folks," Dani snickered. "An' I'll pass on the threesome. Unless she was kinda cute?" she asked half-jokingly.

Lori indicated a table a few meters away where a rather stately-looking woman was smiling suggestively at them.

"Um. I dunno, she ain't really doin' it fer me," Dani mused.

"Can we focus here, people?" Keith asked exasperatedly.

"I think I got the big info for the night," Jess whispered. "One of the guys, who must have already struck out with Lori," she smirked over towards the redheaded sniper, "tried to pick me up next."

"Who was he?" Keith asked darkly, scanning the room.

"Remember the bit about focusing here?" Jess admonished with a grin. "In any case, I explained my ship was launching tomorrow morning, and he said he needed to be at work early anyways, as he had a very important shipment to oversee before breakfast."

"Really?" Lori laughed quietly. "That easy?"

"Seems that way," Keith chuckled. "Nice job, hon. So we can affirm the early morning timeslot. Anything else?"

"Beer here sucks," Dani commented.

"I'll take that as a 'no'. Let's head back."

* * *

5km outside the Blue Sun research facility. Odin.

Lori was nestled atop a hill along the path from the facility to the spaceport. Her job was to open fire as soon as the convoy came within optimal range, already marked by an old Blue Sun Cola bottle moved to a spot just beside the road. Keith and Sara were in a pursuit vehicle, a hovercar they had purchased used, and would follow the convoy at a discreet distance until it stopped. When that happened, they would swoop in and disable the few guards there, grab the package and go. Dani and Jess were lying in wait further back, with their Mule, to waylay any pursuit coming from the facility when the convoy called for help.

She had a hoverbike for herself, an old but reliable model, in order to evac once she was done providing covering fire. She'd brought her beloved _Long_ (Dragon) large-caliber anti-vehicle rifle along but left it in the Mule. She had her trusty Callahan with her now, already optimized for the range she needed and loaded with AP ammo.

Now if she could just get something to shoot at.

"This is One, target in motion," Keith murmured in her ear.

 _Showtime_ , Lori grinned to herself eagerly. _Wait, they were a whole hour early!_ She started to settle down, control her breathing. She still had a few minutes before the convoy was within range, but she was ready. And very glad they all had gotten into position well ahead of the allotted time.

"One, I see another vehicle moving up," Dani warned.

"Confirm, Two, I see him. Looks like an armored hovercar..." Keith trailed off. " _Ta ma de_ (fuck me blind), it's on an intercept course."

"One, are you under attack?" Lori asked tensely, scanning the road. They were still just outside her range, though she could see the dust plume.

"Negative, Five, the target is!"

Lori blinked as the realization of what was happening dawned upon her. _Someone else beat us to the target!_

"One, should we hold?" Dani asked worriedly.

" _Deng yi miao_ (hold on a sec)," Sara's voice came back. Then, " _Shi niao_ (shit  & piss), they gots it! Package is in th'open, an' we're under fire!"

Lori growled to herself. All the planning they meticulously covered and all the possibilities they examined, but nothing about another team getting to the package before they did. "One, do I gots permission to engage our competition?"

" _Shi a_ (yes, affirmative), hit them as soon as they're in range!" Keith barked back. "Two and Three, get moving as well!"

"We're movin'!" Dani reported back. "Home, you copy?"

* * *

 _Fortune's Favour._ Odin.

Feather was sitting in Dani's usual chair, having pulled her bare feet up and wrapped her arms around her legs. She was watching Rain intently as she ran through a systems check to ensure they would be ready to lift once the ground team returned with the loot.

"Y'know what's funny?" she mused out loud, resting her cheek on her knees.

"What's that, Feather-bear?" Rain replied absentmindedly, her eyes still on her console.

Feather giggled a little at the nickname her girlfriend had capitulated on using for her. She thought it was adorable beyond measure, really. "Well, fer one, yer the only person who gots a nickname fer me."

Rain glanced over at her, amusement on her face. "Seriously?"

The auburn-haired mechanic nodded with a smile. "Yep. An' it's one ya done picked out all on yer lonesome. An' I really, really like it when ya call me it."

"Well, okay then," Rain snickered. "I think I c'n oblige ya with that. What was the other?"

"Hmm?" Feather asked, lost in watching her pixie-haired brunette girlfriend's sure hands as they flew across the console confidently.

"Ya said 'fer one', an' tha's implyin' there's 'nother one."

"Oh! Right, that," she giggled. _So gorram easy t'lose my train of thought while watchin' her_. "I never been one to fall fer th'intellectual types. Always been enuff ta have good looks, be good in bed, y'know, so long as I gots good sexin' outta it, we all had a good time."

Rain furrowed her eyebrows, obviously confused as to where the conversation was going. "Okaaayyy," she drawled, perhaps a little offended.

"But it ain't that way with you. I mean," Feather quickly amended, "I think yer awfully cute, an' I love watchin' how yer hands move when yer workin'..." she broke off to giggle a little at the blush that crept across her girlfriend's face. "But yer so much more'n that. An' I hope ya know that, _lian ren_ (sweetheart), I hope you c'n understand that. I know ya don' like talkin' 'bout that kinda stuff none, but I never been drawn to a person like I am to you." She paused and gave her adorable pilot a brilliant smile. "Anyways, just wanted ta let ya know, ain't plannin' on pushin' on anytime. I wants to stick right here next to ya and figure ya out. All of ya."

Rain cleared her throat, having given up on the systems check and staring at Feather with wide, expressive eyes. _When she wants to, she c'n convey whole shiploads of feelin's just through those lovely green eyes of 'ers._

"I'm glad," Rain replied simply and quietly. "'Cause I don' know none what I'd do without ya now."

Feather sighed with contentment and batted her eyelashes. That caused Rain to snort a laugh. "Stop that," she said, turning back to her console. "Gotta get this here finished 'fore-"

A crackle of static over the comm interrupted her. "Home, you copy? This is Two," Dani's voice came over urgently. "The whole gorram plan's gone to _gou se_ (shit), 'nother group's got the package, an' we're gonna need air support, soon as you c'n!"

Rain grabbed hold of the mike. "Roger that, Two, we're in the air soon."

Feather was already on her feet and sprinting back towards the engine room. As she passed through the galley, she called out merrily, "Kelly, yer needed on th'bridge!" A few steps later she was within earshot of her girlfriend's sister. "Caliiii!" she called out to the little pigtailed mechanical genius who, even though a few years younger than her, served as her mentor. "We gots ta get our _pigu_ (ass) in th'air! Fire it up!"

* * *

Spaceport roadside. Odin.

Keith gunned the engine in pursuit of the heavy hovercar in front. Sitting next to him, Sara was concentrating on the Blue Sun pursuit vehicles behind them. "D'ya think they know we're not with the bad guys?" she asked curiously.

"I don't think it matters much to them at this point," Keith replied grimly. "We're involved now, and I doubt they'll bother detaining us if they catch us."

"Well, that just makes it all the more interestin'," Sara grinned cheerily as the wind blew her hair back. Their windshield had been blown in by the other team, and the pair had barely taken cover in time to avoid receiving injuries.

"One, how many are talkin' 'bout here?" Dani asked over the comm. She and Jess were running in parallel to the road, through the town that the main road skirted. They hoped to overtake the other vehicle once Lori was able to stop them. Hopefully.

"I saw six," Keith answered. Sara nodded in affirmation. "Seemed to be one _hundan_ (bastard) in charge, yelling at the others. Black hair and beard, dark green fatigues, black vest. Home, that ringing any bells?"

"Sorry, One," Kelly replied. "Need more than that to go on. We're airborne in a few minutes, though."

"One, I'll see what I can do for you," Lori replied calmly. "Vid recording on." Her sniper rifle had an advanced scope attached to it with a vid-capture port. She could record to her handheld and then transmit it back to the ship for analysis.

"Good thinking, Five. Should be in range very soon." Keith hunched over the wheel, squinting against the howling wind assaulting his face.

"I see 'em. Engagin'... now."

Even over the roar of their engine, Keith could hear the multiple cracks of the Callahan as Lori opened fire on the armored vehicle. It swerved, trying to avoid the fire, and then careened off to the side and into an alleyway between two buildings. Keith turned his controls to follow.

"The Blue Sun folks are right on our tail still," Sara reported.

"I gots 'em, Four, no worries," Lori answered. The rifle barked some more as she switched her fire over to the pursuit vehicles.

"This is Two, we're at the crash site. Package gone, other team took off into an apartment building nearby. Four bad guys on foot. One killed in crash, we took out the rear guard. Waitin' on yer backup."

"Roger that, Two, inbound, be there in a tic," Keith reported. He had to smile slightly, his sister had little formal tactical training but had learned enough by now not to dive headfirst into danger without backup.

As they pulled up on the other side, Lori came back on. "I disabled a few, but one got past me. He's gonna be on yer position shortly. I'm relocatin' to site Bravo," indicating she was going to take up position on the next hill over, closer to the spaceport.

"Confirm, Five, and thanks," Keith reported as he and Sara vaulted out of the car. Dani and Jess were waiting at the doorway in the alley, standing over the corpse of what seemed to be a merc.

As they arrived, Keith started issuing orders. "Three, take the Mule, head up the street, edge of the block. We may need rapid pickup. Two, Four, with me."

They moved inside rapidly but cautiously, looking out for an ambush.

"One, I received Five's transmission," Kelly reported. "I have positive ident."

"Go ahead, Blue," Keith answered. Dani snickered next to him, and he had to smile as well. Kelly had insisted that she shouldn't have a numerical designation as she'd rarely, if ever, go off-ship on an op. Sara had come up with the tongue-in-cheek code name.

Kelly snorted softly in response, still not finding it as humorous as the rest of the crew. "Subject is only known as the 'Jackal'. Well-paid merc, surrounds himself with a competent team. Gets results. Last known employer was the Weyland-Yutani Corporation. And here's the kicker," she finished. "He's fairly insane."

"Oh, goodie," Dani snarked. "Are ya'll in the air yet?"

"Almost there," Kelly reported. "We're going to head closer to the town and wait for your word."

"Thanks, Blue," Keith answered as they moved into another chamber. There were stairs leading to the basement behind a door that looked to have been forced open. "We're heading underground, still in pursuit."

"One, this is Three," Jess said in a whisper. "Blue Sun vehicle pulled up and dropped off a single individual, then headed around the building. Three more are setting up to intercept at the other entrance."

"Three, what did the other one looks like?" Keith asked tensely as they moved down the stairs.

"Um, not sure how to say this, hon, but he reminded me a lot of you."

"Gorramit," the ex-spec force trooper sighed. "Two, Four, move ahead, stay in pursuit. I'll delay."

"But..." Dani tried to protest.

"Now!" Keith barked as he took up position across the room. He didn't watch as Dani and Sara took off down the corridor, but kept his focus on the staircase.

 _Chances are we're looking at another special forces type like myself,_ he mused. _Only reasonable explanation for one solitary person entering the building. Likely leading the pursuit team._

His thoughts were interrupted by a silver cylinder bouncing down the steps toward him. He turned his head and screwed his eyes shut before the flash grenade went off, but he was still slightly stunned. The man who charged in was able to easily slap away Keith's rifle, though Keith managed to get a hand on his opponents submachine gun and toss it away as well.

Shaking his head to clear the grogginess, Keith was a bit slow on the draw of his Ares sidearm. The other man spun and kicked it out of his hand. Head now clear, though his ears were still ringing, Keith answered with a spin-kick of his own to send the other man's handgun flying. Keith noted peripherally that it seemed to be the same model as his own.

The two combatants paused then, crouched, to size each other up. Keith took in the other man's stance, how he held himself. The two men both drew identical combat knives from behind their backs and began to circle each other slowly.

"Spec Forces, right?" the other man asked quietly. He had a closely-shaved head and powerful figure. Keith noted absentmindedly that he could have passed as a twin almost, perhaps a decade or so ago.

Keith answered his earlier query with a nod. "You?"

He gave a slight shake of his head. "Black Ops."

That simple statement sent a tendril of fear into Keith's belly, an unfamiliar feeling. The ranks of Black Ops were often taken from Alliance Special Forces Command and given extra training, enabling them to work solo as well as part of a team.

This man would be just as, if not more, lethal as Keith had been on his best day.

He knew that his opponent would be wearing the same blade- and bullet-resistant armor underneath his dark fatigues, and he would be just as skilled in knife fighting. It was almost a given that, in such situations, victory would go to the younger opponent, and this guy had a decade on him at least.

He gave an inaudible sigh. _Well, it's been a good run. I'm sorry to leave people behind, but at least I can delay him and let the rest of the family escape_. He continued to circle, resolving to draw this out as long as possible. _I'm sorry, hon. I love you._

Before either combatant could make an aggressive move, a throwing knife suddenly whistled out of the dark and into the right arm of the Black Ops soldier, below the bodyarmor coverage. Keith wasted no time in taking advantage of the situation and moved in quickly on sure feet. His opponent, grimacing in pain, switched hands and put up a capable defense. The two parried and dodged, spun and sliced, but the end was a foregone conclusion, and both professional soldiers knew it. After a minute or two, the Black Ops soldier lay dead at Keith's feet, his throat slashed.

Breathing heavily, Keith crouched down with his head between his knees to regain his composure. _Haven't been that close to old man Death in quite awhile. Another time, hopefully still some time away._

Standing back up, he walked around to gather his weapons. "Four, you and I need to talk about following orders," he growled into his comm.

"This is Four, what did I do? I'm with Two still!"

Keith straightened, and looked about warily. "Then who did..." he trailed off, finding nobody at all nearby.

* * *

Streets of town outside spaceport.

Jess kept her head down, watching the three Blue Sun mercs as they guarded the door. They were taken by surprise by the W-Y team as they emerged. All three were quickly killed, and their vehicle appropriated.

"This is Three," she murmured as the hovercar growled to life and started down the street. "Package in the open again. Targets obtained hovercar, back en route. Sticking to town streets."

"Two, Four, as soon as you get there, join Three and get in pursuit," Keith ordered rapidly. "Five, try to intercept if you can. Home, get ready to block them if they try to emerge from the town."

As he was talking, both Dani and Sara burst from the doorway. Jess waved to them as she started up the Mule's engine.

" _Shi a_ (yes, affirmative)," she heard Lori report as Dani and Sara jumped on board. Jess threw the throttle lever forward and the Mule took off in hot pursuit.

* * *

Spaceport roadside. Odin.

"Sure, I'll just intercept with my lil' hoverbike, no problem," Lori muttered as she slung her rifle back across her shoulder and mounted the bike yet again. She kicked it to life and soared down the hill and into town.

Lori had to smirk to herself as the memory came back to her of a wild hoverbike ride, clinging desperately to Dani's back as the inexperienced rider tried to get them to safety. The next chance they had gotten, Lori had insisted the two of them take hoverbike lessons. Keith augmented it with some combat driving instruction, which Lori put to good use now as she dodged the light traffic to dive down an alleyway.

 _Main road they were travellin' down, should hit it right 'bout..._ She grinned as she saw a hovercar speed by, heading in the direction of the spaceport. _Now._

She slid into the main street, drifting competently, if not expertly, to end up right behind the hovercar containing the package they sought. She saw one of the mercs turn in his seat to look back at her with wide eyes. "Five, on their tail," she reported.

Drawing her trusty Browncoat Service Pistol, she drew a bead on the back of the driver's head. Before she could shoot, the rear windshield shattered as a dark-bearded man, grinning maniacally, opened fire with his own sidearm.

Lori felt a painful sting in her left arm, the one still clutching the throttle for the hoverbike, and it went numb. "Oh, _cao_ (fuck)," she had time to exclaim before the hoverbike slowed and twisted out of control. She tumbled to the ground as the bike hit nose down, and managed to roll away from the spiraling wreck. Her gun flew out of her hand, but she had fortunately avoided serious injury.

Staggering to her feet and grimacing at the pain in her left arm, Lori fumbled around to pick up her sidearm and holster it. Next to it on the ground was her Callahan, sling broken and somewhat worse for wear, the scope almost twisted off the mounts. "Oh, you poor thing," she murmured. "I'll get ya fixed up soon as we gets back, 'kay?"

Then she heard her wife screaming urgently behind her. "Lori! Grab 'hold!"

She turned to see the Mule slide towards her, slowing down enough for Dani to grab on to her wife. Grinning, Lori slung her damaged Callahan on board and accepted her wife's outstretched hand. "Thanks for the lift, guys!" she said cheerily. "Let's get after 'em!"

The Mule took off in pursuit again, gaining ground steadily. The mercs in the hovercar opened fire, but Dani was able to keep their heads down with her auto shotgun. It wasn't terribly accurate at this range, but they weren't keen on receiving even one of the large steel pellets in their eye. With Sara's help, Lori was able to staunch the flow of blood from her upper left arm, though she was still unable to use it.

As they approached the edge of town, Lori heard the welcome sound of a Firefly's engines. She turned to Dani and they shared an excited grin. "Air cav to the rescue!" she crowed.

"Um, guys..." Sara began hesitantly, pointing ahead.

They could see that Rain had expertly maneuvered the _Favour_ to block off the end of the street. She was hovering the ship maybe a meter off of the ground, preventing the hovercar from getting around it. However, they could also see a skiff-class ship approaching from behind their own ship.

And it looked to be armed with strapped-on side cannons.

"Home! Break off! Break off now, evade!" Dani screamed into the comm.

Rain wasted no time in obeying as she slid the _Favour_ to the side before tilting the nose up and powering the thrusters. As she climbed skyward, it wasn't quite fast enough to avoid the cannon fire coming from the converted gunship. Hits sparked off of the port engine, and smoke started to pour from the damaged ship as Rain slewed her further away to the side.

" _Ching-wah tsao duh liou mahng_ (frog-humping son of a bitch)!" Lori yelled in despair.

The gunship seemed to be disinclined to let the _Favour_ get away. Even as the hovercar slipped underneath the one-sided battle raging overhead, the other ship kept pouring cannon fire after the ground team's crippled home.

"No..." Dani moaned, gripping the console in front of her with white knuckles.

And then, the gunship simply blew up.

" _Ta ma de diyu_ (fucking hell)!" Jess screamed as she twisted the controls to dodge the falling fiery debris.

Before any of them could wonder out loud what had happened, they saw an Alliance ASREV, sleek and deadly, soar overhead.

" _Ai ya, huai le_ (shit on my head), Home please tell me you made it to ground safe!" Dani shouted into her comm, her panicked eyes staring forward, tracking the ASREV as it came around for another pass.

" _Shi a_ , we're down," Rain reported breathlessly, "but we ain't goin' nowhere anytime soon! Port engine's damaged bad, an' I gots hull breaches as well!"

"Don' you worry none, just stay put _baobei_ (treasured one)!" Dani ordered. "We'll get back to ya when we c'n!"

Jess kept the Mule moving forward, though the hovercar was well ahead of them now. There didn't seem to be much hope in catching up with them until the ASREV raked cannon fire across the path of the car, evidently trying to get them to halt. The hovercar complied, only to have one of the mercs pop out, holding what looked to be a very large tube perched on his shoulder.

"Izzat what I think it is?" Sara asked incredulously. "Izzat a gorram rocket launcher?"

She was answered by the smoke trail the rocket left as it homed in unerringly on the ASREV's engine. With a bright flash, the small ship tumbled from the sky to land a few kilometers off to the left in a ball of fire.

"Jess," Dani said in a steely voice. "Catch 'em."

"Oh, I'm going to catch them," Jess grinned determinedly. "You got a plan for when I do?"

Off to the right, coming from the direction of the starport, was another convoy of vehicles approaching on an intercept course, likely from the Blue Sun cruiser. It didn't look like they'd get to the team ahead of them in time.

"Get up close, an' I'll try to disable it," Dani replied. Looking at the other's skeptical glances, she shrugged. "Best I c'n do fer now. Any other ideas?"

"Ah, well," Jess replied with a sigh. "Been too quiet around here anyway." She gunned the engine further, and with a scream of protest, the engine strained to provide more power. The Mule surged ahead, gradually catching up.

They were almost within range of Dani's shotgun, passing a small hill when fire started to come from the back of the hovercar.

"Oh yeah, they do tend to shoot back some, don' they," Dani deadpanned as she ducked.

Unfortunately Jess's attempts to dodge did not take into account the hill that the hovercar had just passed. The incline stretched out further than she expected, and as she lurched away from the incoming fire, the Mule went up on its side, spilling the passengers out before coming to a rest on the other side of the hill.

Dani rolled onto her back, spitting out dust. "Well, that didn' work none."

Jess grinned down at her as she held out her hand to help her up. "Not one of your best ideas, no."

Just then Lori ran up, her injured left arm hanging limply at her side but determinedly dragging her _da pigu_ (bigass) rifle behind her. "Jess!" she screamed out. "Yer the same height, I need yer shoulder!"

Seeing what she intended, Dani helped Lori get the _Long_ propped up on Jess's shoulder. The redheaded sniper pressed her eye to the scope, tracking the hovercar as it raced ahead. "Cover yer ears!" she warned. Then, almost inaudibly, she murmured, "Surprise, fuckers," and fired the behemoth gun.

It was the first time Dani had ever been nearby when the giant anti-vehicle gun was fired. Even with her ears covered, her brainpan seemed to have been rattled by the concussive force of the blowback. Lori was thrown backward, unable to fully support the rifle, and landed on her butt. She kept looking towards her target, though, and cheering madly.

"Didya see that? Didya? Nailed the _hun dan gou niang yang de_ (bastard son of a bitch)!"

Sure enough, the hovercar was on its side, smoke billowing forth. Even from that distance, they could see tiny figures staggering out, but there was nowhere left for them to run, as the Blue Sun convoy was approaching rapidly.

"This is One, I need a sit rep! What's going on?"

"Well," Dani drawled as she helped Lori to her feet, and Sara and Jess picked up the giant sniper rifle, "The _Favour_ 's broke, so's the Mule mebbe, Five is injured, we're all on the ground from takin' a spill... an' we need ta get moving 'fore we're set upon by the Blue Sun folks."

There were a few seconds of silence on the comm. "So I'm guessing the op is a bust," Keith finally replied dryly.

"Yep!" his sister replied cheerfully. "But hey, my gorgeous wife stopped the _wang ba_ (son of a bitch) Jackal, an' they're gettin' all nice an' acquainted with the folks in blue right now." She perked up when she glanced at the Mule, where Jess sat back behind the controls, as the engine coughed back to life. "Oh! Looks like the Mule works after all. Be there in five to pick ya up."

The other three climbed aboard and Jess started the Mule into motion... at half the usual speed.

"Make that ten," Dani amended.

* * *

Londinium. White Sun.

"In conclusion, sir, the team incurred significant costs and yet still failed to obtain the item," the assistant stated, falling silent after a thorough debriefing. He stood attentively after finishing, knowing that the man known as Cavendish would take his time in response.

The man in the tailored suit had his back to Jarvis, staring out across the bright city landscape. It was late afternoon, and the sunlight reflected off of the distant Markovian Museum, causing the old-fashioned bronze roof sheathing to glow like a near-orbit sun.

"And they still believe it was Iskellian that hired them, and not us?"

A normal man might have given an offended snort, but the subordinate was nothing of the sort. "Yes, sir. We were quite attentive to the details, per your orders. The final intermediary came from within the Iskellian Technologies head office itself."

"And your opinion of their performance?"

"Sir?" the assistant replied, puzzled.

He turned in his chair now, gracing Jarvis with a slight smile. "I do value your opinion, and I would like it. Do you believe they failed in their task?"

"Of course, sir," he replied immediately. "They did not retrieve the item."

"And yet they prevented the competition from obtaining it. Blue Sun was embarrassed at how close they came to losing their valuable cybertech. They now know their secret research facility is not as secret as they'd like it to be. And, as I understand it, Blue Sun had contracted with the Alliance for an actual Black Ops commando to oversee the security for the convoy, and he turned up dead. That was the work of this team, as I understand it."

"All true, sir. I had not considered all of the... benefits of the activity on Odin." The subordinate paused. "Do you recommend they receive a partial payment for their services, then?"

Cavendish gave a quiet scoffing laugh. "Of course not, Jarvis. Payment is only on successful delivery of the package." He turned his chair back around to the window. "That will be all."

"Sir." The faithful assistant bowed to his back and left the office, shutting the door behind him.

"And you, my dear? What was your opinion of their operation?"

Sitting quietly on one of the guest chairs was a woman of medium height with a short bob of black hair that framed her heart-shaped face. Some might have called her pretty, save for the dead-looking black orbs that, when locked with your gaze, made you feel as if you might never feel the warmth of a sun again.

She stirred then, crossing the legs of her plain blue jumpsuit. "They had a good plan. And adapted well once it fell apart. They work well enough as a group and individually."

Turning around once again, Cavendish regarded his daughter steadily. As she was now here in an official capacity, there was none of the pretense of insolence as there was the last time she had visited.

"Drawbacks?"

"Aside from their overall failure? I did need to intervene to allow the one subject, Keith Grant, the upper hand. It was unlikely he would have survived."

"Well, we couldn't have that. Were you detected?"

She quirked an eyebrow, a faint touch of her earlier insolence showing. "I am an Operative. I am not detected unless I want to be."

He held up his hand in admission of the unnecessary question.

"Do you still believe they are worth the effort you are putting into them?" she asked neutrally.

"Of course," he insisted gently. "All assets require time to blossom. Each task I set them builds their strength and enhances their individual and group character. Would this subject, Keith, be a challenge for you?" he asked, switching topics suddenly.

"No. He's well-trained but too predictable. As would the former Blue Sun Agent, Kelly Connely."

He smiled as she had anticipated his next question. "And what about the middle Grant child?" he asked quietly.

The Operative frowned slightly as she fingered one of her deadly sharp blades that she kept concealed on her body. "Sara?"

Cavendish nodded, tapping a few keys on his console to bring her profile up on one of the wall screens. "That's right. What if you were ever to go up against her?"

She stood up to look closely at the screen, staring at the face of the adolescent-seeming girl with a wide, friendly smile and curly brown hair. In the photo, her eyes twinkled with good humor. She reached over to touch an entry on the screen, and the still photo switched over to a vid loop of the same girl, face now contorted in a snarl, as she dealt efficiently and ruthlessly with a number of opponents.

"Well," she finally commented softly, almost anticipatorily, "that would an interesting day."

The man in the tailored suit chuckled lightly. "Very well, Nimona. You are dismissed."

Her eye twitched at the mention of her name, but she turned silently and headed towards the door.

"Nimona."

She stopped, her hand paused midair.

"Be a good daughter and see your mother before you head out again. She's been missing you."

"Yes, sir."

* * *

En route to Anson's World. Red Sun system.

It had taken some serious fast-talking on their part to avoid Blue Sun entanglements. As they were never in possession of the package, nor did they ever (to their knowledge) take direct action on Blue Sun representatives, the crew was allowed to go on their way. So long as they refrained in the future from any more 'helpful' yet unasked-for assistance.

The _Favour_ itself took some serious damage to the port engine. Fortunately, the spaceport had the material on hand to get it fixed, as well as to seal up the hull breaches. What they couldn't procure, Cali and Feather were able to manufacture in their machine shop.

After a week of work, they managed to finally lift off, quite a bit lighter in their coffers and nothing else to show for it. Lori's arm was in a sling but would heal quickly as it was a through-and-through, missing anything major. Kelly spent her time fixing Lori's Callahan and it was returned looking good as new before they lifted.

The next morning, Dani was on the bridge, rubbing her eyes wearily. _Been a long few gorram days, need some tea._ She was letting Lori sleep in still while she healed, and missed her company while sitting watch.

Running her fingers through her tousled wavy brown locks, she paused at the doorway of the bridge before stepping out. Feather was emerging from Rain's bunk, wearing just a tank top and a pair of very skimpy cotton shorts. She watched with a smile on her face as her newest crew member stealthily made her way aft towards her own bunk.

 _Knew that girl was good fer my_ nu'er _(daughter)_ , she thought with a grin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title track by Aerosmith. The "informational" clip was influenced by one of the _Chicagoland Vampires_ series by Chloe Neill. Wish I could remember which one I was reading when I wrote it down!
> 
> Easter egg note: The _Milano_ was the name given to Star-Lord's ship in the movie version of _Guardians of the Galaxy_. I do know that in the comics before that, his sentient ship was called, well, simply _Ship_. I like Milano better.
> 
> Also, _Nimona_ is the name of a webcomic series by Noelle Stevenson that was printed into a graphic novel. Well worth the read, it's excellently done. I liked both the name and the attitude of the main character.
> 
> Hope you're enjoying the character development for Rain and Feather, I intend to weave their story through quite a few episodes still...
> 
> Much love and appreciation as always to my lovely Betas, **Sylvana_Crowe** , **KellyConnely** , and **CaliopeGrant**!
> 
> Thanks for reading, and stay shiny!


	66. Episode 52: Isolated

Outbound from Anson's World. Red Sun.

Dani had been busy chatting with Kelly when she noticed the lateness of the hour. _Lori's been waiting fer me 'bout an hour now!_ Grinning sheepishly, she said her goodnights and headed from the galley towards the front of the ship, dropping lightly down into her bunk.

Lori was sprawled out face-down on the bed, hogging the whole breadth of it. Both her left arm and leg were poking out from under the blanket like freckled branches from a tree canopy. Just the top of her head was visible against the pillow, her red hair tousled and sticking up in odd directions already.

The lanky captain smiled to herself affectionately as she divested herself of clothing, sliding the covers over enough to at least sit on the edge of the bed. "Hey, sleepyhead," she said, gently rocking her wife.

A loud snore was her only answer.

Snickering, Dani gave her a poke in the side this time. "C'mon, _wo de ai_ , gimme some room here, ya bed-hog."

Groaning, Lori rolled over on her side, making way for Dani to slip in next to her and wrap her limbs securely around her lover, pressing their warm bodies together firmly.

"Waited up fer ya," Lori mumbled sleepily.

"Yes, I c'n tell," Dani laughed lightly. "Go back to sleep, _lian ren_ (sweetheart)." She leaned in to place a kiss on her lips, which Lori returned halfheartedly before snuggling in even tighter.

"Mmmm, much better," the redhead sighed with a smile before starting to snore again, much softer this time.

Dani took the time to stare at the beautiful face in front of her, reaching over to tuck a strand of red hair behind her ear. _Ain't much of a believer no more, an' ain't been one fer awhile now. But I still gotta thank God or whoever's out there lookin' out fer us. Thank you fer bringin' this wonderful woman my way, an' please lemme always be worthy of 'er love._

She closed her eyes and started to drift off to sleep, but was startled back into cognizance by the crackling of the comm. " _Kaasan,_ sorry to wake ya, but there's a ship approachin' on the scanner. It's on intercept."

Groaning, she sat up and reached for the comm panel. "Thanks, _baobei_ , on my way," she answered Rain.

"Whazzat?" Lori asked, her voice muffled by the blanket that had fallen across her face.

Dani laughed as she quickly pulled her clothes back on, leaving her feet bare. "Ain't nothin' to worry 'bout none, gorgeous. Go back to sleep."

"Ya keep tellin' me that, an' then wakin' me up again," her wife complained before trailing off into a snore once more.

Chuckling to herself, Dani quickly scaled the ladder out of her bunk and strode across to the bridge. "Okay, what've we got?"

Her oldest daughter was looking at the scanner intently from her seat. "Medium-sized, lil' bigger'n us, but I still can't tell none if'n it's... Oh, here we go," Rain amended. "Yeah, looks like a cutter or somethin', definitely armed. Still ten minutes out. Name's _Cobalt_ , registry sez... operated by the _Santo Duo Zou._ Who're they?" she asked, looking up into Dani's scowling face.

"Santo Snatchers," she spat out. "Ruttin' slavers. It's a raidin' ship."

She reached up and grabbed hold of the mike before taking her seat. "All hands, all hands. I need everyone up an' armed, prepare for potential hostilities. Keith, to the bridge please."

"Are we gonna hafta fight 'em off?" Rain asked worriedly, her face slightly pale.

"Not if'n I c'n help it," Dani growled back. "Ain't gonna outrun 'em, so we're gonna bluff."

They heard the pounding of boots from behind as Keith entered the bridge, and Dani succinctly brought him, as well as a thoroughly disgruntled Lori who had entered on his heels, up to speed.

"What's the plan?" Keith asked.

"Almost in transmit range. We call 'em first, ask if'n they're spoilin' fer a fight." Dani glanced around at the others. "Hopefully they ain't, an' we c'n scare 'em off."

Keith nodded resolutely as he sat in the nav seat, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. "You want me to do the talking?"

"Yeah I was hopin' you could bring yer intimindatin' manner to bear," Dani grinned over her shoulder. Lori went to stand behind her, resting a hand on her shoulder.

"You think we're gonna fight?" Lori asked softly.

Dani shook her head. "Don' 'spect to none. But we'll see."

"Am I just stayin' on course?" Rain asked nervously.

"Sure," Dani replied. "Just fly casual."

"How in the ruttin' sphincter of hell am I s'posed to fly casual?" Rain sputtered.

Dani grinned and covered Lori's hand with her own, giving her wife a wink. "Hey, yer the hotshot pilot now here, figgure it out."

After another tense minute or two, while the _Favour_ maintained its course, and despite Rain's grumblings of impending doom, the raider vessel was within hailing range but had not accelerated to attack speed. Keith opened a channel up on the Cortex unit by his seat.

"Raider ship _Cobalt_ , this is merc transport _Fortune's Favour_ , reply please."

"Oooh, nice touch," Lori giggled.

An image came up on the screen, one of a battle-scarred individual missing several chunks of skin from his face as well as patches from his hair. Keith didn't even bat an eye.

"This's Capt'n Scalio of the _Cobalt._ Who am I talkin' to?"

Keith inclined his head marginally. "First Officer Grant. There a reason why you're on an intercept course with our ship?"

The other visage squinted at Keith. "Why ain't I talkin' to the Capt'n?"

"She doesn't bother with trivial matters," Keith shrugged impassively. "Do I need to tell her to prepare for combat, or are you going to change course?"

Scalio gave a nod. "No need fer that, we'll adjust. Safe flyin'." And with that, he cut off the transmission.

"Yep, they're changin' course," Rain said gleefully.

"Nice job, _didi,_ " Dani smiled, but then gave a heavy sigh.

Lori looked down at her with concern. "What's the matter, _wo de ai_? We avoided a fight, that's good, right?"

"Yeah. I just hate slavers."

Rain looked over confusedly. "How izzit even legal to do that?"

Keith spoke up in his quiet baritone to answer. "They operate out on the Border and Rim worlds. It's illegal in the Core, technically, but the Alliance doesn't really bother to stop it outside of White Sun unless it becomes a real issue."

"Like if'n some rich kid gets themselves captured," Dani snorted as she unbuckled herself and rose from her seat. "We likely coulda taken' 'em, too, if'n they boarded us."

"Maybe," Keith conceded. "But it wouldn't be a sure thing."

"No," Dani sighed again as she took Lori's hand to walk back to their bunk. "Still ain't easier to swallow any."

* * *

En route to Osiris. White Sun.

Two days later saw the entire crew engaged in what Keith had optimistically called a "team-building exercise". Most of those assembled in the cleared space within the cargo bay were more than likely to disagree with that claim, instead perhaps finding it a bit more sadistic than that.

When going over the rules, Keith had explained that the tradition of dodgeball had originated from ancient Earth-That-Was. It was used to weed out those who were unfit for competition and encouraged teamwork to ensure a winning side.

"I think I know now why Earth-That-Was fell apart," Emily groaned, pulling her shirt up to poke at the large tender bruise forming on her abdomen there.

"What, dodgeball?" Rain snarked next to her. She was holding an icepack to the side of her head, where she could feel her ear swelling up painfully.

"Yep," Emily replied, leaning back with a sigh.

The teams were split up evenly if maybe a tad unfairly. The five members of the ground team were lined up against the flight crew of Rain, Feather, and Cali, joined by both Kelly and Emily.

With five medium-sized rubber balls in play, the resulting onslaught quickly eliminated both Rain and Emily in the first volley.

"I'm surprised Cali's still in play," Emily commented, wincing as Feather took a hit to her leg. The redheaded mechanic sat back with a _whoof_ of sound before staggering back to her feet and limping over to join the other two fallen members of her team.

"I ain't," Rain smirked as she scooted over to make room for her girlfriend. "Under that panda-lovin' exterior is one freaky-scary woman when she gets riled up." She wrapped her arm around Feather as she sat down with a huff. "You okay there, _wo de ai_?"

"Am now," Feather smiled, leaning into the embrace. Emily chuckled lightly next to them as they returned their attention to the waging battle.

Though it was now five on two, the remaining flight crew were putting up a terrific fight. Kelly managed to dodge or roll out of the way of most incoming strikes, but Cali simply kept one ball in each hand, denying them to the other team while using them to deflect any other incoming ones. Finally, Kelly got ahold of one of the rolling balls to send it hurtling forward, taking Jess in the knee. Cali used the opportunity to throw one of the balls clenched in her hands across the short distance to strike an unsuspecting Dani in the back.

"Woohoo!" Emily cheered. "Get 'em, girls!"

Dani supported Jess as they limped over to the side, both grinning widely. "Y'all doin' okay over here?" the lanky captain asked.

"I think I might've preferred the bar fight," Rain snarked.

"I'll keep that in mind, next planetfall we make," her _Kaasan_ said casually as she sat.

" _Qu si_ (go to hell)," Rain replied pleasantly. "Me an' Feather are stayin' on board from now on."

Her girlfriend looked up at her with wide, unblinking blue eyes. "Aww, you ain't takin' me to see stuff no more?"

Rain sighed heavily. " _Ai ya, huai le_ (shit on my head), you know I can't resist the face none."

"Yay, I win!" Feather cheered quietly, snuggling back into Rain's arms.

"Ain't no use tryin' ta resist one o' them Aberdeen women," Dani laughed, wincing as her wife took a brutal shot to the side of her head, sending her sprawling.

Lori crawled over on her hands and knees to drag herself onto the makeshift bench of crates and sit next to Dani. " _Lian ren_ (sweetheart), yer _nu'er_ (daughter) hurt me," she whined half-heartedly. "C'n ya give 'er septic duty or somethin'?"

"No, _zhi'ai_ (most beloved)," Dani laughed. "But I c'n kiss it an' make it better."

"Oh goodie, that works fer me too," Lori giggled as her wife leaned over to plant tender kisses across the side of her face.

"Here you go, Lori," Jess smiled, handing her an ice pack from the conveniently-placed stash. "This will help too."

"Thanks, Jess, but I'm keepin' my current treatment fer the time bein'," Lori grinned back.

Keith had finally managed to catch Cali off-balance and hurled a ball in her direction with the force of a rocket. The diminutive pigtailed mechanic twisted to avoid the projectile, her braids sailing out to either side, but still received a glancing blow across her rear. "Hey!" she shouted indignantly.

The burly ex-Spec Forces trooper smirked in victory, only to have the expression wiped off his face by the ball that bounced off of his forehead. Kelly laughed, wiggling her fingers at him from across the bay.

Both Keith and Cali walked over to the bench, the latter glaring at the former and muttering under her breath before plopping down on the other side of Rain. " _Hun dan gou niang yang de_ (bastard son of a bitch)," she snorted out, leaning forward and rubbing her backside.

Rail laughed and nudged her with an elbow, careful not to break the hold on her girlfriend cradled in her arms. "Hey, you did great out there, _meimei_."

"Well, now we gots to rely on Aunt Kelly to win," Cali sighed.

"She can take 'er," Feather said confidently.

"You willing to make a bet on that?" Keith rumbled cheerfully as he rubbed his forehead with one hand while wrapping his other arm around his wife.

"I'll bet dishes fer one night," Emily said with a very Grant-like smirk.

"Done," Dani snickered. "Make it fer all the players on the losin' side?"

There was a general chorus of assent, and then they settled in to watch the titanic battle shaping up in front of them.

Both Sara and Kelly were petite, nimble, and possessed an almost otherworldly sense of accuracy. In Dani's mind, the two women were very evenly matched, except for one minor factor.

Sara was about half of Kelly's age, and thus less likely to tire as quickly.

Kelly evidently had that in her mind as she engaged in a furious assault, scooping up the rubber balls on the run and hurling them across the bay. Sara performed an intricate series of skips and rolls to dodge each projectile, scooping up one ball to send back at Kelly. The former Agent twisted to the side and grabbed it when it bounced off of the wall behind her.

Both women paused, crouched with a ball in their hands, and grinned at each other.

"You ready to give up yet, _ni zi_ (little girl)?" Kelly mocked.

Sara snorted derisively. "Ain't happenin', _ayi_ (aunt, mother's sister). Bring it."

Before either could make another move, the ship gave a shudder. Dani got to her feet slowly, looking around. "That sounded solid," she murmured. "Rain..."

Another shudder almost knocked Dani off of her feet, and alarms started to wail. All of them could hear the faint hiss of escaping air coming from someplace there in the cargo bay.

" _Cao_ (fuck)!" Dani shouted, regaining her balance and sprinting for the stairway leading to the bridge. "Everyone, upstairs! Cali, Feather, engine room! Rain, with me! Last one out, seal up the airlock behind you!"

The crew didn't hesitate in following Dani's rapid orders, and all scrambled for the staircases leading out of the bay. Cali and Feather charged aft through the workshop and lounge and shut the hatches there before racing up the rear stairway. The others ran up behind Dani and Rain, and Keith paused at the hatch there to usher everyone through before sealing that portal.

Dani threw herself into her seat, flipping her screen on to run damage control diagnostics. "Rain, see if you can tell what hit us!" she barked, her words crisp and her Core accent coming to the fore.

"On it!" Rain shouted back over the blaring alarms, sitting down mere seconds after her captain. "Looks like... _Ta ma de diyu_ (fucking hell), it's a meteorite shower, uncharted, we're passin' through it!"

"Gorammit!" Dani snarled, as she saw the blinking red markers for hull breaches flash on her display. The impacts seemed to be coming from the port side, most of them too small to pierce the hull, but some of the bigger ones...

There was a loud _clang_ of noise from behind them, and her display showed fresh damage to the hallway leading to the bridge and the galley. Dani turned her head as she heard the unmistakable hiss of escaping air, the sound that every spacer dreads. She quickly grabbed hold of the intercom.

"Engine room, seal up, now! All hands to shuttle three!" Shuttle two was on the port side, hopefully, number three on the starboard would be sheltered from the worst of it.

She frantically ran her hands across her board, further assessing the status of the ship. Rain rapidly pressed a series of buttons to finish sealing off belowdecks and to stop more air from pumping in down there.

The lanky captain jumped out of her seat to close the bridge door but was startled to see Lori skid around the corner from the stairwell and sprint towards her. She quickly grabbed her wife's arm to haul her in and then sealed the airlock shut before leaping back into her chair again.

"All thrusters are out, hydraulic line was hit!" Rain reported tensely.

Dani hit some more buttons to seal off the hallway outside the bridge now and stop the airflow in there. "Engine room, you sealed?"

Feather came back immediately. " _Shi a_!"

"Right, shunt power from the thrusters," Dani ordered. "Make sure the air recycler backup is functional."

"Cali sez that's what we're runnin' on is the backup right now! Main took a hit!"

Dani muttered a curse under her breath. "Shuttle, you set?"

"We're here _jiejie_ , all accounted for," Keith replied over the comm. "You get Lori?"

Dani glared over her shoulder at the nav chair where Lori was parked. "Yeah I do. Sit tight."

"We're outta the shower," Rain exhaled thankfully. "I think the damage is over with now."

Nodding her thanks, Dani hit a button on the controls to silence the blaring alarms and then turned to look at her abashed wife. "Why the _diyu_ (hell) didn' you get in the shuttle?" she asked with a trace of heat in her voice.

"Shuttles only gots limited air, right?" Lori replied meekly. "I was tryin' ta make it last longer, spread it out some."

Dani sighed, rubbing her forehead. "I understan' that, _wo de ai_ , but we gots even less up here. We lost most of the atmo 'tween decks. Shuttles c'n recycle air, even six of y'all woulda lasted longer than we would."

"Oh. Gorramit. I screwed up, didn' I?"

Dani smiled ruefully. "Yeah, ya did. What's done is done, but that's why I'm Capt'n, _dong ma_? Ya gotta do what I say in these situations."

Lori sighed as well, apologetically. "I'm sorry, beautiful. I was thinkin' like yer wife an' not yer crew, more concerned with you, I s'pose."

* * *

Engine room. _Fortune's Favour._

Cali stood in front of her beloved, yet now unpowered, accelerator core, arms crossed and glaring at it fiercely. Feather was standing off to the side, the tool case clutched in her hands.

"Um, sweetie, I don' think yer gettin' it to work with dirty looks alone," she redheaded mechanic said mildly.

Cali huffed out a breath. "Well, was worth a try. Alright, let's get diggin' 'round an' see why she's ailin'."

Doffing her panda hat first, she removed the grating below the core and eased herself down headfirst, careful not to snag her panda head patch on any protruding metals. Feather placed the toolkit within easy reach and then stood at the monitor, switching through the displays skillfully.

"Lessee... main thrusters out, main recyclers out, all the ruttin' mains are out!" she muttered, scrolling through the bad news.

"I think I c'n reach the main recycler bypass from here!" a muffled voice called out. Feather glanced over and snickered as she saw a pair of feet wiggling up in the air as Cali twisted around to get better access. "Yep, got it!"

"What d'ya need?" Feather asked, crouching down and trying to avoid the flailing shoes.

"Gimme the wire cutters an' fusion thingie," Cali replied cheerfully. "That'll do it."

"Fusion thingie?" Feather asked humorously, as she handed the two requested items down. She received a smack upside the head for her efforts.

"Oops, sorry! Yeah, the thingie, ya know what I meant, you handed it t'me!"

"It has a name, ya know," Feather snarked, leaning back and rubbing her head. Fortunately, she managed to avoid another swing of the pigtailed mechanic's feet, narrowly missing her bruised leg.

"An' d'ya know what the name is?"

"Well, no, but you should!" Feather protested. "Yer the head mechanic an' all! I'm s'posed to be learnin' from ya!"

"Yep! An' now ya know what it's called! The fusion thingie!" There was a spark of electricity that arced over Cali's feet like an orbiting moon. "Ow!"

Feather giggled. "Ya need some help?"

"Nah, I think I... Oh hey, lookit there..."

Feather leaned in as Cali started to mutter to herself. She couldn't make out much beyond jumbled up words that had something to do with the inner workings of the engineering trade, but would not lean any further in. She'd already learned to respect the power of erratically flailing feet.

"Okay! Yeah, this is gonna be _niubi_ (fucking awesome)!" Cali finally shouted up coherently. "But we gotta move fast!"

"Why, what's wrong?" Feather replied nervously. "There a hull breach down there or somethin'?"

"Nah, but all the blood is rushing to my head! So, throw the switches on the mains there, leadin' to both the recycler and th'accelerator core. I'll tell ya when to switch 'em back on."

Feather lurched to her feet, hobbling slightly now that her injured leg was stiffening up. She traced the lines to find the required switches and threw them both into the "off" position. There was no change to indicate any difference, but the lights on that console were all dark anyway. "Right, got 'em!"

She stood by the console, listening to Cali mutter some more. She caught some comment about her sore _pigu_ and then some unpleasant names that she assumed were directed towards her Uncle Keith.

The intercom crackled to life. "Engine room, how we doin'?" Dani's voice came back across.

"We're workin' on it!" Feather replied back cheerfully. "No need ta fret, Capt'n! We'll be shiny in no time!"

"Gorram right we will!" Cali's voice joined in optimistically. "Okay, Feather, _deng yi miao_ (hold on a sec)..."

Feather saw the amber status indicators on the console in front of her sputter to life. "Yay, we gots lights now!"

"Right, switch 'em back on!"

Feather did so, and there was a _clunk_ of machinery that echoed through the engine room as the lights changed to green. Feather grinned, leaning her head back as she felt the cool rush of air on her face. She glanced over to see the accelerator core also had status lights blinking, ready to be reset.

"You did it, hon!" she crowed.

Cali gave a muffled cheer of her own. "Okay, now I need ya to pull on my feet, 'cause I'm stuck."

* * *

Bridge. _Fortune's Favour_.

"So we gots the mains runnin', but the thrusters are still hurtin'," Cali's chipper voice informed the bridge crew. "C'n ya feel th'air up there?"

"Not so much," Dani replied, frowning, as she looked over her board. "Seems like... yeah, the hit on the hallway here cracked open the air ducts. We're losin' a lot of what air we're gettin'." She sat back with a sigh. "No point in wastin' it. Go 'head an' close it off, we'll keep runnin' on the 'mergency recyclers."

"Hey _jieie_ , what other damage can you see?" Keith's voice came over from the shuttle.

"Well, I c'n see some cracks above the galley, and several along the midline, that's affecting the cargo bay," Dani replied, squinting at her screen. "I think... yeah, we're all in th'only airtight spaces we gots fer now."

"And how long can you last on emergency air?" Keith asked quietly.

"Mebbe a day'r two," Dani replied, unconcerned. "But if needs be, we c'n all just get into the shuttle, you c'n bring 'er 'round an' dock-"

" _Jiejie_ ," Keith interrupted gently. "Docking clamps are damaged. We can't get free."

"Oh," Dani replied, looking around at the other two women. "Well. _Cao._ "

"Yeah," Lori sighed guiltily, knowing she had shortened the air expectancy with her previous rash actions. "So what else c'n we fix?"

"No way to fix the hull breaches that I c'n see," Dani mused. "All the spacesuits are in the cargo hold..."

"I c'n get the maneuvering thrusters workin' from here," Rain reported assuredly. "Can't fix the main thrusters none, pretty gorram sure they took external hits. But I c'n run a bypass from up here."

"Well, alright then," Dani said with a grin as Rain rose from her seat. "Leastways we're makin' progress on patchin' things up. Shuttle, engine room," she said into the comm. "Y'all keep thinkin' on ways we c'n get the old girl fixed up or movin' again with what we gots, 'specially if'n we gots some maneuverability. Ain't no way to land planet-side if'n we ain't got the main thrusters runnin'."

Within a few minutes, Rain was hunkered down in front of the pilot's console with the small toolkit kept on the bridge, wires spilling out of the open access panel. Dani and Lori had gotten up and stood a respectful distance behind her, peering over her shoulder.

"That there's a whole mess of wirin'," Dani said doubtfully. "You gots this, _baobei_?"

"No worries, _Kaasan,_ " her daughter replied confidently. "This's easy. Hook into this line here, an' cross these other two..." Her fingers worked quickly and deftly to cut and strip a few of the wires with her multitool and then twist them together, shaking her hand out occasionally as a sharp wire stabbed her finger.

"I'd say she knows 'er stuff, _wo de ai_ ," Lori grinned.

Cali's voice came over the comm then. " _Jiejie_ , you know we still gots power goin' through the auxiliary circuit, right?"

"I know, _meimei_ ," Rain replied distractedly, tying off the first set of wires. She sat back on her heels with a satisfied smirk. "So now we just gotta cut the old path, an' then hook the new up here..."

"An' 'member, _jiejie_ ," Cali's voice came back across. "When we hadta fix it last, we rerouted-"

The diminutive mechanic's words were cut off by a loud spark and a flash of light. Rain went sailing back from the access panel to land on her back, unmoving.

" _Ai ya, huai le_ (shit on my head)!" Dani shrieked as she dove over to where her oldest daughter had landed. "Rain! Sweetie, c'n ya hear me?" She bent forward to check her vitals. "Okay, her heart's beatin' like a racehorse, but it's beatin'. Breathin's shallow... Lori, ask Kelly what to do!"

Lori jumped up and grabbed hold of the mike. "Kelly, Rain just took a 'lectric shock of some sort, she's lyin' there an' ain't respondin', what do we do?"

Kelly's calm voice came back across after a brief delay. "Is she away from whatever shocked her?"

"Wait, what happened? Is Rain okay?" Cali panicked voice interrupted.

"Not now, sweetie," Lori gently admonished. "Yeah, Kelly, she's away from the panel. Nothin' seems to be sparkin' from there no more."

"Alright, how are her vitals?"

"Dani sez her heart's racin' somethin' fierce, an' breathin' is shallow."

"Nothing more we can do right now, just keep her comfortable and watch over her closely. Do either of you know CPR?"

"I do, an' Dani's noddin' her head as well." Lori gave a sigh. "Okay, so Cali, you just keep yerself calm, yer sister's gonna be fine, alright? She just took a shock."

" _Gao yang jong duh goo yang_ (motherless goats of all motherless goats)," Cali sputtered angrily, "I told 'er! I told 'er, an' she never listens to me none! Gorram fool goes an' gets herself 'lectrocuted, an', an'..."

She trailed off tearfully before Feather's gentle voice came on. "It's okay, Aunt Lori. I gots 'er."

"Thanks, _baobei_ ," Lori smiled. She walked over to the lockers after hanging the mike back up, retrieved a pair of blankets, and then turned back to where Dani was still crouched by Rain's head. "Here _lian ren_ (sweetheart)," she said quietly.

Dani accepted the blankets gratefully. She went to lift Rain's head up to slide one under her when the frazzled pilot's eyes popped open, and she emitted an ear-piercing shriek.

Dani and Lori both vainly tried to calm her, but Rain sat up and started scooting backwards against the bulkhead, screaming the whole time and covering her ears with her hands. She kept trying to move back even when she was against the wall as if she could push herself out into the Black.

Finally, after almost a full minute, her screams trailed off to a whimper.

"Rain, honey? Look at me, _baobei_ ," Dani said, placing her hands on either side of Rain's face. "What's wrong, where does it hurt?"

"Everywhere!" Rain shouted. "Everything! I hear everything, make it stop, please _Kaasan_ make it stop!"

" _Da-shiang bao-tza shr duh lah doo-tze_ (the explosive diarrhea of an elephant)," Dani breathed. She gathered Rain into a tight hug and turned towards her wife. "Lori, _zhi'ai_ (most beloved), I need ya t'do somethin' fer me, okay? It's really important. Try an' quiet yer mind, think 'bout just blankness."

"Quiet my..." Lori trailed off in comprehension. "Oh. _Cao_."

Dani nodded firmly. "She's like she was when a lil' girl, an' what she had first kicked in. It's overwhelmin' 'er. Tell ya what, look up outta the viewport into the Black. Just concentrate on it, 'kay?"

Lori nodded uncertainly and stood back up. She made her way to Dani's usual seat and lowered herself down, staring out into space. _Okay, lookin' out at that big empty Black... just think emptiness..._

Maybe five minutes later, Rain's whimpering and painful moaning had ceased. She was still rocking back and forth in Dani's arms, and her _Kaasan_ was murmuring quietly to her all the while.

"I'm right here _baobei_ , just focus on my voice, clear it all away, not goin' nowhere, I gots ya... keep listenin' to me, ignore th'other voices..."

Finally, Rain sat up, wiping her eyes wearily and nodding her head. "Okay. Yeah, I'm okay now, sorry I just..."

"It's fine, _baobei,_ " Dani replied gently, giving Rain a kiss on her forehead. "Gave us a bit of a scare there. Didya get yer, um, shields back in place?"

Rain sighed, leaning her head back against the bulkhead and closing her eyes. "I did, yeah. Took alot of effort this time, don' know why 'xactly... _Ta ma de diyu_ (fucking hell), ain't felt that way inna long time, was _jing kuangwang_ (scared shitless) fer a spell there."

"You an' me both," Lori interjected with a smile. "I'd no idea what was goin' on. You were like that as a lil' one?"

" _Deng yi miao_ (hold on a sec)," Dani murmured, standing up to grab hold of the mike. "Everyone, Rain's awake, she's good. We'll keep watch over 'er. You okay there, Cali?"

"It's shiny Capt'n, I'm keeping 'er from spinnin' 'erself into too much of a tizzy," Feather's cheerful and relieved voice came back.

Dani smiled at the response. "An' how 'bout you, Sara, doin' alright?"

After a second or two, her other daughter replied somewhat subduedly. "Well, I'll stop wearin' out a hole in the deck pacin' now, you tell 'er she's gorram lucky she gots such a thick skull."

"Heard that just fine," Rain muttered, her eyes still closed.

"Roger that, sweetie," Dani grinned. "We'll take care of 'er. Just settle back and relax fer a spell while we assess what we gots now."

Lori got up and moved back to the nav seat again while Dani took her seat, scanning the console. "When she was mebbe eight or so, right 'fore I headed off to the war, Rain started gettin' headaches, complainin' 'bout gettin' flashes of stuff when 'round folk. An' then, when she hit twelve, 'parently it got worse, an' she started hearin' voices all the time. Beth was all alone an' hadta deal with it, but her sister Maribelle came to help out. 'Tween the two of them, they helped 'er get it under control. That sound 'bout the right of it, _baobei_?"

Rain nodded tiredly from her seat on the floor still. "Ain't heard voices since. Mostly images, feelin's... I c'n always tell if'n person's lyin' to me, but I figured out howta keep my shields in place, block out what I don' wanna hear." She gave a small snort. "Hardly ever bother me no more, 'less I go into a big crowd. An' I don' go outta my way tryin' to get a read on no one, well, 'xcept fer..." She trailed off then, a light blush on her cheeks. "Never mind none," she finished with a mutter.

Dani and Lori shared an amused glance, knowing full well who might be close enough to Rain for her to get a read off of. "That's fine, sweetie," Dani murmured. "Oh, hey, looks like what ya did worked after all! Maneuvering thruster control's online now, better'n nothin', that's fer sure!"

* * *

Engine room. _Fortune's Favour_.

Feather had been trying to keep Cali occupied for the last several minutes to ease her worry for her older sister. That, and try to ease her own panic about almost losing her girlfriend.

"So what 'bout riggnin' up some sorta portable rebreather?" Feather asked from her crosslegged seat on the raised bulkhead on the side of the engine room.

"Ain't got enuff to work with," Cali muttered as she paced back and forth, her braids flipping about each time she turned. She had to keep pushing her hat back up on her head as her irritated scowl made it drop forward. "We ain't lookin' at this the right way none..."

"What, you mean not worry 'bout patchin' it up?"

"Right," Cali answered firmly. "Ain't gonna get 'er fixed like that. We needs to call fer help, or get... to... somewhere..." she trailed off in wonder as she stopped her pacing.

"Cali?" the redheaded mechanic asked curiously.

"No ruttin' way c'n it be that easy..." Cali said. She tilted her head slightly, still staring off at something only she could see, her eyes moving rapidly about.

Feather sat back with a grin. This was something few others really got to see, but it made her bounce with excitement every time she did. Most considered the teenaged mechanic to be scatter-brained and absent-minded, at best, but Feather knew now that under that flighty exterior lurked a brilliant mind that simply worked differently than most other folk. Her thought processes were scattered, true, but the routes they took would always bring her around to some insight or other that others would miss.

Truth be told, it both awed and intimidated her a little bit. But she considered herself honored to be paired up with her, even if most of what her girlfriend's little sister did was more instinctual than instructional.

Cali slowly walked over to the intercom and picked it up. She still took another few seconds before opening up the channel to the rest of the ship. "Hey, _Kaasan_ , I gots a notion..."

* * *

Bridge. _Fortune's Favour._

It was a brilliant idea, really, and one she should have thought of. But Dani didn't begrudge her daughter for coming up with it first, indeed she swelled with pride to think of the accomplishments all three of her daughters were capable of.

If the _Favour_ had continued to drift on their current course, they would have taken another five to eight days to reach Osiris, which, helpfully, was the best place for them to go anyway to get themselves patched up. But by that point the three on the bridge would be dead from asphyxiation, and the ones in the shuttle close to that. Without anyone on the bridge to Wave for help when they closed to within satellite range, they would have to hope someone got the emergency beacon signal, or wait until the short-range shuttle communications could be received.

But as that would mean that she would no longer be among the living at that point, Dani wasn't too keen on the idea.

However, Cali noted that even though the main thrusters were out, precluding any landings, they could still perform a full burn with the main drive. The initial acceleration would be brutal, at least until the gravity compensators caught up, but they could cut the flight down to one day if they used the maneuvering thrusters to turn around at midpoint and use the full burn again to slow back down.

The plan went off without a hitch, the only injury being to Cali's already sore _pigu_ , and she was not hesitant to let Keith know exactly how much of that was his fault, as well as her displeasure regarding this injury both to her pride and rear end.

Keith's only reply was a booming chuckle, which did little to dispel the little mechanic's ire.

Within eighteen hours or so, they were able to send a Wave out to Osiris, and Dani immediately reached out to the one person on the planet she knew she could always count on.

"Here there Dani!" Tom greeted her as his cheerful face came across the Cortex unit. "What c'n I do fer ya? Any trouble making yer landin' on time?"

"Yeah, 'bout that..." Dani grimaced, and then related their current predicament.

"Well now, that there's definitely a spot of trouble," Tom chuckled when the lanky captain had finished. "I c'n help y'all out, though. Gots a tug that I sometimes contract out to, he's in the area, so lemme give 'im a call. I'll pass on the coords, just come to a stop best as ya c'n."

Dani did so, spinning the ship back around so it was facing the planet.

"A tug?" Lori asked curiously. "What did he mean by that?"

"Usually a big ole ship, gots a lotta grapples an' such," Dani replied, turning in her chair. "They help smaller ships out, give 'em a tow back to a dock so's they c'n get fixed up. Some c'n be pretty decent-sized."

"Like mebbe that one?" Rain asked, her voice somewhat hushed.

Dani and Lori looked out the front viewport, and then both got out of their chairs to lean forward for a better look. The approaching ship was enormous, the size of a superfreighter like Blue Sun would use for bulk transportation between Core worlds. Instead of a solid structure, though, it was made of up a skeletal web of girders and struts, connecting a central command compartment to several very large outboard engines, with a great many hooks and docking clamps in between.

As the ship loomed closer, Dani noted that each engine was about the size of their entire ship.

"Wow," Lori breathed.

"Yup," Rain replied, her eyes wide.

Dani reached over when she noticed the Cortex blinking for an incoming call, switching it on.

"This is the space tug _Swordfish_ , calling Firefly transport _Fortune's Favour,_ reply please."

"This is the _Favour_ , Captain Dani Grant here. 'Preciate the assistance. C'n ya take us on down to Tom's yard?"

"Sure can," the weather-beaten face replied cheerfully. "My name's Captain Jeremy Richter. More than happy to help. Payment up front, though, if you don't mind."

Dani chuckled. "Oh, we don' mind none at all, we're just happy y'all c'n bring us down in one piece." She punched some keys and noted the price, which was a bit steeper that she expected, but likely reasonable enough given the size of the tug and the fact that this was the Core. "Payment authorized."

" _Shi a_ (yes, affirmative), that's confirmed. We're moving into position, just keep her still and let us do the flying."

Dani smiled her thanks again and closed the circuit, picking up the mike for the intercom next. "Well, our ride's here, folks. Just settle back an' we should be dirtside soon."

The giant tow ship had them secure within its belly and headed down to the surface in no time. Tom's yard being the size it was, however, they couldn't just land, and so hovered several tens of meters above ground while strong winches lowered the _Favour_ the rest of the way down to settle securely onto its landing struts.

With a cheerful farewell, and a promise to help out the next time they were stranded, providing their payment cleared, of course, the _Swordfish_ was on its way. Those on the bridge of the _Favour_ eagerly cracked open the outer cargo bay doors remotely first before doing so with the rest of the ship, even popping open the upper airlock hatches to let the fresh air inside. Without further ado, the entire crew set to work on restoring their home back to operating status.

* * *

Tom's Salvage Yard. Osiris. White Sun.

"I 'preciate yer help with all this, Tom," Dani smiled at the rotund mechanic as they paced around the exterior of the ship. Keith walked on the other side of Dani as they did an inspection of the work that had been done.

It had been only a week, but her ship was restored and ready to hit the Black again, with less of an impact to their coffers than she anticipated, thanks to Tom's usual discounts. She was eager to return to her ship and get flying once more, and truth be told she suspected most of the crew were of the same mind. _Once you start sailin' that big beautiful Black, ain't no easy way to stay on the ground no more._

Tom was verbally running through the exterior places where the main patching had been done when Dani noticed movement up on the thruster strut they were approaching. She stopped in her tracks, grinning, and tugged on Tom's arm to get him to stop as well.

Keith went several meters more before noticing that the other two were no longer keeping pace with him, and he turned curiously. "What-"

His question was cut off by the bucketful of water that was unceremoniously dumped on his head.

Dani and Tom both clutched their sides as they howled with laughter, seeing the big man sputter indignantly as he looked around for the culprits. Glancing far above him, he noted the top of a panda hat peering down. It leaned over a little further to reveal Cali's widely grinning face as she clutched a bucket in front of her. She was soon joined by both of her sisters as well as her auburn-haired co-conspiring mechanic.

"We love you, Uncle Keith!" Rain called out cheerfully, and the four women retreated, their laughter echoing across the yard.

"I think, _didi_ ," Dani gasped, tears of mirth streaming down her cheeks, "that mebbe ya shouldn't run no more games of dodgeball."

"Perhaps you're right," Keith replied, a sudden gleam in his eyes. "Now come over here so I can give you a big, ice-cold, wet hug."

Dani gave a shriek and took off around the perimeter of the ship, her brother in hot pursuit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title track by Chiasm from the _Vampire: The Masquerade: Bloodlines_ game soundtrack.
> 
> By popular request, now with 25% more Cali and her panda awesomeness!
> 
> The easter-egg from _Star Wars_ should be obvious with the "fly casual" bit. What might not be so obvious is Rain's reply, which is a direct translation of Chewie's response.
> 
> One note on the use of _ayi_ by Sara in addressing Kelly. I think it'd be accurate to say by this point that Sara reflects both Rain and Cali's attitude towards Kelly as an unofficial member of the family. Thus she would consider her to be a sister to either/both Dani and/or Beth.
> 
> Stay shiny!


	67. Episode 53: Stone Cold Crazy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you haven't read my one-shot yet, _[Nothing In The 'Verse: Space Bazaar Blues](http://archiveofourown.org/works/4588008)_ , I highly recommend you do so before reading this chapter. Rain and Feather make a whole lot more sense after doing so. Cheers!

Moon of Selene. Valentine. White Sun.

Her lungs burned from the exertion of running for her life.

Alex spared a glance over her shoulder as she darted through the crowded marketplace. She didn't see any of them behind her, but there was no telling how far back they were. And they were back there, of course. They always were.

The young woman shouldered her way through the milling crowds, conscious of the weight in her front pocket. _I can't let them get this. Not after all I went through to obtain it... But they'll never let me live long enough to get the truth out!_

Suddenly she was stopped in her tracks, slamming into the chest of a much taller woman. She was lean and lanky, with medium-length brown hair worn back in a ponytail and dressed in typical spacer garb. She looked down at Alex with startlingly green eyes, laugh lines etched upon her face but failing to conceal the faint traces of scars on her forehead and next to her left eye.

Somehow, Alex knew she could trust this woman.

Another woman next to her, redheaded and freckled but dressed in the same style of spacer clothing and slightly shorter than her companion, reached out a hand to steady her. "Whoa, now, sweetie, watch where yer goin'!"

The taller woman reached out a comforting hand as well. "You okay there, _pengyou_ (friend)? Someone after ya?"

Alex dashed away the tears she hadn't realized had formed in her eyes. Whether from the terror of the last few days catching up to her, or from sheer relief at finally coming across a pair of friendly faces, she didn't know. And she didn't have the luxury of time to figure that out right now.

"Please, you have to help me!" she whispered desperately. Pulling her hand out of her pocket, she released the treasured datastick into the brunette's outstretched hand, closing her fingers over it. "They won't let me get this out, you have to do it for me! Set the truth free!"

With that she slipped back through the crowds, praying that her trust wasn't misplaced and also that she could elude her pursuers for just a little bit longer.

She was out of earshot and thus unable to hear the lanky spacer turn to her companion and utter, " _Shenme ta ma de_ (what the fuck)?"

* * *

_Fortune's Favour._

Dani and the rest of her crew were huddled around her handheld at the dining table. She had put in the datastick that the strange girl from the marketplace had thrust upon her, and Kelly was looking it over now, the others peering over her shoulder.

"Looks like there's a simple vid on it, and then something else, a very large file that I can't identify or open," Kelly mused thoughtfully. "I've never seen an encryption schema like it."

"Well, s'pose we c'n look at the vid first, huh?" Lori asked curiously.

"Here goes," Kelly replied, propping the handheld up for all to see.

There was a blank screen for a second, and then the face from the marketplace came on. She looked just as disheveled and frantic as she did when she bumped into Dani and Lori, even wearing the same ragged clothes.

"I hope this gets out to someone who can help," the girl began, whispering harshly. "My name is Alexandra Crowley, but I just go by Alex to most folks." She paused, taking a deep breath. "And I've come across a terrible, terrible secret. One that has put my life in danger. It affects the highest levels of government and a certain corporate entity that I cannot name on here. But they're the ones trying to kill me, I'm sure of it."

Kelly paused the vid, the girl's face frozen in a visage of ravaged fear. "Did you notice anyone chasing this girl, Alex, in the market?"

Dani and Lori turned to each other and shook their heads slowly. "No, not a soul," Dani confirmed.

"Hmm," Kelly mused. "Well, so far it certainly sounds plausible that another one of Blue Sun's dirty little secrets got out in the open."

"Do they really have all that many?" Jess asked.

Kelly chuckled humorlessly. "Hon, you have no idea..." She clicked the vid to resume playing.

"The file on the datastick here is encrypted, as I'm sure you've noticed by now," Alex continued. "There are two other people that have the keys, you need both to unlock it. The first is a baker by the name of Dorsey, his store is on Market Street next to a clothing shop. The next is a nurse that works for Dr. Cameron, her name is Lilly."

She glanced around at something offscreen, before leaning back into the vid camera. "I know this all seems crazy. There are more of us out there, friends of mine who helped me get this. I don't want to rat them out, but they can back up my story, maybe help with the decryption if you can't. Go to the Cortex cafe on Belmont Drive, it's called Count Zero. Ask for a guy named Case. One other chick that can help you, if you can find her. Goes by Molly, though that's not her real name. You can usually find her on the docks, looking for work on a ship to get off-planet, though she hasn't found anything in the three months that I've known her."

With a heavy sigh, Alex stared down at her hands in front of her, tears forming. "I hope your watching this doesn't mean I'm dead. I'd really like to not be dead just yet." She looked back up, anger and determination burning in her eyes. "But if I am, you make those bastards pay for me, alright?"

The vid ended at that point, and the assembled crew wandered back to their seats, universally pensive looks on their faces.

"Almost sounds like the plot fer a vid, don' it?" Sara commented.

Kelly nodded. "It does, yes. And I'm more than a little suspicious of this nebulous secret without anything concrete to back it up."

"Well, only one way to be sure," Dani said firmly, sitting up straight and gaining everyone's attention. "Who's up for a lil' investigative fieldwork?"

Unsurprisingly, almost every hand at the table shot into the air.

* * *

Moon of Selene. Valentine. White Sun.  
Market Street Bakery

Curiously, Cali insisted on joining up with Lori for their part of the investigation. The redhead smiled to herself as she watched Cali skip alongside her, looking around at the various storefronts they passed and observing with humorous comments the colorful people on the streets.

"So, not complainin' none, mind you," Lori eventually broke into Cali's latest monologue about the completely impractical garb that Core businessmen seemed to favor, "but why 'xactly izzit you wanted to go with me instead of yer _Kaasan_ , or yer sister fer that matter?"

"Because, silly," Cali admonished, "we never get to hang out! Yer always running off with _Kaasan_ , not that I mind really, she's been happier the last coupla years'n I ever done 'member seein' her 'fore, or yer goin' off on excitin' missions an' all, though I did get ta go on a few with y'all didn' I? The junk yard was fun. Oh, an' fightin' Reavers, that was _huaidan_ (badass), did I tell ya 'bout me gettin' to shoot one of them _hundans_ (bastards) offa Uncle Keith?"

Lori grinned as Cali launched into a very colorful rendition of the encounter, though the memory of their time on the wreck made her shoulder twinge with the faint ghost of a pain. She listened with half an ear, thinking that perhaps the pigtailed mechanic embellished the tale slightly more with every telling of the tale.

Before long, they found themselves outside their destination. Cali stopped her rambling tale, which by that point had veered off into the minutiae of reverse-engineering a coiler assembly, and inhaled deeply. "Oooh, that smells so _niubi_ (fucking awesome)!" she exclaimed dreamily. "C'n we pick up some goodies while we're here?"

"I s'pose we c'n do that," Lori replied affectionately as they walked inside the deserted shop.

They stood there for almost a full minute, surrounded by delicious-looking bakery items, but with no sign of anyone to help them.

Cali, not known for her patience at the best of times, much less when her stomach was on the line, broke the silence first. "Hellooooo?" she called out.

There was a shuffling noise from the back, and a young man peered out. "Oh! Sorry there, didn't hear you come in!" He emerged fully from the curtained alcove, clad in a dusty apron. "What can I get for you ladies?"

"Well, we'd certainly like to purchase some of yer baked goods," Lori began, smiling in a friendly way. "But we also need some information, if'n ya don' mind none, please."

The young man stopped his motion of wiping his hands on the front of his apron to stare at them suspiciously. "Sorry, I can't help you with any information."

Lori opened her mouth to reply, but suddenly Cali was standing up in the man's face, her arms crossed in front of her and her pigtailed braids swinging with every angry shake of her head.

"Now listen here, _huoban_ (buddy). Ain't gonna leave none til you give us what we need ta know, right? 'Less you wanna make us real mad-like, you best be talkin'! Now, where's Dorky?"

Lori cleared her throat, almost embarrassingly. "Um, Cali, sweetie. It's Dorsey."

"Right! Dorsey! So, give it up, small fry! Where izzie?"

The man was leaning back away from the shorter irate young woman in front of him, a look of consternation on his face. "Uh, let me go get my manager, alright?" He scurried back out of sight as quickly as his legs could carry him.

"Humph," Cali grunted, setting her ever-present panda hat back atop her head from where it had fallen backwards. " _Bendan_ (idiot)."

"Hey there, hon," Lori began hesitantly. "Mebbe you shouldn't be all aggressive-like right off the bat, huh?"

"I was tryin' to be intimidatin'!" Cali exclaimed indignantly. "It was workin', right?"

"Oh it was, no worries there _baobei_ ," Lori smiled. "But mebbe tone it down a mite fer the next fella, 'kay?"

"Alright, I'll try somethin' dif'rent," the diminutive mechanic grumbled. When the next man walked warily through the rear entryway, her whole demeanor changed. She went from aggressive wildcat to adorable housecat in the blink of an eye.

"Hi there!" she said cheerily. "So, I don' wanna be a bother none, but c'n you tell me where my good _pengyou_ (friend) Dorsey is? Please?" She leaned in once again, but this time her face was lit up with a brilliant, disarming smile, and she blinked her eyes at him, widening them in an endearing manner.

" _Ta ma de yuangu_ (for fucks sake)," Lori sighed, shaking her head. "It's one extreme or 'nother. Cali, sweetie, ya ain't gonna-"

"Oh, I'm so sorry there little miss," the older man said soothingly. "Dorsey hasn't worked here in some time. It's been a month now, I think he said he was going to live with relatives off-planet. Picked up his last paycheck, and I haven't seen him since."

Cali glanced over her shoulder and smirked at Lori. "Oh, that's okay, mister. I 'preciate it. C'n we get some of the yummy rolls ya have here?"

"Why sure you can! Just tell me what you'd like, and I'll fill up a bag for you!"

Lori stood there in open-mouthed shock. She didn't even react when Cali pulled the redhead's billfold out of her pocket to pay for the baked goods, but finally shook herself out of her stupor when her wife's youngest daughter steered her out of the shop.

"Wait, what?" she finally exclaimed. "That worked?"

Cali beamed at her around a mouthful of some sort of gooey pastry, swallowing before giving her answer. "Never underestimate the power of the puppy-dog eyes!"

Lori shook her head bemusedly. "This must be what becomin' _feng li_ feels like. Now gimme my wallet back, ya lil' thief."

"Fine, here. An' just fer that, ain't gonna let ya have any of this here chocolate pastry."

"Oooh, you gots chocolate in there? C'mon, gimme some..."

"Only ifn' you promise not ta tell the others. Weren't enuff of the chocolate ones to bring back an' share."

Lori laughed loudly, the sound echoing off of the surrounding storefronts. "I c'n be easily bribed. What else ya gots in that big ole bag o' yers?"

* * *

Moon of Selene. Valentine. White Sun.  
Count Zero Cortex Cafe

"So, _jiejie_ , what kind of place is this cafe?"

Dani paused outside the front of the establishment. It had a cloth banner tied to the top of the facade, and a temporary look to it. "I think it's a place fer kids and folks who ain't gots Cortex units of their own at home," she mused. "Mebbe fer some to access stuff they don' wanna have traced back to 'em none?"

Keith grunted noncommittally. "So, it's likely a hangout for script kiddies."

"Well, that's who we're lookin' fer, so yeah," Dani shrugged, pushing her way into the building.

The inside of the Cortex cafe was dimly lit, rows upon rows of booths crammed up against each other. About half of them were occupied, even at this late-afternoon hour, and many had headsets on to prevent anyone from observing their browsing habits or conversations.

In the back was a long counter with a sole, bored-looking employee idly browsing his handheld.

The siblings headed towards the back, where the young man glanced up briefly before looking down again at whatever it was he was browsing. "First hour's ten credits," he intoned. "Five per hour after that. Take whatever booth's open."

"We're looking for someone," Keith started in with as friendly a tone as he could muster in the face of the employee's apathy. "Man by the name of Case."

The other man jerked his head up at the name but then looked back down again. "Never heard of him."

Keith's brows lowered, and he started to growl in the back of his throat.

Laying a hand on his arm, Dani smiled at her brother. "Hey, _didi_ , d'ya still have one of them EMP grenades in yer pocket?"

The ex-Spec Forces trooper blinked uncertainly before grinning back. "Oh, sure, _jiejie_. I always keep one on me."

"Wait, what's an EMP?" the employee asked nervously.

"'Lectromagnetic pulse," Dani explained offhandedly. "Wipes out all th'electronics nearby." She glanced around the room, a mildly curious look on her face. "Should be able to get alla them Cortex units, yeah?"

"Not a problem," Keith said confidently. "Set it off right in the middle, short out all the units, all the security cameras, even the handhelds..."

The young man clutched his precious handheld to his chest protectively. "Wait, just... _deng yi miao_ (hold on a sec), okay?" He looked around nervously before leaning in.

"So, there was this one hacker guy, went by the name of Case," he whispered confidentially. "Dropped off the radar a few days ago, but he was always a regular. Practically lived here. My manager, he comes to me yesterday, says if I tell him next time he shows up, to Wave him at home, no matter what time of day or night, and I'd get a fifty-credit bonus."

"An' no idea where to find 'im, huh?" Dani asked. "No home address or nothin'?"

The employee shook his head. "No, nothing like that. And nobody else knew him, except for these other two girls, but I haven't seen them lately either. Sorry," he said, heading off the next question, "I don't know their names at all, they just hung out with him, never logged onto a unit."

"Well, then," Keith rumbled, sliding a hundred-credit note in his direction. "Here's a bonus of our own, just to keep quiet about our conversation."

"Hey, don't worry, man," he stammered, making the note quickly disappear. "I never seen nor heard anything today. Totally cool."

"Right. Cool." Dani smirked and walked out of the cafe, Keith at her side. "You think he was legit?"

"Seemed to be," Keith mused.

"Hmm."

"It's odd."

"Yep," Dani smirked again.

"Guess that wraps it up, though," Keith said, returning the smirk.

"Guess it does, at that." Dani sighed as they trudged back towards their ship. "Let's get home an' wait fer our lovely wives to show up. Mebbe they had better luck."

* * *

Moon of Selene. Valentine. White Sun.  
Spaceport

Emily and Sara walked at the forefront of the trio, chatting away cheerfully as they meandered around the perimeter of the spaceport. Jess followed them, watching their interaction with interest.

Most of the time, Jess dealt with Sara in a professional capacity. On operations, the girl was a valuable asset, cool and collected for the most part, fiercely protective of their team and highly effective as both a scout and a hand-to-hand combatant.

Right now, though, Jess was watching an almost entirely different person.

Sara seemed almost carefree, walking along and laughing exuberantly, even more so than when she lounged about on the ship. Jess was afraid to break the spell by reminding her of her presence and instead trailed behind, looking about for a girl who might be searching for work on a transport outbound from the moon.

Emily turned halfway to glance over her shoulder. "Hey, Aunt Jess, we don' mean to not include ya none. Why don'tcha walk up here with us?"

Smiling, the raven-haired beauty quickened her stride to catch up. "I didn't want to intrude. You seemed to be enjoying yourselves."

"Well, yeah," Sara teased, "but that don' mean ya can't enjoy yerself as well. Take that fella fer instance," she said, subtly pointing out a rather rotund man who had the appearance of a greasy mechanic.

"Okay," Jess replied slowly. "What about him?"

"If'n you an' him were the last folk alive in the 'Verse, wouldya do 'im?" Sara grinned.

Jess barked out a surprised laugh. " _Ni zai jiang shen me pi hua_ (what the fuck are you saying)? What kind of question is that?"

"Inquirin' minds wanna know," Emily smiled mysteriously. "Well, wouldya?"

Jess looked the corpulent, sweating man over, consternation written clearly across her face. "Um. Well... He was the last man alive, you said?"

"Yep!" Sara said cheerfully. "Jus' you an' 'im!"

Jess sighed dramatically. "I suppose so..."

"Eww!" the other two girls shouted in cheerful disgust.

"Hey, you said he was the last!" Jess retorted indignantly. "And what about the two of you?"

"Oh hey, that might be our girl!" Sara suddenly interjected, pointing over to where a thin teenaged girl was slouched against a packing crate. She had a worn duffel at her feet and was looking about with meager hopefulness.

Jess hastened to catch back up to them as they trotted over. "Wait, what about-"

"Jess! We're workin' now!" Emily quietly admonished.

"'Scuse me," Sara piped as they got to the girl. "Areya lookin' fer work?"

"I am, yes," the girl replied, brightening considerably. "Do you crew on a ship?"

"We do, yeah," Sara answered. "You wouldn't be called Molly by any chance, wouldya?"

The girl's face closed up immediately, and she grabbed her bag. "No, sorry. And, I just realized, I'm late... for an interview. On another ship. I've got to go. Sorry."

"Wait!" Emily called out, but the girl slipped around the corner of the crate.

Sara gave a little growl of frustration, and took off after her, only to skid to a halt as soon as she rounded the same corner. " _Shenme ta ma de_ (what the fuck)...?"

The girl was gone without a trace.

The three female crewmembers from the _Favour_ looked around unbelievably. "How in the ruttin' hell..." Emily trailed off.

"Well, I don't think we're ever going to find her again," Jess sighed. "If she's as spooked as she looked like, I expect she's gone to ground."

Sara was sniffing around, poking into every crevice she could see. "Don' make no sense none. How could she just up an' vanish like that?" She let out a disgusted huff of air. "Well, there goes the whole afternoon of work."

The three headed back across the landing fields towards their ship. "So, Jess..." Emily began.

"Hmm?"

"What 'bout that fella over there?"

Jess looked to where she was pointing, towards an elderly gentleman who looked like he had never smiled a day in his life. In fact, the scowl seemed to be a permanent fixture on his face.

"Oh, no. Not going to play this game anymore."

"Oh, c'mon, Aunt Jess!" Sara cajoled. "We won' make fun of ya none, promise!"

Jess sighed. "Alright, fine. Yes, if it were just the two of us-"

"Eww!" both Sara and Emily chorused together, then giggled as they set off towards the _Favour_ at a brisk jog. "I'm gonna tell Uncle Keith!" Sara called out gleefully over her shoulder.

Jess sighed again in amusement. Sometimes, she mused to herself, a little self-depreciation was fine, especially if it came at the benefit of a girl who deserved every second of joy she could coax out of life.

* * *

 _Fortune's Favour._ Selene landing pad.

The crew gathered back on board, reporting on their various degrees of success, or lack thereof. Their one final lead, the doctor's office, would have to wait until the next morning when it reopened. Kelly, for her part, had not made any more headway on the encrypted file. They all enjoyed the large bag of baked goods that Lori and Cali thoughtfully brought back, though Dani was quite suspicious of the half-empty nature of said bag. The reassurances provided by her wife and youngest daughter were somewhat offset by the subtle evidence of pastry smears on their faces and clothing.

Some hours after dinner, the crew turned in for the night and closed the ship up tightly. No watch was needed as they were in port, so both Rain and Feather were able to enjoy each others company in Rain's bunk before bedtime.

They lay together, wearing only the tee shirts and underwear that they customarily slept in now. Feather had unrelentingly broken down most of the barriers to intimacy that Rain had subconsciously clung to still, and over the last six months had gradually increased the frequency of their visitations until Feather now spent just about every single night with her girlfriend.

As Rain held the blue-eyed girl in a tight embrace, kissing her slowly and sweetly, she mused to herself that never in a millennia would she ever have seen herself in such a position. She was so much more comfortable now being close to this very special woman, that it seemed to be the most natural thing in the 'Verse. _Fact of the matter is, I feel empty without 'er in my bunk nowadays,_ she thought wistfully. Still, they hadn't really done anything aside from kissing, or as Sara gleefully teased, 'snogging', but that in itself was enough to awaken feelings that the pixie-haired pilot never thought she would experience. The warmth of her girlfriend's strong arms wrapped around her, her lips on her own, their tongues meeting and probing gently, the pressure building up to an almost unbearable level...

 _Wait a tic._ _That last bit is new, ain't it? What's got me so... so bothered an'..._

With a gasp, Rain broke off the kiss. "Feather..." she whispered, eyes wide and desperate.

"What, _lian ren_ (sweetheart)?" Feather murmured, concerned, as she cupped her girlfriends face with her hand.

Rain leaned into her hand, closing her eyes and turning her face to kiss Feather's palm. Something then made her gently lick her right there, just a touch, but it immediately sent an electricity shooting through her body, and she heard Feather gasp softly. _Am I pickin' up on her feelin's? Is she somehow bleedin' over?_ Her shields were up and as tight as she could make them, but there was definitely some sort of feedback, it was building up inside her, sending an almost uncomfortable pressure that needed relief...

"Um, hon, I think I need to..." Feather cleared her throat. "C'n I go back to my bunk fer just a few minutes?" she continued in a small voice. "Promise I'll be right back..."

Ji du _(Christ), it's her that needs the release, but I do too... I wonder..._ It was a crazy idea, but Feather's breathing was getting more ragged by the minute as she was getting more and more turned on.

Without thinking Rain rubbed her bare legs against Feather's, eliciting another gasp. Her auburn-haired girlfriend sat up abruptly.

"Please, sweetie, I need-"

"No. Stay." Rain looked over at her intently. "I know what ya need. I c'n feel it... an' I want ya to take care of it here. With me. Next t'me."

Feather's eyes got very wide, any hint of the usual light teasing or humor completely gone to be replaced by a smoldering need. "I ain't gonna question or complain none, _wo de ai_ (my love), 'cause I'm 'bout to explode here."

"I know." Rain replied softly. "Lay back."

Feather did as she requested, and Rain moved so she was curled up on her right side facing her. She let her left leg drift over the top of Feather's right leg, stroking her foot up and down as she tried to smile reassuringly. Her left arm draped over her girlfriend's ribs, lightly caressing her there as well, just under her breasts. Oddly enough, while a small part of her mind insisted she should be terrified of this, the closeness and what she had just asked Feather to do, she felt none of that. Just raw, urgent need.

Rain closed her eyes and leaned over to kiss Feather. It started out as a long, languid kiss but quickly intensified. She could physically feel Feather move her right hand down and into the front of her panties, while her left snaked around to hold the back of Rain's head. And then in her head she could feel it when Feather made contact with her clitoris, sending a tingling jolt through her entire nervous system.

She pulled her head back abruptly and opened her eyes again, staring into her favorite blue ones that were now burning bright with passion.

"Did you... c'n you feel that?" Feather asked wonderingly.

Rain nodded wordlessly, as her breathing picked up to stay in sync with Feather's. She could feel it, feel the intensity, and then it was like Feather was touching her as well, she was wet with need and hungered for release.

She mashed her mouth back over Feather's, greedily devouring her like never before, holding her tight against her with both arms. Their moans started at the same time, and their bodies undulated in synchronization as Feather very quickly came towards an orgasm.

Feather broke off the kiss this time with a gasp. "Oh, Rain, I'm... _Ta ma de_ (fuck me blind), I'm gonna come..."

Rain could only nod frantically as she felt her crest, she was riding the wave right alongside her, unable and unwilling to try and do otherwise. She pressed her forehead to Feather's and closed her eyes, shuddering with each pulse of pleasure.

And then there was an explosion of ecstasy unlike Rain had even known, and she screamed out " _Cao_ (fuck)!" in unison with her girlfriend.

Panting, she rolled onto her back, staying in contact with Feather's side. Wo kao _(well fuck me),_ she thought to herself wonderingly.

"You c'n say that again," Feather whispered wearily.

Startled, Rain looked over at Feather. She had a fine sheen of sweat across her forehead and looked to still be trying to catch her breath.

_That can't be possible..._

"What can't, _wo de ai_?" Feather asked with a smile, as she looked over into Rain's eyes.

Rain rolled onto her side again, almost nose-to-nose with Feather. _You c'n hear me?_

"Of course I-" Feather broke off suddenly, her eyes wide and startled.

And then, just as impossibly, Rain could hear Feather's next thoughts as if she were speaking out loud.

_How c'n I hear her?_

Rain jerked her head back and blinked rapidly. _I just heard you!_

 _What? How c'n you hear me? How c'n I hear you?_  "Rain, honey, what's goin' on here?" Feather whispered out loud, her brows furrowed.

Rain smiled and placed her trembling hand over Feather's cheek. _I think we just got a whole bunch closer._

Shenme ta ma de _(what the fuck)_? Feather snorted softly and laid her hand over Rain's. _So we c'n talk together now? Without talkin'? This's so confusin'..._

_Fer you an' me both, hon._

_Izzit from the 'lectric shock ya got?_

_I think so?_ Rain shrugged with the shoulder she wasn't leaning on. _That really seemed to... I dunno, affect me at the time, but I hadn't noticed anythin' dif'rent afterwards..._

_Didya... feel everythin' I that I just felt? When I came?_

_Oh yeah. I did, an' it was... amazin'. I can't describe how amazin' it was, like you were sexin' me at the same time._

" _Niubi_ (fucking awesome)," Feather whispered out loud, grinning widely.

"Yeah," Rain whispered back, grinning just as widely. She could feel the pleasure radiating off of her girlfriend, now her lover, contentment and acceptance of what they could now do and how their relationship had just changed. She knew as surely as Feather did that it was very much for the better.

 _I love you, Feather-bear_ , Rain thought.

 _Love you too,_ bang jiar _(lover)_ , Feather thought back and leaned in to kiss her tenderly.

They held each other tightly as they drifted off to sleep, a smile of contentment on each of their faces.

* * *

Moon of Selene. Valentine. White Sun.

The next morning Dani got on the Cortex to send a Wave over to the doctor's office. Before spending any more time on what may or may not have become a wild goose chase (which, by itself, caused some discussion among the crew in ascertaining first what exactly a goose was, and then why chasing a wild one was known to be futile), they decided to call ahead first.

A pretty blonde receptionist answered the Wave. "Good morning, Dr. Cameron's office, how may I help you?"

"Hello," Dani smiled pleasantly. "I was callin' to speak with a nurse that works there, name of Lilly. Is she in today?"

The woman's forehead wrinkled in puzzlement. "I'm sorry, there's no one that works here by that name." She paused, glancing down at her terminal. "Oh, could you hold for one moment, please?"

Dani stared at the blank screen in front of her, drumming her fingers. "This's startin' to get a mite irritatin'," she grumbled.

Before Keith, who was sitting in the pilot's seat, could respond, the image of a kindly-looking man came on. He had neat white hair and an elegantly trimmed beard to match. "Yes, hello, this is Dr. Cameron, with whom am I speaking?"

"My name's Dani," she replied shortly. "I was callin' to speak with Lilly, was told she worked there?"

"Ah, Dani, if I might ask you another question first... Is this by any chance in relation to a young lady by the name of Alex?"

The lanky captain glanced over at Keith, who shrugged. _May as well go with it._ "That's correct, doctor."

"I see," the man sighed heavily. "I am a doctor of psychology, you see, and young Alex is a patient of mine. Was, actually, as she seems to have disappeared. I was treating her up until a few weeks ago when she suddenly stopped coming to her appointments." He looked searchingly at Dani. "This is a deeply troubled young woman, miss. Do you have any idea where she might be?"

Dani shook her head. "'Fraid not. Just bumped into her the one time."

"Ah, and perhaps she gave you something? A datastick with a vid of her on it?"

Dani's eyebrows descended in consternation. "Yes," she answered slowly.

"I'm currently working with the federal authorities on finding Alex, for her own good. If she's gone off the grid, she's most likely not taking her medications and thus will become increasingly unstable." He looked pleadingly through the Cortex unit. "If there is any way possible you could deliver that datastick to me, I can get it to the authorities. Anything might be able to help this poor girl. I can explain things further, in person, if you would be willing to do so."

Dani nodded. "I c'n do that, yeah."

The doctor looked down at his terminal. "I have an opening in another hour, would you be able to stop by then?"

"That's fine, I'll see you then," Dani promised, before cutting the transmission off.

"Alright," Jess's voice came from behind them. "This gorram time, we're going to expect a setup. Right?"

Dani turned in her seat to see the entire ground team assembled, plus Kelly. "Right. Just Keith an' I go in, no need to crowd the good doc if'n he's on the up an' up. Rest of y'all cover all the exits, we'll stay on comms. But first," she said, holding up the datastick musingly. "Kelly, why don'tcha make a copy of this here lil' thing."

Kelly grinned in reply, holding out her hand. "I can do so, and make it seem like there's been no copy ever made.

"Perfect," Dani grinned back.

* * *

Dr. Cameron's Office. Selene.

"Hi doc," Dani said with a friendly smile as she was ushered into the man's office. "Nice to meetcha in person. This's my brother Keith."

"A pleasure," the man replied. He was wearing a doctor's lab coat, several pens and styluses sticking out of the breast pocket and his side pockets bulging with notebooks. He shook each of the sibling's hands warmly. "Please, be seated."

"So we looked at the vid on the datastick," Keith began without further preamble. "The girl, Alex, had some odd claims."

"I'm sure she did," the psychologist sighed. "Likely something delusional about hacking into a government system, or a major corporation, and uncovering some deep dark secret." He smiled at the pair. "And, if I'm guessing correctly, there is a large encrypted file on there as well. Yes?"

Dani nodded. "Yep, can't seem to break it none."

"That doesn't surprise me." The man leaned back in his chair and steepled his fingers in front of him. "Alex is a gifted programmer. She's not, as much as she likes to pretend otherwise, a hacker. She's suffering from... Well, I cannot go into the particulars, yes? Even though she is missing, there is still a matter of client privilege. But she does have paranoid delusions. There's a good chance the file is simply an archive of her family photos. She's an orphan," he explained. "So she clings to such things determinedly, often prescribing them an importance far above their real value. In fact, her entire terminal at her apartment has been encrypted, which is why the authorities are having such a tough time tracking her down."

He sighed, a trace of despondency in his voice. "I do so desperately want to help her. We were making great progress, but her medical doctor recently switched medications on her, and I'm afraid she's reacted to them negatively. As soon as she can resurface, we can all give her the help she both needs and deserves." He gave them a gentle smile. "She really is a sweet girl."

"So what exactly is it you want with the datastick?" Keith asked nonchalantly.

"Well, as I mentioned, the authorities intend to use the vid on there to help determine where and when it was made. Also, they have a forensic computer scientist on staff who might be able to make some headway on opening the file." He gave a deprecating laugh. "Frankly, I don't understand how it all works, or why he'd have better luck with the datastick when he cannot get into her terminal, but that was the request they made when I called a short while ago." He glanced between the two siblings, only mild curiosity on his face. "Do you have the datastick with you?"

Dani and Keith shared another glance, communicating volumes in the one look. "Yeah, sure. Here ya go, doc," Dani replied, pulling it out of her pocket and handing it over.

"I thank you both for your concern," the doctor said warmly, dropping the datastick dismissively into the top drawer of his desk. "If you would like to be kept apprised of our efforts, please leave your Cortex ID with the receptionist, and I'll do my best to do so."

Dani and Keith rose from their seats to shake Cameron's hand. "Best of luck to you, then," Keith commented.

As the two walked out, Dani glanced back over at her brother. "We trust 'im?" she murmured.

"Not sure," Keith rumbled back quietly. "Not much we can do to verify any more."

"No, I s'pose not," Dani sighed as they walked through the waiting room.

Keith kept pace with the lanky captain, but asked curiously, "Are we going to give them our contact info?"

"No," Dani murmured, "I don't think so."

Keith shrugged as they went out the door. "Alright. Team, we're out, extract and rendezvous back at the ship."

The other three ground team members gave a chorus of affirmations over the comm as the two siblings strolled down the street. Fifteen minutes after the _Favour_ crew cleared out from the premises, a black hovercar with tinted windows pulled up in front of the office to disgorge a pair of stark-faced men dressed in dark suits.

The early morning sun clearly illuminated the blue latex-like covering on their hands.

Dr. Cameron was still in his office and looked up, startled, as the men knocked on his door.

"Do you have a moment, doctor?"

"Yes, of course, please shut the door behind you," he answered distractedly as he entered a few last notes into his terminal. Once complete, he leaned back to regard the two men in black.

"Agent Five, Agent Eight," he greeted them cordially.

"I'm Eight. This is Five," the first man corrected without emotion.

Cameron waved a hand in the air. "Well, you all look the same to me," he replied airily. "Has she been dealt with?"

Agent Five nodded firmly. "Affirmative, all loose ends have been tied up and no trace will be found. What about this crew?"

The doctor smiled disarmingly. "They are not a threat, I've dealt with them as well. Oblivious." He reached into the desk drawer and pulled out the datastick, handing it over. "Try not to lose it this time, alright boys?"

* * *

 _Fortune's Favour._ Outbound from Selene.

Kelly sat in her bunk, tapping the side of her datapad irritably. Since she was very young she had a gift for breaking into files that she wasn't supposed to know about, from her parent's financial data, before they had died in an aircar accident, through high school, subtly changing grades of some of her friends. She never needed to change her own, of course, as she always earned the highest marks, but she learned early on the value of trading favors.

She'd never met an encryption she couldn't swiftly crack. Until now.

"What are you hiding in there, Alex?' she murmured to herself.

It might take some time, but she was determined to get this file to reveal its secrets. If nothing else, for the scared girl in a vid who had lost all hope.

Kelly sighed, stretching the muscles in her back before settling back to work.

"I'll be your voice," she promised quietly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title track by the magnificent group Queen.
> 
> And so it would seem Rain and Feather's relationship continues to evolve, perhaps in an unexpected direction now, hmm? And y'all thought I had Rain electrocuted out of sheer schadenfreude. Well, maybe a little bit, but it did serve an overall purpose. And now I can begin the Rain/Feather story arc that I've been dying to tell!
> 
> Some of the hacker references, like the cafe (Count Zero) and names (Case, Molly), you might recognize from William Gibson's excellent works. The master of cyberpunk and creator of the genre. His books are still relevant today, I highly recommend them if you've never picked up a copy. Seriously, if you haven't read Neuromancer go do it now, you won't regret it.
> 
> And you know what else? This just might be the first episode where each and every member of the _Favour_ crew plays a part. I mean, not just a line of dialogue, but they are all active in here. How 'bout that?
> 
> Let me also give a little sneak peek for y'all who have stuck with me so far. I've decided to actually have an end in sight for the story of our intrepid crew, rather than just let it linger on and on until I run out of ideas. Which may never happen, really, but I have other projects I'm working on. My current plans are to finish around episode 64, as it maps out right now. Though I might drop one of the middle eps, I'm not feelin' any spark of creativity for it, but I have awhile till I'm faced with putting concept to paper, as it were. Anyways, I still have some story arcs to complete, the Rain/Feather story being the main one, but there's some Sara/Justin to work in as well. Keep in mind that as my story progresses, so does the timeline in the Firefly 'Verse. So what does that mean for upcoming episodes? Hmmm, I wonder... Maniacal laugh, maniacal laugh... (Ye Gods, now I'm throwing in Muppet jokes, I need to quit while I'm ahead.)
> 
> Much love to my wonderful Betas ( **Sylvana_Crowe** , **KellyConnely** , **CaliopeGrant** ). Thanks so very much for putting up with me so far. All credit and love to the great Joss Whedon, without whom we wouldn't have this wonderful 'Verse to romp around in. And thank you all for reading, and if you haven't yet please do leave a review, even if a short one, to let me know how I'm doing! I'm kinda proud of this episode, hope you enjoyed reading it!


	68. Episode 54: Walk On The Moon

En route to Jiangyin. Red Sun.

Dani sang softly along to herself to the music playing over her bridge console, about a girl whose lips were poison, as she looked over the job board for their destination. She hadn't been back to Jiangyin in some time, not since they had dropped off Mike and Julie. Visiting the planet made her somewhat melancholy as it reminded her of both the good times and the desperately depressing ones from her life there.

She was broken from her introspection by Emily's entrance as she silently slid into Rain's pilot seat. "What an odd song," her niece finally commented.

Dani laughed lightly. "Most of th'old ones from Earth-That-Was tend to be some, yeah."

Emily smiled, but then glanced over her shoulder. "C'n I talk to ya 'bout somethin' private-like?"

"Sure, _baobei_ ," the lanky captain replied, leaning back in her seat. It was still early morning, but she knew Lori was currently catching up on her cleaning of her rifles down in the machine shop, and likely nobody else would be stopping by the bridge anytime soon.

"So, I wanted to talk to ya 'bout mebbe writin' a research paper," the small blonde psychologist started. "Not like right now, but at some point in the future, from the notes I been takin' on workin' with Sara."

Quirking an eyebrow, Dani nodded for her to continue.

"See, I've been real careful-like to keep all my notes on flimsi, none of it on my handheld or anythin', an' I always leave Sara's name outta it. It'd be real respectful, not referrin' to 'er at all by name, nor anyone else fer that matter, just usin' aliases an' the like." Emily paused, looking out the viewport. "I'm thinkin' 'bout publishin' after she no longer has need of me, which I 'spect is comin' up real soon. Could be my life's work, ya know? Get me whatever post I want if'n I ever go back to the Far Reach, make me a known name. Izzit selfish fer me to be thinkin' that?"

Dani sighed thoughtfully. "I don' think it makes ya selfish at all, sweetie. Yer a scientist of sorts, yeah? An' that's like yer lifeblood, publishin' papers an' the like. Don' rightly understand the drive fer it, but I c'n recognize it. So yeah," she smiled, "I think you should do it. I gots one condition fer ya, though."

"Name it," Emily replied confidently.

"She's gotta agree to this, right now, an' again 'fore ya start writin', and again 'fore ya publish it. Give 'er the right to change 'er mind 'bout it, 'kay?"

Emily smiled gently. "Absolutely, _gu ma_ (aunt, father's sister). She ain't just my _tang mei_ (younger female cousin, father's side), ya know. She's my friend too, an' I respect the hell outta her."

"Healthy fear of her shivs helps, too," a baritone voice spoke up from the entrance to the bridge.

Dani gave a squawk and caught herself before she fell out of her chair. "Gorramit Keith!" she yelled angrily.

Her brother smirked as he strolled in and plopped himself down in the nav seat, cheerfully ignoring the daggers from Dani's glare. "Have you talked to Sara about it yet?"

"Yeah, a lil' bit," Emily admitted. "I was gonna bring it up again when she woke up, but I wanted to speak with Dani first." She gave Keith a stern look. "Weren't plannin' on makin' this common knowledge none."

"What, you think I'm not trustworthy?" Keith asked innocently. "I can keep a secret, you know."

"Yer a piece o' _houzi gou shi_ (monkey shit) is what y'are," Dani growled.

Before Keith could form a reply, the console gave a soft beep. She turned to see a new icon on the screen, closely followed by another pair. "What in the..."

The Cortex unit started to flash urgently next, and Dani reached over to open the channel.

"Mayday, mayday, this is Osprey-class light transport _Merriweather_ , under attack by pirates. Can anyone assist?"

" _Ta ma de diyu_ (fucking hell)," Dani cursed, and stabbed a button. " _Merriweather_ , this is Firefly transport _Fortune's Favour_ , I have you on my screen, what's your situation?"

" _Fortune's Favour_ , praise Buddha, we have a frigate and what seems to be a stripped-down ASREV hot on our tail. Lost pressure in our cargo hold, our engines are still running but we can't get away from them!"

Dani grimaced, peering at the scanner display before glancing back at Keith. "We gotta help."

Her brother sighed, getting up to lean over her shoulder and look at the screen himself. "You sure this isn't more than you can handle?"

With a snort of laughter, Dani pulled the ship comm down. " _Didi_ , you should know me by know. Ain't nothin' I can't handle none in the Black," she scoffed. "All hands, all hands, prepare for action, I want everyone strapped down and the engine room manned. Rain to the bridge." She turned to Emily, sitting in the pilot's seat still with her eyes wide. " _Baobei_ , get yerself back and strap yerself in, 'kay?"

Her blonde niece jumped up and was replaced quickly by her eldest daughter, out of breath and rapidly scanning the console in front of her. "Alright, _Kaasan_ , what didya get us inta this time."

"Nothin' yet," Dani grinned. "But I'm 'bout to." She flipped the switch in front of her again. "Alright _Merriweather_ , we're gonna hafta time this right. Change course to five-eight-seven-two, repeat five-eight-seven-two. We're gonna make a high-speed pass and I'll get at least the frigate off yer _pigu_. Hopefully, the ASREV will have second thoughts as well."

"Affirmative _Fortune's Favour_ , changing course. Speed is maxed out, I'll keep her steady."

Dani started hitting a few more buttons as she changed course to bear down in a straight line towards the other ship. "Rain, need ya to run some numbers fer me. Gonna have to time it right, drop the mine just aft of the transport an' 'fore the frigate reaches it. C'n ya do it?"

Rain snorted confidently. "Does New Melbourne stink of fish? 'Course I c'n do it, _deng yi miao_ (hold on a sec)..."

The lanky captain chuckled to herself. "Alright _baobei_ , control transferred to yer station. I'm keepin' our speed an' course steady."

The pixie-haired brunette muttered to herself under her breath as her hands flew over the board, calculating rapidly as the four ships closed.

"Got it!" she exclaimed. "Ready to fire..."

There were a few tense seconds of silence as the icons on the screen drew together inexorably. Dani suppressed the urge to remind Rain as to the expense of the EMP mines, knowing she didn't need the added pressure.

Soon enough they were almost upon each other. They could see the distant glow of engines growing larger by the second. Rain held her breath, watching her counter and keeping her hand poised over the drop controls.

"Three, two, one," she counted quietly, and then slammed her hand down as the ships flew past each other in the blink of an eye. As soon as she heard Rain launch the mine, Dani yanked back on the controls to send them off onto another vector, eventually looping back to their original course.

" _Merriweather_ , how arya doin' there?" she asked tensely.

" _Fortune's Favour_ , you got him! I don't know how in the 'Verse you did that, but the frigate is dead in the Black! The ASREV just looped back to assist them, so we're resuming our original course. You're a lifesaver!"

"Our pleasure _Merriweather_. I'd tell ya, but some things're better left unsaid fer unarmed transports, if'n ya get my meanin'. Safe flyin', _pengyou_ (friend)."

"I hear you, and same to you, _huoban_ (buddy)!"

Dani sat back with a satisfied expression on her face. "Well, that went well enuff." She reached for the ship's comm again and spoke into it next, "We're in the clear, folks."

Keith shook his head bemusedly. "I should know better than to doubt you, _jiejie_. And you, _wai sheng nu_ (niece, sister's daughter)," he said to Rain as he stood to leave. "That was _jingcai_ (brilliant). Nicely done."

Rain beamed with pride at his retreating back, and Dani chuckled lightly. "Well, well, that there's praise that's hard won, _nu'er_."

"Yeah," Rain said softly, still grinning widely. "I know."

Dani headed aft to check on her wife and passed a very ecstatic-looking Feather who was hurrying towards the bridge. _Huh, wonder what's got her in such a good mood..._

* * *

Inbound to Jiangyin. Red Sun.

It wasn't until they entered the atmo of Jiangyin that they realized they had a serious problem.

"Engine room, what's goin' on back there?" Dani shouted into the comm as she wrestled with the controls. The ship was shuddering and bucking wildly, falling entirely too fast for a normal approach. Rain shot her a worried look as she took her seat and strapped in quickly, Keith right on her heels and jumping into the nav seat.

 _Feather, what's happenin'?_ the young pilot thought worriedly at her girlfriend as she scanned her console.

" _Kaasan_ , somethin's wrong with the mains!" Cali's voice came back over. She sounded uncharacteristically panicked. "Can't see what's wrong, but the best we c'n give ya is twenty-five percent on the thrusters!"

" _Baobei_ , that's not enough fer us to land safely, you know that! C'mon girl, I gots faith in ya, keep it together, 'kay? You c'n figgure this out!"

 _Feather?_ Rain thought again urgently.

Wo de ai _, Cali's got the rights of it, somethin's seriously wrong but we can't see it from here!_

Rain was checking all the scans, but only some nebulous warnings were flashing about the thrusters on her screens, nothing about the cause of it. _Did the run-in with the pirates shake somethin' loose?_

 _I dunno, but we ain't gonna be able to fix it none! Ya gots to convince yer_ Kaasan _, ain't nothin' we c'n do!_

Rain looked over at Dani, still grimly clutching the controls. " _Kaasan!_ "

"What?" Dani barked back tensely, glancing over at her.

Rain just shook her head firmly. "They ain't gonna fix it."

The lanky captain held her gaze for the span of a few seconds before returning to the console, nodding in acceptance. "Right."

Dani grabbed ahold of the comm and threw a switch before speaking clearly yet tensely into it. "Jiangyin Control, this is Firefly transport _Fortune's Favour_ , inbound. We are declaring an emergency, repeat, declaring emergency."

"Roger that Firefly transport, I copy that. State your emergency."

"Main thrusters down to twenty-five percent. I need a landing strip, preferably a soft one."

"Affirmative Firefly transport, I have you on my scope. Change course to six-five-eight, repeat six-five-eight, sixty clicks ahead of you. Beacon is alpha-tango-two-two-niner, repeat alpha-tango-two-two-niner."

Dani tapped a few keys on the console as Rain looked on nervously. "Copy that Control, course set, I have the beacon."

"Affirmative Firefly transport, your course is noted. Path has been cleared, emergency crews are en route." The voice paused for a beat. "Good luck and God bless."

"God ain't the one steerin' me down," Dani muttered to herself as she flicked another switch on the comm. "All hands, listen up. We're gonna land this girl, but it's gonna be rough. I need everyone not in th'engine room to be strapped into the seats in the galley, _dong ma_? Cali an' Feather, you two brace yerselves back there, keep us up in th'air a lil' bit longer, okay?"

" _Shi a_!" Cali's anxious voice came back.

"Keith," the lanky captain stated, not looking away from her controls, "get on back there, make doubly sure everyone's accounted for and strapped in tight."

"On it," Keith replied tersely as he vaulted from his seat.

"You gots two minutes!" she yelled out.

 _Feather, you situated?_ Rain thought, a trace of panicked concern seeping through her mind.

 _I'm fine_ wo de ai _, you worry 'bout yerself, 'kay?_

Rain was gripping the armrests tightly, her hands clenched as if she could keep the ship aloft through sheer willpower alone. She looked over at her _Kaasan_ , once again marveling at how the woman could be so calm and controlled in the face of death. Ji du _(Christ), she never fails t'impress me. Dunno how I c'n ever measure up to her..._

_But ya do, sweetie. More'n you realize._

Rain smiled to herself at Feather's words of confidence, wishing she could feel them herself right now.

The landing strip was starting to come up now. Dani had angled the thrusters to provide enough forward thrust to keep them aloft and angled in. It was tricky flying, but she barely seemed to break a sweat. The ship was beginning to shudder a bit more at the unnatural entry vector it was forced into. Fireflys were not designed for aerodynamic landings.

"You ready fer this, _baobei_?" Dani murmured after she cut off the sounds of the blaring alarms.

Rain turned her head at Keith's approach. He stumbled into the nav seat and strapped himself in securely. "All situated, Captain," he stated calmly.

She grinned to herself despite their predicament. _First time I ever heard 'im actually call 'er Capt'n._ "Yeah, I'm ready,  _Kaasan_. What c'n I do?"

Dani's deft fingers flicked a few more switches on her console, and then she flexed her hands on the yoke in front of her. "We're sharin' the control now. Grab hold, an' help me keep 'er steady once we hit the ground. Gonna buck like a bronco when we do, keep 'er straight so's we don' flip none."

Rain nodded rapidly, grabbing hold with an iron grip. _I love you, Feather-bear._

 _I love you too, my_ xiong jiao _(handsome hero). I gots faith in ya._

_Brace yerself, we're gonna hit in three... two... one..._

And then there was a terrific jolt as the entire ship shuddered from the impact. The _Favour_ actually bounced once back up into the air before skidding across the soft ground of the landing strip. Rain struggled to keep the controls steady even though it was like wrestling with a six-hundred-kilo man. But there was no way in the 'Verse that she was letting go. Her _Kaasan_ was depending on her. The crew was depending on her.

And there was nothing in the 'Verse that would cause her to let her _zhen'ai_ (true love) down.

After what seemed like an eternity the ship finally slid to a halt, jerking them forward in their restraints one last time. Rain breathed in and out a few times before looking over wonderingly.

Dani was looking back, a brilliant and proud smile on her face. "We did it, _baobei_. Well done."

She smiled back and then closed her eyes with a sigh. Lian ren _(sweetheart)?_

 _We're good,_ wo de ai.

Dani released her restraints after checking the status boards. "No fires, ship's still intact. Got some bottom hull damage, mebbe a landing strut broke off. Nothin' major." The lanky captain let out a relieved sigh. "Coulda been alot worse." She got out of her seat and headed towards the back, Rain quickly following on her heels after releasing her own restraints. Keith seemed content to sit in his seat for awhile, head back and eyes closed as the adrenaline rush wore off.

"So I guess we're landed then, huh?" Lori called out humorously. The galley looked like a disaster area, some of the shelves had broken free and spilled their contents, and chairs were scattered about haphazardly.

"Yep," Dani replied cheerfully. "'Fraid we missed the terminal though, might hafta walk a bit to get yer connectin' flight."

"Gorramit, I ain't finished with my in-flight vid yet," Sara grumbled jokingly.

The five women situated around the observation alcove laughed, working to unbuckle themselves while Dani and Rain continued on back.

As they entered the engine room, Rain saw an unusual sight. Cali was huddled on the floor, face buried on her raised knees and her very frame radiating misery, while Feather was curled up next to her with her arm around her, rocking her gently.

 _She okay?_ Rain asked, eyebrows furrowed.

Feather glanced up but answered for the both of them. "She's feelin' like she let y'all down."

"Oh, _baobei_ ," Dani sighed, crouching down in front of her youngest and hugging her tightly. "You didn' let me down none at all, 'kay?"

"But I couldn' get the thrusters workin' none!" Cali wailed, lifting her tear-streaked face up. "Nothin' I did worked! We coulda all died, an'- an'- an' it'd been all my fault!"

"Sweetie, no it weren't yer fault none," Dani replied, gently but firmly as she drew back to look Cali in the eyes. "You did the gorram best you could. An' ya still kept us with enuff thrust fer me to land. An' we did, alright? We're down, all in one piece. Ain't no use in worryin' 'bout what's in the past none. I'm proud of ya fer doin' all that ya did."

"Yeah?" Cali sniffed miserably.

"Yeah," Dani replied softly, kissing her on the forehead. "Now dry yer tears, peanut. We gots a ship ta fix."

"Right!" Cali said excitedly, scrambling to her feet and wiping the tears from her face with her sleeve. "We gots work to do, why're we all sittin' 'round?"

Rain gave a snort as she ruffled the panda hat on top of Cali's head. "Yer such a _lan ren_ (loon), _meimei_."

* * *

Emergency landing strip. Jiangyin.

All in all, the damage could have been far worse.

They had indeed lost a landing strut, even though they had been retracted the initial bounce had managed to shear one off. And there were several stress fractures on the bottom hull which would need fixed before they could get spaceworthy again. None of which, of course, would matter at all if they could not figure out what was wrong with the main thrusters. And Dani knew just the person to help them.

"Gorramit, Dani-girl," Mike stated, a horrified look on his grizzled face. "I can't believe y'all almost died on re-entry."

"It's okay, Mike," Dani replied soothingly as she led him towards the engine room that he used to work in. "We got down, an' Cali's feelin' guilty enuff 'bout what happened, 'kay? Don' make 'er more so."

" _Ni zai jiang shen me pi hua_ (what the fuck are you saying)?" he growled, unusually emotional. "Where is that girl..."

He rounded the bend, Dani on his heels, to see Cali and Feather peering down into the grating under the accelerator core. "Cali!"

"Uncle Mike!" Cali greeted her previous mentor gleefully.

"Girl, what's this I hear 'bout you puttin' yerself down fer helpin' the old girl not crash?" the burly mechanic asked quizzically.

"Oh, yeah," Cali said abashedly, "I was kinda down on myself 'bout that. Still can't figgure out what went wrong, though."

"Well now, let's see what you an' I can put together then. An' no more talk 'bout you failin', hear me?"

"You gots it, Uncle Mike!" Cali replied, her usual buoyant optimism firmly in the fore once more.

Mike turned towards Feather, who was looking at the great big grizzly bear of a man askance. "An' who might you be, _ni zi_ (little girl)?"

"Um, my name's Feather," the girl replied somewhat subduedly.

"She's my assistant!" Cali chirped.

"Well alright then, I 'member ya now!" Mike replied effusively. "One o' Lori's kin, right? _Niubi_ (fucking awesome)! Let's get to work, girls!"

* * *

 _Fortune's Favour._ Jiangyin Repair Yard.

It took several hours for Mike and the two regular _Favour_ mechanics to locate the root cause of the thruster problems. Buried in a crawlspace running over the top of the number two hold was a coupler that had cracked from old age. The sensor had failed long ago, thus there was nothing to report the failure. Mike reassured the crew that there was no way this was caused by their run-in with the pirates, nor was there anything Cali nor Feather could have done to prevent it.

Eventually, Dani paid for the _Favour_ to be transferred from the sandy emergency strip over to a local repair yard, where they set to making the necessary repairs.

Rain watched the back of her girlfriend from her seat on the edge of her bed at the end of a very long and tiring day. They were both dressed for bed in tee shirts and panties only as was their habit now. Feather was perched on the stool in front of her little desk, brushing out the auburn tresses that had grown a bit longer since she'd known her. _You been growin' it out on purpose?_ the young pilot thought idly.

The beautiful girl that had worked her way so far into her heart and head didn't pause in her firm strokes. _Mebbe. I know how much ya like it._

She did like it, a lot, but only as one aspect of all that made up who Feather was. Light and teasing, always full of humor, the girl was able to keep the normally grounded brunette buoyant past anything she'd ever thought possible.

_An' ya ground me some too, y'know. Never been accused of bein' overly responsible, leastways till I met ya._

Rain grinned. _Yer gettin' better at that, pickin' up on me even when I ain't thinkin' right atcha._ She let out a soft sigh and furrowed her brow. _Hey,_ wo de ai _, d'ya think mebbe..._ she trailed off her thought hesitantly.

Feather did turn then and gave her a brilliant smile, picking up on the unthought context. _I'd love to move in here with ya. Spend almost all our time here anyways, yeah? An' it ain't like I need my private time anymore._

The last bit was sent along with a juicy little image that sent warmth through Rain's abdomen, and she blushed lightly. _Well, mebbe I'll get to th'point someday where we c'n do more..._ That she sent along with an image of her own, one where Feather was touching her in a way that her girlfriend only touched herself when they were together.

This time it was Feather's turn to blush. _Toldya, I'm patient. An' I'll wait fer ya to get there._ She set her hairbrush down on the desk as she got up and walked over towards the bed, gracefully folding her legs under her as she sat next to Rain. Her knee rested atop Rain's bare leg.

Another thought occurred to Rain, and she frowned suddenly. _Don' seem fair to ya none, though. Not havin' any private time at all._

Feather threw her head back and gave a tinkling little laugh that sent waves of pleasure radiating through Rain's mind and body. "Oh, _lian ren_ (sweetheart), yer so cute when yer concerned-like fer me," she murmured out loud. She looked at Rain then with an amused glint in her eyes. _I've been practicin'._

_I know ya have, silly._

_You wanna try again?_ Feather quirked an eyebrow in challenge.

Rain snickered softly. _Go fer it. Lemme know when yer ready._

Feather nodded, a hint of a smile still tugging at the corner of her lips even when trying to be serious. She turned herself around to fully face Rain, shifting back so that they weren't touching. Putting her hands on her knees, the pretty mechanic closed her eyes and concentrated. Rain knew she was concentrating hard from the little line that furrowed her brow, which she thought was adorable beyond measure.

Her girlfriend wrinkled her nose. _Stop that. Trying' ta concentrate here._

_Then stop bein' so adorable, Feather-bear._

Feather cracked an eye open. _Why Miss Grant, arya sayin' ya can't control yerself none 'round me?_

Rain snorted softly again. _I ain't even gonna answer that. Now git._

Giggling, Feather closed her eyes again. _I'mma gettin', I'mma gettin'. Serious now._

She tried very hard not to let her amusement show, instead just studied Feather's features carefully, as if she could commit them to memory. Which, actually, she already had.

After a minute, Feather nodded slightly. and Rain closed her own eyes and tried to pick up on any of Feather's thoughts.

She was met by mostly silence, tinged at the edges by a sort of staticky sound like the comm would make in the deep Black, when there was no signal to pick up. Tried as she might, she couldn't get a read on her, even though she could tell Feather was still sitting right in front of her. _Leastways I c'n still tell where she is._

"Nice job, _zhi'ai_ (most beloved)," Rain said, smiling as she opened her eyes back up.

Feather smiled back brilliantly as she opened her own eyes, lighting up her face. _I hadda good teacher._

Rain then yawned widely, quickly covering her gaping mouth with her hand. _Sorry, I'm gettin' really tired, been a long day all 'round. Bed?_

_Works fer me, hon._

As they got under the sheets, Rain frowned slightly again. _I c'n tell yer wantin' to fool 'round some, though._

 _I'm always wantin' to fool 'round,_ bang jiar _(lover). Don' mean I need t'all the time. I'm gonna feel frisky around ya most days, but it don' mean you hafta none. An' I ain't goin' nowhere._

 _True, awfully cold outside this time of year,_ Rain joked as she reached up to turn the lights off.

 _Not right here, though,_ Feather sighed, snuggling back into Rain's arms. _I like this just fine. 'Night_ lian ren _(sweetheart). Love ya._

 _Love you too,_ wo de ai _(my love)._

* * *

Jiangyin.

Late that same evening Dani and Lori were strolling along the main strip of bars and saloons, sampling the nightlife of Jiangyin as the lanky captain pointed out some of her favorite haunts from long ago. It was a bittersweet journey through time for her, but made more enjoyable by the company.

She halted outside one particular restaurant, closed for the evening already, with the name "Perkin's Eatery" emblazoned across the top.

"This place somethin' special for ya, _wo de ai_?" Lori asked gently, her arm wrapped around her lover's waist.

"It was, yeah," Dani replied softly, leaning her head against the top of her wife's. "Beth always liked to come here. Lotsa good memories, y'know?" She turned her face to plant a kiss on the crown of her red tresses. "Thanks fer bein' with me, _zhi'ai_ (most beloved). I 'preciate it."

"Ain't no other place I'd rather be than by yer side," Lori reassured her firmly. She was long past any insecurities over Dani's deceased wife, and knew that while those wounds had healed over they were never completely gone. She treasured them the same as Dani did, as they had molded her wife into the wonderful woman she was now.

Their reminisces were broken by a small body flying into them from out of an alley. Lori was thrown off her feet and torn from Dani's embrace with a squawk of indignation.

" _Shenme ta ma de_ (what the fuck)?" Dani exclaimed, reaching for her Ares sidearm. She stopped when she realized the small figure was a trembling teenaged girl, clearly frightened out of her mind. "Hey now, what's the rush there?"

The pounding of feet from behind her caused her to swivel towards the new threat, her hand on her gun still. A figure sped out from the same alleyway, but skidded to a stop, panting hard. He was lean and tall, perhaps a few centimeters taller than Dani even, and dressed in a royal blue Core-tailored suit, though it was rumpled and a number of years out of date. He had an unruly mop of black hair on his head and a devil-may-care grin on his face as he eyed the tangle of women still on the ground.

"Finally!" he laughed, still trying to catch his breath. "You made it a good run, _ni zi_ (little girl), but it's over now. Come on with me quietly, alright?"

Dani stepped over to interpose herself between the newcomer and the others who were slowly getting back to their feet. "And just what's yer interest in her, _pengyou_ (friend)?"

"Well, _pengyou_ ," he replied with a broad smirk and a mocking tone. "She's my bounty. And I'm a bounty hunter. No more needs to be said. Now move."

 _Oh he did not just..._ Dani returned his smirk with her own trademark one as she crossed her arms. "Make me."

The man barked an incredulous laugh. "Look, babe, I don't have the time for your little games. Go run along now, this doesn't concern you."

Lori chuckled from behind her wife. "Izze really tryin' ta _ni gan zou_ (piss you off), Capt'n?"

Smiling at Lori's formal address, she felt her smirk transform into something much more deadly. "I do believe he is. What's yer name, _piyan_ (asshole)?"

The man left his condescending smirk in place. "Call me Spike."

"Well Spike," the lanky spacer replied as she slipped her jacket off of her shoulders and let it fall to the ground behind her. "I'm gonna hafta kick yer _pigu_ (ass) now." She transferred her weight to the balls of her feet and smoothly shifted into a combat stance, hands held loosely up in front of her.

Spike snorted in humor. "Your funeral." He spun suddenly, whirling a booted foot towards Dani's head, but she was ready for the move, She ducked slightly, feeling the foot brush the top of her hair, and she returned the favor with a low spin kick of her own. He lunged backwards, a smile spreading across his sharp features as he danced back in, hands at the ready.

She had to admit, he was pretty good, maybe even as good as her. He was able to block most of her strikes, even as much as she kept changing up her offensive moves, and she was barely able to dodge or block his own kicks and punches. His form was a strange blend of martial arts, one she'd never seen before.

They backed away from each other, breathing hard. He wiped his hand across his split lip, cleaning the blood there off, while she did the same for the small cut on her chin.

"That's an interesting style," she commented nonchalantly as they continued to circle. "Ain't seen it 'fore."

"It's called _Jeet Kun Do_ ," he replied conversationally. "Picked it up awhile back on Sihnon. Seems you have some _Tai Chi_ influence there, but I'm not sure what the rest is."

Dani smirked. "It's called survival. Been in enuff fights to learn howta keep myself alive."

"Is that where you got those impressive scars?" he asked curiously, indicating her arms and shoulders, left uncovered by her black tank top.

"Oh, no," she replied softly. "Those were done by some _ang zang de yukai gou shi baotu_ (filthy piece of shit thug), tried to kill me." She grinned ferally. "I'm alot harder to kill than that."

"Hmm," Spike mused thoughtfully. "You looking for a change in careers by any chance?"

"Not really, why?"

"I like a woman who can kick my ass," he answered cheekily.

"So do I," she replied nodding towards Lori, standing off to the side with a huge grin on her face and wiggling her fingers at him cheerfully.

Spike's eyebrows rose, and he let out a surprised bark of laughter. Dani was expecting it, and quickly made a leaping spin kick that connected solidly with his temple, and he went down like a sack of flour.

Lori was clutching her sides in laughter, and Dani soon joined her after picking up her jacket. "Oh, _Ji du_ (Christ), that look on 'is face, priceless," her wife wheezed.

Dani smiled and planted a kiss on her freckled cheek, then looked around curiously. "Where'd the kid go?"

"Took off right after ya dropped yer jacket," the redhead replied with a grin.

Dani laughed and wrapped her arm around her lover. "Well, _wo de ai_ , I think that's enuff fun fer one evenin'. How 'bout we head fer our bunk?"

"Sounds like a plan, _lian ren_ (sweetheart)," Lori replied happily, wrapping her arm around the lanky woman as well. They headed off, stepping carefully around the fallen bounty hunter who was still out cold.

"See ya, space cowboy," Dani called out over her shoulder towards the unconscious man.

* * *

 _Fortune's Favour._ Outbound from Jiangyin.

Dani sat in her captain's chair, feet casually up on her console as she watched her _nu'er_ take their ship out of orbit. "Didya get the chance to see any of yer friends?" she asked curiously.

"Nah," she replied, deft fingers flying across the console as she laid in their next course. "I know Cali took the time ta look up Choji an' Tobi, but I spent my downtime with Feather."

"Oh, did you now," Dani murmured, grinning.

Rain flashed her a quick scowl. " _Kaasan_..." she warned.

"Ain't gonne tease ya none," she replied, her hands up in surrender. "Believe me, _baobei_ , I'm happy fer ya." She dropped her feet to the floor and leaned forward. "Really. I am."

Rain smiled happily. "Me too," she said simply. Then a frown creased her face. "Uncle Keith's comin'," she said softly.

"'Bout gorram time," Dani replied, smirking. She kept her eyes on the viewport in front of them, but this time focused on the reflection she saw from the doorway. Once it darkened with the silhouette of a large man, she pressed the remote button in her hand.

The was a bright flash and a muffled bang of noise from behind them, and she heard Keith let out a yelp of surprise. Dani turned to see him crouched in the doorway, a bewildered look on his face and his hands set into a combat stance. He relaxed when he noticed both of the bridge crew members howling in laughter at his predicament.

"Oh, very funny," he snorted. "Now we're resorting to booby traps?"

"Yep!" Dani replied merrily, wiping the tears of mirth from her eyes. "I'll cure ya of yer lurkin' yet, _didi_!"

Keith shook his head and walked over to the nav seat. "There's something seriously wrong with you, _jiejie_ ," he said, a trace of humor in his baritone voice.

"Ain't arguin' that none," his sister laughed, sharing a high five with Rain. Any further conversation was cut off by the sound of Lori screaming out her wife's name.

Dani started to rise out of her chair in alarm, but stopped as she saw Lori run onto the bridge, a panicked look in her wide eyes.

"Turn on the Cortex, quick!" the redhead exclaimed.

"Um, which channel?"

"Any of 'em, don't matter none! It's everywhere!"

She quickly did so and the speakers were immediately filled with screaming which was cut short. " _Shenme ta ma de_ (what the fuck)..." Dani started, but then quieted as the clip started to play again on a loop. A woman in an Alliance exploratory corps uniform began to speak.

"These are just a few of the images we've recorded. And you can see, it wasn't what we thought. There's been no war here and no terraforming event. The environment is stable. It's the Pax. The G-23 Paxilon Hydrochlorate that we added to the air processors. "

" _Ta ma de di yu_ (fucking hell)," Dani breathed, watching the images of mummified corpses displayed. Rain's mouth was open in shock, and Lori was fighting back tears, a fist clenched in front of her mouth.

"It was supposed to calm the population, weed out aggression. Well, it works. The people here stopped fighting. And then they stopped everything else. They stopped going to work, they stopped breeding, talking, eating. There's thirty million people here, and they all just let themselves die."

"Where..." Dani cleared her throat. "Where'd this happen?"

"Text attached to the vid sez a planet called Miranda, out in Blue Sun somewhere," Lori replied in a broken voice. "Twelve years ago."

Dani could hardly focus on the words anymore as the enormity of it overwhelmed her, but the woman on the broadcast continued nonetheless, describing the detrimental and aggressive effects to a smaller percentage, a tenth of a percent, of the population. "They have become... well they've killed most of us. And not just killed...they've done things... "

She shut the Cortex off when the screaming started again.

"Lemme get this straight," Rain said incredulously, easing back into her chair. "The Alliance killed off thirty million folks, an' made the Reavers, twelve years ago, an' they been coverin' it up ever since?"

"Not anymore," Keith rumbled, the disquiet evident in his voice.

Dani swiveled her head around, taking in the others. "This... this changes everythin'."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, by my timeline, we've now reached the events of the BDM! And yes, as should be evident, I'm going to be tying into the story some of the fallout from that. Things in the 'Verse are changing, and the _Favour's_ crew will have to start stepping lightly if they don't want to get caught up...
> 
> Title track is by Great Big Sea, the group whose album _Fortune's Favour_ is obviously relevant. (And not to be confused by _Walking On The Moon_ by the Police, or the group Walk the Moon who did _Shut Up And Dance_ , or... Well, gorramit. Didn't realize I had so many moon references in my playlist. Go figure.)
> 
> And yes, finally a _Cowboy Bebop_ reference. I keep meaning to stick them into my episodes. One of the greatest anime series ever.
> 
> A quick clarification, based on a review. Pirates are certainly out there in the 'Verse, mostly on the fringes on the Rim, hiding away from Alliance patrols (why else would they patrol?) and raiding lone transports. I use the term 'frigate' here in regards to the larger pirate vessel, which might cause some confusion. I suppose the pirate ship might have been more accurately called a 'cutter' or some such. I kinda take exception to how the Alliance classifies their ships - what they call a patrol ship (the smaller one, not the Patrol Frigate) should really be a frigate, though it might be a cutter instead. That's the size I'm going for, but as it's a pirate ship it's likely to be a much older model, not as heavily armed or armored, and with less overall destructive ability (pirates want to capture, not blow up, their prizes). It's true, though, that perhaps the panicked transport crew could have misidentified the ship classification that was chasing them. Basically, a frigate should be one of the smallest warships in a fleet, fast and nimble with little armor, as opposed to their slightly larger cousin, the destroyer.
> 
> Till next chapter, stay shiny!


	69. Episode 55: Unchained

Outbound from Jiangyin.

Dani sat on the bridge of the _Fortune's Favour_ , quietly stroking her wife's hair as she sat in her lap. She pondered the news they received earlier that day about the event twelve years ago on a, perhaps purposely, forgotten planet called Miranda.

"Still havin' a hard time wrappin' my head 'round it all," Lori sighed softly.

The lanky captain snorted. "What, that the Alliance is capable of sucha thing?"

Lori shook her head without dislodging Dani's hand. "No, you an' I know good an' well what those _hundans_ are capable of. We done seen it 'fore, yeah?"

Thinking back to the war, she gave a sigh of her own. "Yeah."

"It's just sucha... big number. Thirty million folks." Lori turned her face to peer up at her lover. "Ain't a war they died in. T'was families and the like, just livin' best they could out on the Rim. An' they're all dead."

"Most of 'em," Dani amended with a shudder. Reavers were born in the crucible of the disaster at Miranda, a tenth of a percent of the population that turned into monsters. Cunning, reasoning, yet extraordinarily brutal monsters.

She leaned in a few centimeters and gave the freckled redhead a gentle, reassuring kiss. "Wonder if'n there's gonna be a fallout," she said when she leaned back up.

Lori shrugged and put her hand around the back of Dani's neck to pull her in for another kiss, longer this time. "If'n there is, we'll face it together, yeah?" she eventually murmured against her wife's lips.

"Always, _wo de ai_ ," Dani replied happily, and for the next several minutes lost herself in the warm, soft feeling of Lori's lips and hands.

She jumped slightly at the clearing of a throat behind her. "If you two could come up for air, there's a news broadcast beginning."

Dani knew her face reflected the blush on Lori's as they both sat up straighter. "Um, sorry _didi_ , fergot you were there."

Keith snorted a laugh. "I figured that." He reached forward in the nav seat to turn the volume up on the Cotrex unit just as a plastic-faced newsman began to speak, the smile on his face seemingly frozen in place.

"Recently the 'Verse was shaken after a mysterious Wave broadcast throughout the Cortex about the existence of Reavers as well as strange experiments conducted by the Alliance on a world called Miranda. Alliance officials deny all allegations of the Wave and state that the broadcast was simply the work of dissidents looking to destabilize the Alliance. In other news, the new Cortex cinema starring Felicia Zhang released this weekend to rave reviews."

Shaking his head ruefully, Keith turned the volume back down and leaned on one elbow, his chin cupped in his hand.

"Wait, that's it?" Dani asked incredulously. "That's all the news they're givin' 'bout the whole gorram thing?"

"I did find one more item, but not from the news sites," Keith replied thoughtfully. "Over on the internal Alliance boards that I can still access they have a hunt going on for a Firefly vessel, same model as ours, by the name of _Serenity_."

Lori chuckled. "Name like that, gotta be 'nother Browncoat, right?"

Dani, however, was peering intently at her brother. "It's them, ain't it? They're the ones who put this out there 'cross the Cortex."

Nodding in affirmation, Keith replied, "They seem to be, yes. The hunt has gone out across the merc boards, but without any details."

"An' there's something else you ain't tellin' me," Dani interjected. "I know you, _didi_. Spit it out."

Snickering, Lori laid her head back against Dani's shoulder. "Ain't no use in hidin' nothin' from 'er, you know that by now Keith."

The burly former Special Forces soldier sighed and sat back in his chair. "I recognize the ship's name. That's the ship we docked with back when... Well, that's where the doctor came from that saved your life, _jiejie_."

Dani's sharp intake of breath did not go unnoticed, and Lori turned quickly to place a reassuring hand on the side of her wife's face. "Hey, _zhi'ai_ (most beloved)..."

The brunette blinked rapidly, dismissing memories of her near-death experience from Silverhold, then smiled at her wife's concern. "It's alright, _lian ren_ (sweetheart)." She looked over at her brother again with a steely gaze. "We gotta help 'em."

"Dani..." Her brother sighed again heavily. "I knew you'd react this way. Just hear me out, okay?" He waited for her nod before continuing. "I know you think the Alliance isn't taking this seriously, but believe me, they are. This is how they operate, they shut it down and discredit it in the media, and then they come at you sideways. If we try to help overtly, whatever we try to do, we'll get swept up along with _Serenity_ and her crew _._ " He looked at her with concern in his eyes. "Don't go jumping into this like you sometimes tend to do, alright?"

"Gorramit," Dani muttered. She knew her brother made sense, but it grated on her that she had an opportunity somehow to repay the debt she owed for her life.

"There ain't no way we c'n help?" Lori whispered into the silence. "Even quiet-like?"

Dani stroked her wife's arm affectionately while she pondered their next actions. "Alright, _didi_ ," she finally said softly. "I c'n agree with ya, ain't worth the risk to our family an' crew to come right out an' offer help. But," she looked him in the eyes, determination filling her face, "you make sure you keep an ear out, yeah? I wanna know if'n you hear anythin' at all that pops up, somewhere'r somehow we c'n help 'em."

"If'n you do wanna help, Keith," Lori interjected gently. Dani glanced down at her wife, puzzling out the frown on her face before she realized the implications of what she was asking.

" _Gao yang jong duh goo yang_ (motherless goats of all motherless goats)," she muttered, abashed. "Keith, I... _Cao._ I never asked ya, an' I'm real sorry fer assumin' anythin'..."

Keith smiled and shook his head. "It's alright, thank you both. You should bring this up with the entire crew, but you do already know my answer. You're my Captain and my _jiejie_. I'm going to follow your lead wherever it takes us." He rose up from his seat with a grunt. "And yeah, even if it takes us up against the Alliance. I just don't want us taking unnecessary risks."

"Well, I s'pect you'll let me know if'n I ever look like I'm 'bout to," Dani joked.

"You can count on me," Keith replied firmly, both women acknowledging the double meaning to his words. He walked off of the bridge, and Dani tightened her arms around Lori.

"Am I doin' the right thing here, Lori?" she eventually asked, traces of doubt lacing her words. "Should I really put our ship at risk, gettin' involved?"

"You know we hafta," her _zhen'ai_ (true love) replied softly, turning her head to nuzzle Dani's neck. "Ain't no way to hide from this none. Not after all we went through fer independence."

"Might've been the losin' side," Dani agreed, "but now more'n ever, I'm convinced it weren't never the wrong side."

"An' I'm bettin' there might be plenty of folks who feel likewise out there," Lori said thoughtfully before she leaned up for another kiss.

Dani mumbled her agreement before losing herself once again in her wife's embrace. The future would hold what it would, but the one certainty that remained for her was right there in her arms. And nothing in the 'Verse would cause her to let go.

* * *

En route to Persephone.

Dani was sitting at her usual place at the head of the table that evening, relaxed and watching her family and friends interact as they got dinner together, after having filled them all in on how they were going to proceed. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the entire crew were willing to follow her lead, and more than eager to assist the other Firefly transport should the opportunity arise.

She had often reflected that this was her favorite time of day when her entire family assembled. Granted there were some faces missing, as she was recently reminded after visiting with her brother-in-law Mike on Jiangyin, but there were some new ones as well now.

As the thought occurred to her, she glanced over towards the kitchen area where Rain and Feather were preparing dinner for them.

And then she really took a closer look at them.

She'd noticed that the couple were certainly more comfortable together. Dani never thought she'd see the day where her eldest daughter, so intensely private and closed off to intimacy at times, would have had someone move in with her. She'd almost spit out her mouthful of tea when she discovered that Feather had brought all of her belongings into Rain's bunk next door to hers and Lori's.

But now that she really looked at them, it went beyond the sex that she assumed they were now having. That assumption was based on the glow that they both exhibited most mornings when they emerged from their bunk. At this moment, though, as she examined them closely, it was almost like watching a silent ballet.

The two girls moved around each other quietly and smoothly, handing each other items that were unasked for. They never bumped into each other, except for a quick touch or intentional contact with their hips or shoulders. Sometimes she saw one or the other smile as if in reaction to a joke or comment.

But she never saw them speak.

" _Tai-kong suo-yo duh shing-chiou sai-jin wuh duh pee-goo_ (shove all the planets in the universe up my ass)," she murmured to herself wonderingly, a suspicion starting to form in her mind.

"You okay, beautiful?" her wife asked. Lori reached over and gave Dani's hand a squeeze under the table.

Dani turned and smiled at the freckled beauty. "I'm fine, _wo de ai_."

She tried to be as unapparent as possible during the meal as she observed her pilot and assistant mechanic interact. They set the table quietly and efficiently, responding to conversation from others but not talking directly to each other. Still, as they sat down, they shared food from the serving dishes with each other, unasked. Dani's eyes widened slightly as she saw Rain serve herself from one plate and go to put some on Feather's but then place the full spoon back on the plate without Feather so much as shaking her head.

They all ate in silence for awhile, in the initial period of the meal that Mike had always called the "serious eatin' time," but eventually the conversation picked back up at the table. Though Rain and her auburn-haired girlfriend sat shoulder-to-shoulder, they continued to eat in silence. Grins would blossom on their faces every so often, and not in response to outside conversation.

_They are. They're really talkin' to each other, inside each other's heads._

The revelation caused a shock to ripple through her body. As it did, both Rain and Feather perked their heads up simultaneously and turned to look curiously at Dani.

 _Whelp, that certainly confirmed it,_ Dani smirked. "Rain, c'n I talk to ya on th'bridge fer a tic?"

"Sure, _Kaasan,_ " Rain replied cautiously. She reached over to give Feather's hand a squeeze and followed Dani forward. They sat down in their usual seats, facing each other. Rain a bit warily, Dani more relaxed.

"So, I figured there's no need to have Feather here," the lanky captain began with a warm smile, "since I think yer tellin' 'er what we're talkin' about."

"Well, I do share with 'er-"

"I mean now, _baobei_. Yer talkin' to 'er right now, ain't ya?" Dani leaned forward with her elbows on her knees.

Rain grimaced but nodded reluctantly.

"Sweetie, y'know you ain't gots any reason to worry none with me," Dani tried to reassure her gently. "I'm more'n happy fer ya that y'all have this connection."

Her _nu'er_ looked searchingly at Dani's face, finally relaxing with another nod.

"C'n ya talk to me 'bout it some?" Dani probed quietly. "Izzit just the two of ya?"

"Far as I c'n tell, yeah. Been teachin' her to block me out so's we ain't sharin' everythin', but yeah it's been..." Rain trailed off with a soft smile. "Been a lil' weird, yeah, but unbelievably good."

"Did it start with when ya gots yerself 'lectrified?"

Rain shook her head with a laugh. "Not right then, I mean it got stronger, yeah, but weren't til..." She broke off with a blush and stared at the deck.

"Oh," Dani said knowingly. "When y'all had sex?"

Rain mumbled something indistinct under her breath, still blushing.

"What was that, _nu'er_?" Dani asked, humor lacing her words.

Sighing, Rain repeated herself, still not meeting her _Kaasan_ 's eyes. "We ain't been sexin' yet. Well, not really."

"Sweetie, ain't nothin' to be ashamed of none."

"I ain't, not really. But honest, we ain't actually had physical sex with each other. More like..." Rain closed her eyes then, unable to even look at the deck. "She pleasures herself nexta me. An' I c'n feel it all."

Dani blinked as she sat back up. "Oh. Wow." She grinned then. "Bet that feels amazin'."

Rain opened her eyes then and grinned back, though still blushing brightly. "You gots no idea," she said reverently.

With a laugh, Dani stood up and leaned over to give Rain a tight hug. "I'm very happy fer ya both, _baobei_. I won't tell nobody else none if'n ya don' want me to."

"No, it's okay if'n ya tell Lori, leastways just about the talkin' we c'n do," Rain smiled as Dani stood back upright. "Anyone else is fine, too, I s'pose. 'Cept mebbe Cali. She'd pitch a fit."

"Likely, yeah, but ya still should at some point." Dani smiled back affectionately. "You tell Feather, though, I'm glad she's with ya. I c'n tell how good she is fer ya."

Rain nodded. "She sez thanks. An' that yer the shiniest capt'n ever."

Dani barked a laugh as she headed back towards the galley. "I think she c'n start callin' me _Kaasan_ now, don' you?"

As she walked back into the room to sit down, Feather jumped up from her seat and gave her a tight hug, tears in her eyes. Dani laughed and returned it, rubbing her back gently. Sniffling, Feather let go and smiled brightly before returning wordlessly to her seat. Rain slid in next to her with a kiss.

Lori was looking between the couple and her wife, chopsticks paused halfway to her mouth. "Um, _lian ren_ (sweetheart)? Everythin' okay?"

Dani smiled and reached back under the table to hold Lori's hand. "Better'n okay, _wo de ai_. I'll tell ya 'bout it all later."

* * *

Persephone. Lux protostar. White Sun system.

They had been down in Eavesdown Docks for a number of hours while Jess searched the boards for an outbound cargo. She was hunched over the Cortex unit in the nav seat while Dani reclined in her usual chair. The rest of the crew were either taking their leave outside or, as was likely the case with Kelly, working on other matters in their bunks.

Dani glanced over as the Cortex light started blinking. "That fer you, Jess?"

"No, it has your name on it," Jess replied. She flipped a switch on her console. "Go ahead, Dani."

"Thanks, _meimei_ ," the lanky captain said warmly, before sitting up and straightening out her shirt. She flipped the unit on and saw a smarmy visage that she'd not heard from in some time.

"Badger! How's life treatin' ya, _huoban_ (buddy)?" The petty thief was certainly low on the pecking order of general lowlife within the Docks, but Dani got along well enough with him. She'd done a few jobs for him, some even of the legal variety. They didn't always pay great, but it was sometimes worthwhile to remain in his good graces.

"Dani, luv, nice t'see ya still flyin'," the little man with the bowler hat said with an oily smile. "I gotta job fer ya, my sweet, if yer available, yeah?"

"Well, now, ya know I'm a mite picky," Dani bantered, "but gimme the details an' I'll let ya know."

"See now, alls I need is someone to be retrieved," he stated. "Nothin' too illicit, just bring me back a girl who's been nicked from me. I think you c'n pull it off, you an' yer big _hundan_ (bastard) of a brother. Whaddya say, help a mate out 'ere. I'm willin' t'pay five up front, an' another five on delivery."

Dani's eyes widened involuntarily. Ten thousand credits was a decent sum of money for a single job, so there obviously was something the criminal wasn't telling her. "I dunno, Badger, tha's a mite light on the details..." She paused as she felt a hand on her arm.

"Can you mute for a second?" Jess whispered quietly in her ear.

Dani nodded. " _Deng yi miao_ (hold on a sec), lemme talk to my cargomaster..." She flipped a switch and looked back at Jess curiously.

"So, I haven't wanted to worry you or anything," the raven-haired woman began. "But our coffers are pretty tight right now after all the mechanical issues we've been having. Reserves are almost gone, we have enough for fuel to get us off to our next destination but little else." She looked into Dani's eyes intently. "I hate to recommend this, but we should really take whatever job this is."

Dani blew out a breath. "Right. Still don' wanna walk into somethin' blindly, but I'll see if'n I c'n get a bit more outta him."

She turned back towards the Cortex, where Badger was waiting impatiently. She noticed that he looked perhaps a bit panicked. "So, Badger, if'n this's a business deal, I needs ya to be upfront with us, yeah?"

"Okay, okay," Badger relented, seemingly to wilt before their eyes. "It's... it's my daughter, ya met 'er last time you were 'ere. 'Er name's Betty, an' she's been kidnapped. I dunno who in my organization ta trust just yet, some bloke musta betrayed me. I need outside help, luv." He looked at her imploringly. "Only other crew I c'n trust, they done dropped offa the radar. Nobody else I c'n turn to."

Dani blinked a few times, glancing over at Jess who looked equally shocked. Her first thought being, Wo kao _(holy shit), I plumb fergot Badger gots a daughter._ But the second was, _Gorramit, that there's one of my buttons, now I_ gots _to help..._

"Yeah, okay Badger, we'll help out. Send us whatcha know, an' 'er description. We'll get back to ya."

"Thanks, luv, knew I could count on ya! Sendin' what I gots, and wirin' over yer initial funds now. Cheers!"

As soon as he ended the transmission, Jess let out a snort of laughter she had barely been able to hold in. "Badger procreated?"

Dani grinned back at her. "I know, right?"

* * *

 _Fortune's Favour._ Eavesdown Docks. Persephone.

The crew had gathered around the table before dinner that evening to review what they knew for the upcoming job.

"So, there's a little bit of information that I could uncover," Kelly started in her role of mission coordinator. "Some of it is helpful, other parts not so much, and one item that might be downright terrifying."

"Well now, that's all sorts of excitin'," Lori replied cheerfully. She'd scooted her chair back so that she could lean up against Dani and drape her arm around her. "Been a mite quiet-like 'round here lately anyways."

Dani snorted, slapping her hand lightly across her wife's belly. "Stop that. Don' go jinxin' us 'fore we even get started."

Shaking his head, Keith leaned forward while still holding onto Jess's hand. "Alright Kelly, give it to us. Let's start with the terrifying bit and work our way down."

"Fair enough," Kelly replied, grinning. "So, the man thought to be responsible for the kidnapping is the crime lord called Niska."

 _That_ got everyone's attention, and more than a few muttered curses.

"Talk 'bout _shui shen huo re_ (deep water and scorching fire / abyss of suffering)," Emily muttered darkly. "Even I done hearda 'im. Ten thousand ain't enuff to be goin' up against the likes of that madman."

"Well, that's part of the good news," Kelly replied, unperturbed. "So long as we move fast, and stay careful so it doesn't make its way back to us, we shouldn't have to deal with him at all."

"Alright, Kelly, go ahead and give us the rest," Keith stated.

Kelly nodded and took a sip from her tea. "From what I could find, it seems the job went through a local mercenary guild based on this planet. They took the girl, but still have her while awaiting payment for services rendered." She paused and glanced around the table with a gleam in her eye. "This same guild, by the way, is currently hiring."

"You want us to play mercs," Jess said wonderingly, a smile tugging at her lips. "Apply for a job and get in, then rescue the girl."

Kelly nodded but looked over at Keith inquiringly. He was tapping his fingertips on the tabletop thoughtfully. "We could pull it off," he finally said in a quiet baritone before glancing over at the head of the table. " _Jiejie_?"

"Yeah, it could work," Dani replied with a smirk. "Let's get plannin'. I wanna get over there tonight if'n at all possible."

* * *

Eavesdown Docks. Persephone.

They spent perhaps another hour settling on a cover story and hashing out the details. More time was spent on assembling costumes and disguises, but that was certainly the fun part of the preparations.

Over Sara's protests, it was decided that having her along was simply too identifying for the _Favour_ 's crew. She was a recognizable face from their jobs, and would likely face extra scrutiny due to her smaller stature. Instead, Keith decided to keep her as their ace up their sleeve, remaining on the outskirts as hidden backup.

And so with dusk approaching the other four members of the ground team ended up standing at the doors to the Persephone merc guild headquarters, conveniently located just on the outer rim of Eavesdown Docks. They were met cordially by a guard, who sent them into an antechamber where they would meet with a recruiting officer after having given a brief informational intake.

Eventually, a rail-thin but hardened man walked through the door. He took three steps in before glancing up from his datapad. The sight in front of him caused him to freeze in his tracks.

The middle two prospective mercs stood with their arms crossed. They each were of a height, close enough, towering over him by several centimeters. Though the male was definitely more muscular, the female didn't give up much in terms of wiry strength. They each had dark grey fatigue pants on, tight black tank tops, and a sidearm holstered at their side. While the male had a shaved head, the female had medium-length hair that was a shocking electric blue. He could tell from their identical bright green eyes that they would be the twins from his report in front of him.

Next to the woman, leaning against her arm, was a curvy and freckled redhead, dressed in a skin-tight dark green bodysuit. Her red hair was spiked up, and a manic sort of smile was on her face. She didn't have any sidearm but instead carried an enormous sniper rifle slung across her back. To the recruiting officer's trained eye, it looked to be a Callahan _Long_ , the Mandarin word for Dragon. Extremely efficient at taking out vehicles, he shuddered to think about what it might do to an unarmored person.

The last woman stood just behind the male. He could tell she was wearing a matching black pair of athletic shorts and halter top, with a cherry-red kimono loosely belted over top. Unlike the other three who wore combat boots, she had what seemed to be ballet slippers on. Her long black hair was done up in a high bun, complimenting her Asian features. The decorative silver chopsticks holding her hair together would likely be deadly throwing weapons, the merc knew. And he was able to glimpse the handles from a pair of handguns in their shoulder holsters under the kimono when she shifted restlessly.

"Greetings," he finally said after taking in the spectacle before him. "My name is Rex. I'll be your intake officer. I understand the group of you are applying for entrance, together?"

"That's right," the middle woman said in a clipped Core accent. "We come in as a group..."

"...Or we don't come in at all," the man finished for her with an identical accent. "It's a package deal."

"I see," the merc mused, looking over his datapad. "So the two of you in the middle, you would be..."

" _Emo_ (Demon)," the man replied tersely.

" _Tianshi_ (Angel)," the woman said right on his heels.

The merc gave a little smile as he glanced up. "Twins?"

"That's right," _Tianshi_ replied.

The recruiting officer gave a noncommittal grunt. "And then you," he said, turning to the sniper, "would be... Red?"

The freckled woman gave a small nod, the wide grin on her face not faltering a bit.

"She doesn't talk," _Emo_ commented.

 _Tianshi_ smirked, trailing her hand across the other woman's arm. "At least not in words," she purred.

Rex cleared his throat. "Um, yes. And then the last member of your party would be Kimiko."

"That is correct," the dark-haired beauty replied in a husky voice. She seemed to be wanting to pace about restlessly, only restraining herself through sheer force of will.

"Well then, I welcome you all to our humble guild. If you could join me, please, we'll do a brief interview before we discuss your entrance into our organization."

The five left the room and headed across the hallway to an unoccupied conference room. It would not have looked out of place in any corporate building, with neutral-colored walls, oak furnishings, and comfortable executive chairs.

"Can I get you anything to drink?" Rex asked courteously as they sat. He received several shakes of the head in response, so he settled down and began the interview process for the four colorful entrants.

The questioning lasted for perhaps an hour. Lori, posing as Red, kept her mouth shut and worked on keeping her smile firmly in place. She'd practiced it for awhile in front of the mirror, and with both Sara and Emily giving her advice on how to make it as unnerving as possible. It seemed to be working, as the merc officer didn't look at her very much. With any luck, her red hair, difficult to dye with her wide expanse of freckles, would be less memorable than her wife's radiant blue hair. _Mebbe she'll keep it a mite longer'n the job,_ she mused. _It's kinda_ _hot._ A thought occurred to her then. _Huh. Guess if'n I wanted to make my hair less obvious, shoulda used a dif'rent name than Red. Ah, well._

They discussed how the last job the four were on went south in a violent manner, ending up with them losing money and contacts. They decided as a group to leave the independent contractor lifestyle and instead join with the stability of an established mercenary guild.

"We share the leadership," Dani answered Rex's previous question. " _Emo_ and I..."

"...Rarely disagree," Keith finished for her. They had to actively work on finishing each other's sentences, which was easier than Dani's efforts to keep her Core accent in the front. " _Tianshi_ was born a minute before me. She gets the final say."

Rex blinked as he absorbed their unique leadership style. "I see," he murmured. He glanced back down at his datapad. "Well, you all have very impressive skills. Between the tactical training, hand-to-hand combat, and," he glanced over at Lori, "Red's sniping ability, I believe you would all be an asset to our organization." He sat back with a satisfactory smile on his face. "Now, let me tell you a bit about our organization."

Since the end of the War for Unification, as the merc called it, local police forces were kept to a bare minimum. Militias were outlawed for fear of another uprising. Instead, federal forces were allocated to each system, but even those were spread thinly. It became difficult to track and apprehend criminals, especially when they crossed over into another system.

Until Parliament passed the Fugitive Retrieval Act.

It was intended to bolster the local police forces and federal authorities in their reach and efforts. But in addition to that, there arose a considerable interest in private contractors who could be deputized to help out where needed. And out of these loose conglomerations arose the legalization of both the mercenaries and bounty hunters.

Most folk in the 'Verse considered the two to be identical, but those with experience with either type of professional knew there was a wide practical gap. While bounty hunters were heavily codified and centralized into a Bounty Hunter's Guild, based in White Sun with branches throughout the 'Verse, the mercenaries remained a loose group of unaffiliated guilds. There were some that were based inside a system, some just planet-side. Their specializations were very different as well. Bounty hunters were focused on individual retrieval of a fugitive.

Mercs, however, did just about everything else.

The guild on Persephone had a monopoly on related enterprises within that planet. Whether it be protection services, stolen goods retrieval, or perhaps just bolstering up a politician's private security force for a dinner gala, they had their hands in most outsourced activities.

"We do have some activities that we keep under the table, as it were," Rex continued with a bit of a smirk. "Somewhat of a legal grey area. We have some that specialize in them, and others who are open if the opportunity arises. But there are plenty more who refuse to participate in them, and that's perfectly fine." He raised an eyebrow. "Do you know what category your team might fall under?"

"We've done plenty of wetwork in the past," _Tianshi_ confirmed.

"Among other things," _Emo_ continued.

"Kidnapping."

"Burglary."

"Assassination."

Red gave a dark little giggle at the last word, doing a fair imitation of Sara and the first sound she had made. Rex squirmed uncomfortably at the noise. "Yes. Well then, I will definitely put you into the second group."

The merc gave them a little more information on the benefits of guild membership, such as equipment rental, medical facility access, and broker services, before ending the interview.

"So, here is your entrance exam, as it were," Rex said finally, placing a datastick onto the table. Kimiko's hand quickly snaked out to grab the stick and slip it up the sleeve of her kimono. "We selected a minor job, item retrieval. Successfully complete the job tonight and I will pass along my recommendation on your membership."

They stood up together, murmuring their thanks (except for Red, who kept her creepy smile firmly in place), before the four walked out of the doors and onto the streets. They kept the ruse going for another block before they were sure they weren't followed.

" _Da-shiang bao-tza shr duh lah doo-tze_ (the explosive diarrhea of an elephant)," Lori muttered, massaging her cheeks. "That ruttin' killed me, smilin' like that fer so long."

"And here I thought it would be your having to keep quiet the whole time," Keith replied amusedly, receiving a good-natured smack on the arm by his sister.

"Blue, Four, y'all get all of that?" Dani asked into her earpiece.

"Roger that, Two," Kelly replied in her earpiece. "Bring the datastick on back and we'll plan the next phase.

"And might I just add, y'all look absolutely adorable," Sara snickered.

Dani glanced up towards the rooftops where her _nu'er_ was lurking. "Ha, ha. Get yer _pigu_ back to the ship with us, alright?"

"On it!" Sara replied cheerily.

"We do look pretty gorram good," Jess mused.

"Especially Lori," Dani sighed, eyeing her wife walking in front of her. "That bodysuit... gorram, girl. You gotta wear that again fer me."

"Oh yeah?" the freckled redhead asked, looking over her shoulder with a saucy grin. "See somethin' ya like?" She put an extra sway in her step as she moved.

"Close your mouth, _jiejie_ ," Keith snickered. "You're starting to drool."

"Am not," Dani retorted, embarrassed. " _Piyan_ (asshole)."

That just made Keith laugh harder, joined by the others as they made their way back to the ship.

"Ain't never gettin' that captainy-respect I keep lookin' fer," Dani muttered to herself. Still, it didn't prevent her from greatly enjoying the view in front of her.

* * *

Eavesdown Docks Warehouse District.

The job started out simple enough.

It was an uncomplicated snatch-and-grab. The four members of the ground team, still in their mercenary personas, easily overcame the guards at the warehouse and retrieved the package, a bundle of previously stolen high-priced clothing made of rare Sihnon silk that had been carefully enclosed in a duffel bag, now slung across Keith's back.

What they did not anticipate was the competition.

As they exited the building a group of ten men had rapidly encircled them. They seemed to be of a rather unsavory reputation, common criminals rather than other mercs. Still, they stood rather confidently, not even bothering to unholster their guns as they clearly outnumbered the surrounded team.

"Well now, whatddya got there, chumps," the man out in front drawled, evidently the leader of the motley group.

Dani sighed, staying within her _Tianshi_ cover. "I almost thought this job would get interesting." She had noticed as well as the others that they had an audience, a shadowy figure lurking across the street with what appeared to be a vid recorder.

"Did seem that way for a second or two, didn't it," Keith commented nonchalantly.

The leader looked nonplussed as to their reaction. "Look, _pengyous_ (friends), just hand us the package an' we'll let ya go on yer way."

Jess snickered darkly. "You really think it'd be as easy as that?" she queried, fingering her twin Beretta pistols still in their shoulder holsters.

Lori just stood with the enormous rifle still slung across her shoulder, the barrel pointing downward. The sling made it stick up over her shoulder like another appendage. Her manic smile was working on the would-be robbers, as they kept glancing over at her uneasily.

"Alright, yer funeral," the leader sighed. He flicked his hand over his shoulder as if brushing away a piece of lint.

Nothing happened.

Looking around, irritated, the leader repeated the same motion. A frown creased his dirty face as he tried to puzzle out what happened to his sniper.

"Missing someone?" Dani asked with an evil grin on her face.

Keith had a matching grin of his own. "Red," he said simply.

In one smooth motion, Lori dropped to one knee while she flipped the _Long_ over her shoulder and brought it into firing position. She didn't even need to aim at this distance but braced her right foot back behind her as she leaned forward into her extended left leg, and fired at the leader.

His head simply exploded into a red mist.

The thunderous sound of the anti-vehicle rifle going off stunned the other criminals and gave the rest of the team enough time to draw their own weapons. Between Keith, Jess, and Dani, they easily dropped their opposition.

As her ears cleared, Dani slipped her Ares pistol back into her holster and smirked at her brother. "Back to the guild?"

"Absolutely," Keith smirked back.

"Nice shot, love," Dani gushed as she latched her lips onto Lori's.

"Oh c'mon guys, that's takin' yer playactin' a bit far, doncha think?" Sara's voice came across their comms.

"Who's playin'?" Dani murmured against her wife's lips. They shared a genuine grin with each other before heading back across the street in the direction of the merc guild. Their shadowy audience had departed by this point.

"By the way, Four, thanks fer the support," Dani whispered quietly as they walked.

"All part of the service ma'am," Sara snarked from her perch, sitting next to the dead sniper. "Tips are always 'preciated."

* * *

Persephone Merc Guild HQ.

Rex was suitably impressed by the show and produced a tape of the fight without admitting anything was staged. "We have our sources," he only said mysteriously. Dani had to work very hard not to snort in derision.

They were paid decently enough for the job and then welcomed into the guild. Rex handed them off to another merc, this one a bubbly blonde who looked as if she might pose as a Companion in order to slip in a strong smoother to kidnap a client. She introduced herself as Claire and gave them a tour of the facility.

As the four walked through the inner sanctum of the guild building, even Keith seemed impressed by their resources. "Mercenary work pays pretty gorram well," he muttered quietly.

"Maybe we should consider a career change, with all these goods available," Jess whispered, her eyes wide at the racks of equipment available for purchase or rental.

Keith snorted. "At this entry level, a merc's life expectancy is far too short. The guild makes out, at least the experienced ones that are higher-ranked do."

Eventually, they made their way to the holding cells, and Dani was able to immediately make a visual confirmation that Badger's preteen daughter was there.

"Blue, we are a go," she murmured, her lips barely moving. She knew Kelly had overridden the merc guild's surveillance to permit safe communications between the team and the ship. She still had to be careful that no other merc overheard her, though.

"Roger that," Kelly confirmed. "I've further hacked into their systems, not only can they not intercept our transmissions at all, I've also got full control over the automated doors and alarms. Child's play, really. For all the money they spend on equipment, you'd think they could afford a better security system. Or maybe a competent programmer." She paused, tapping a few keys on the console on the bridge. "You going back in tonight?"

"Mmmhmm," she replied, still listening to Claire prattle on about the comfortable sleeping accommodations there at the guild.

"Alright, I'll set up a plan. Might be easiest, actually, if you were all back here. I can get external access better, and then you wouldn't be flagged as the culprits."

"'Kay," Dani whispered back as they finished up the tour. The two crew members posing as twins politely declined the offer of lodging for the evening, telling them they were more comfortable on their ship for the time being.

* * *

Eavesdown Docks. Persephone.

The end of the job was almost anticlimactic, really. Between Kelly's hacking and Keith's infiltration skills, they were never seen, nor did they trip a single alarm. When morning came, all the mercenaries could tell was that their prisoner had mysteriously vanished in the middle of the night. Viewing the cameras only showed that one second she was there, the next she was gone.

A very grateful Badger paid the crew as promised, informing them that he would be hiding his daughter away off-planet until he could get his house in order.

Dani was happy to have been paid both for Badger's job as well as the bonus merc job. All in all, it was a very successful day, with the late find of a cargo to fill their hold for the outbound trip to boot.

Even better, Lori decided that perhaps a little roleplaying was in order that night with her wife. And yes, the skintight bodysuit was involved.

* * *

Outbound from Persephone.

Later the next day, Dani and Keith sat together in the galley, quietly sharing a few bottles of homebrew left over from their last visit to Aberdeen.

"This stuff still ain't bad," Dani commented. Her hair was damp from washing the hair dye out, though Lori had unsuccessfully campaigned for her to retain the electric blue color.

Keith nodded. "Still holding on after, what, ten months or so?"

"'Bout that," Dani agreed. "Robert sure knows 'is stuff when it comes to brewin'."

Keith chuckled as he took another pull from his bottle. He set it down gently in front of him, rolling it back and forth on the table between his fingers. "Still no word on _Serenity_. I'm keeping my ear to the Cortex, though."

"'Preciate it, _didi_ ," the lanky captain replied. She looked up then as Kelly trudged wearily in and plopped down in an uncharacteristically inelegant manner next to Keith.

"Still working on that datastick file, Kelly?" her brother asked, sliding an unopened bottle towards the petite former Agent.

The blonde nodded, accepting the bottle gratefully and popping it open. She took a long draft of the brew and then exhaled happily. "Oh, that's good stuff. Yes, I was, but I just finished."

Dani blinked a few times as it registered what she said. "Really? Gorram, girl, I knew you could pull it off!"

With a grin and a flourish Kelly produced her very high-tech handheld and queued up the file she'd been working on. "It was tricky, with several layers of encryption. What vexed me was that they had different signatures, so two different programmers must have run the encryption schema."

"Vexed? Who sez that kinda stuff?" Dani murmured good-naturedly. Kelly stuck her tongue out in response before showing them what she had.

"So, surprise surprise, it's all about Miranda." She queued up a large datasheet with details of the prior expedition and the transmitted results, as well as the process used to subjugate the population.

"So this completely validates the transmission," Keith mused thoughtfully.

Kelly nodded. "I haven't dug through it all yet, but I can tell that this indeed goes through the highest levels of government, just like Alex claimed. Blue Sun did the research on the PAX and administered it."

"Wait, back on up," Dani interjected. "Highest levels? Like Parliament?"

"Seems to be," Kelly murmured, opening several files. "Here's some record of the folk who knew about it... Hey!"

She dropped her handheld suddenly as it began to spark and smoke. The screen blinked several times before it went dark, and the acrid smell of burning plastic filled the galley.

The three crew members were leaning back from the table, eyeing the handheld warily. Finally, Dani spoke up. "Did the ruttin' thing just self-destruct?"

" _Huh choo-shung tza-jiao duh tzang-huo_ (filthy fornicators of livestock)!" Kelly sputtered angrily. "My handheld! They blew up my gorram handheld!"

Keith stared at the smoking lump of plastic with a concerned look on his face. "As soon as you opened up the files, it triggered. Were you connected to the Cortex?"

With a snort, Kelly sat back and crossed her arms. "Not actively. But it could have done so without my knowledge if that little subroutine was smart enough."

Dani looked between the two professionals. "This's bad, right? I mean, will it get back to us? Are we humped?"

Kelly sighed and shook her head. "No, we're safe enough from that at least. My handheld was pretty specialized, no way to track the signal back." She furrowed her brow. "In fact, what just happened shouldn't have been possible. Unless they were familiar with a system like mine..."

"...Which, if this came from the upper levels of government, is likely," Keith finished grimly.

Dani leaned forward to snare her bottle. "So... what's this all mean?"

"It means," Kelly stated ominously, "that someone very connected didn't want that info to get out."

"And that we're going to have to be very, very careful from here on," Keith added quietly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title track credit goes to the very excellent group Lacuna Coil.
> 
> I've made a few revisions to my storyline. Dropped the one planned episode that I still wasn't feeling great about and turned another into a one-shot. So looks like Episode 62 will be the final one now, unless it turns into a two-parter. But, if you haven't read my newest one-shot, called _[Nothing In The 'Verse: The Inner Light](http://archiveofourown.org/works/4588080)_ , please do so!
> 
> Many thanks as always to all my dedicated readers for putting up with the story so far! 
> 
> Stay shiny!


	70. Episode 56: Imperfectly

_Fortune's Favour._ En route to Beaumonde. Kalidasa.

Rain and Feather lay panting on their bed next to each other. They turned simultaneously to stare into each other's eyes with matching wide grins.

Wo kao _(holy shit),_ Rain thought affectionately. _That just don' ever get old none._

 _Not ever gonna. Only thing that'd happen is it gettin' better._ Her girlfriend smiled wickedly back at her, sending an image along that made her blush.

 _Stop that,_ Rain gently chided with a smile. She reached down to clasp Feather's hand when she noticed it was slightly damp.

Feather tried to snatch her hand back. _Oh, I ain't cleaned it off yet..._

Rain didn't release it, though, just brought their joined hands curiously up to her face and gave Feather's a kiss. _Smells kinda, I dunno, nice an' musky._

 _Yep, tastes even better too,_ Feather snickered.

Feeling a little braver than usual, Rain took Feather's finger and slipped it into her mouth. Her girlfriend's eyes got wide, and she hitched a breath.

 _Didn' think you'd actually... Ya better watch it,_ bang jiar _(lover), or I'm gonna hafta go again._

 _It's sweet an' salty all at once,_ Rain thought curiously. _I kinda like it._

Feather let out a peal of tinkling laughter. _Well now, that bodes well._ She was getting much more adept at sending along images with her thoughts, and this one envisioned a much better use for the tongue that was now lightly stroking the finger still in her mouth.

 _That_ got her to blush, hard, and she slipped the finger out, giving Feather's hand another kiss.

 _Not yet, though,_ Feather smiled in understanding. _One step atta time._

 _Hey,_ wo de ai _,_ Rain thought hesitantly, still feeling rather brazen. _Do you wanna... touch me?_

Feather's smile grew wider. _D'ya really need t'ask? What didya have in mind?_

Rain blushed again and sent her an image of where, exactly, she wanted her girlfriend to touch her for the first time.

"Oh, _bang jiar_ (lover)," Feather breathed out loud, desire written across her expressive face. "I would love to."

* * *

En route to Beaumonde. Kalidasa.

Dani was just about to climb into her bunk the next evening when she heard Rain calling for her. " _Kaasan!_ Ya gots a Wave incomin' fer ya!"

She sighed heavily. " _Deng yi miao_ (hold on a sec), gorgeous," she called down the hatch. "I gotta take a Wave."

"I'll be here, beautiful," her wife called back up. "All naked, an' vulnerable, an' waitin' fer ya."

The lanky captain actually hesitated for a second and wondered if Rain might be able to just take a message before she gave herself a shake. "Responsibility is sucha _biao zi_ (bitch) sometimes," she growled to herself as she kept walking towards the bridge.

Dani plopped herself into her chair with a huff. "I swear to Buddha, this'd better be important..."

She flicked the switch to accept the call and was greeted by a face very similar to her wife's, except a little bit older and with much longer hair. "Ericka!" she welcomed warmly, pushing her earlier irritation aside. She would always make time for her favorite of Lori's sisters. "How arya doin', girl?"

"Dani, praise be, I didn' know if'n I'd get 'hold of ya," the freckled woman started anxiously. "Arya passin' through Kalidasa by any chance?"

Dani furrowed her brow. "Yeah, we are, passin' right near Aberdeen on the way ta Beaumonde. We gots a cargo needs delivered in a timely fashion."

"Oh, I hope you c'n make a quick detour," she replied frantically. "We gots a real problem here, an' I dunno who else to reach out towards."

"Okay, hon, just calm down an' lemme know what we c'n do fer ya."

Ericka took a deep breath before continuing. "There's been some sorta prison break offa ship that landed here, deliverin' conscripts to work in the mines. A group of 'em broke out an' now they're holed up in my husband's brother's house, took the whole family hostage."

Dani sat up a little straighter. "Local sheriff ain't helpin' any?"

She got a firm shake of curly red tresses in response. "Nope, they're not up fer this kinda thing, delicate-like anyways. An' the Feds here from the transport that brought 'em in, they won' help none neither. Sez it's a local problem now, ain't gonna interfere inna local matter. Ain't no other Feds hereabouts 'cept over on Beaumonde."

"We're on our way, Ericka," Dani replied, giving Rain a firm nod. "We'll be down within a few hours."

"Thank you, Dani," the redheaded woman replied gratefully before ending the transmission.

Dani rose from her seat as Rain laid in the new course, and picked up the mike. "Attention crew, I need the ground team an' Kelly in the galley please, we gots a last-minute job to plan fer."

Before she could leave the bridge, Rain spoke up. "She said 'er husband's brother, yeah?"

"Tha's what she said," Dani answered, looking at her daughter curiously.

Rain nodded. "An' I only know of one other family in that town by the name of O'Donnel."

" _Ai ya, huai le_ (shit on my head)," Dani murmured, wide-eyed. "Justin's family."

* * *

Aberdeen.

The ground team was off of the _Favour_ as soon as it touched down, just after dinnertime locally. Dani looked over at her middle daughter with concern, but Sara showed just as little emotion externally as she did when she received the news of who they were there to try and rescue.

Ericka met them at the edge of the landing field with her husband John and another woman they hadn't met previously. She quickly gave the group a round of hugs, her grateful sentiments echoed by Feather's father. "Folks, I gots someone here who said she'd be able to help somewhat," she finally remarked, gesturing towards the other woman. "She's been keepin' the local law from stormin' the place an' just killin' all of 'em outright."

The woman in question had a plain blue jumpsuit on with no markings, but it was obviously of a military cut. There was an ident badge clipped to her breast pocket, but all it had was her face on it and the symbol of the Alliance. She stepped forward with a slight smile, warmly shaking Dani's hand. "Captain Grant, I presume," she said in a soft voice. "My name is Neela Connor. I'm here as a liaison to assist with your operation here." Her short bob of black hair matched her black eyes perfectly, framing her heart-shaped face.

"An' what c'n ya do fer us, Neela?" Dani asked curiously.

The woman started to walk with them towards the other side of town where the hostage scene was located. "I'm here to run interference with the local authorities. I've also been authorized to grant you full deputation for this action, essentially giving you the authority to take whatever steps necessary to resolve the situation."

"That's handy," Keith commented dryly. "And what would the cost be?"

"None at all," Neela replied calmly. "Federal forces are stretched thin right now, with the unrest from the Miranda hoax, and people like me have the unenviable job of trying to keep the peace in any way possible."

Dani wisely kept her remarks regarding the 'hoax' to herself as they continued to walk. Instead, they went back over their plan, having been given the layout of the house while en route to the planet by Ericka and her husband.

* * *

Jacob O'Donnel's House. Aberdeen.

Less than an hour later saw Sara huddled in the shadows underneath the window of what should be Justin's little sister's room. _Josie, 'er name's Josie_ , she reminded herself. She felt like she was a taut bundle of nerves, raw and exposed. She tried so very hard not to think about the people she was about to try and rescue, who might die if she or any of the rest of her team slipped up in the slightest.

A dark little voice started to giggle in her head. _No no, let's not think 'bout that. Let's think 'bout all the blood we're gonna spill..._

Sara snorted to herself quietly. _It's a strange gorram 'Verse when I'm lookin' towards that side of me fer comfort._

Finally, she received the signal she'd been waiting for over her comm. "Check One."

That meant Keith was in position and about to breach the front door. She waited sequentially for the others to check in, until she could utter, "Check Four."

Lori responded next from her perch on top of a neighboring house. She was covering the rear exit in case one of the escaped convicts made a break for it. Then it was time, as Keith calmly said, "Go."

Sara had already quietly worked the lock on the window above her, and she reached up to fling it open. She had to strain her muscles to get it cracked enough to allow her access, but the noise was covered up by the shouts coming from further inside the house. And then she was tumbling inside, eyes rapidly searching the dim room and shivs extended.

She could quickly tell several things, all of which she unfeelingly processed while the primal side of her classified the threats they represented. First, there were a pair of men clutching large kitchen knives and standing by the door, as if they were about to open it and see what all the fuss was about. Next was the narrow bed across the room where a young teenaged girl, her curly brown locks very familiar to her from previous Waves, huddled on top of the covers.

And lastly was the unanticipated presence of Justin himself, curled protectively around his younger sister.

Ignoring the figures on the bed for the time being, she focused in towards the door. _There,_ she snarled to herself, grinning darkly up at the pair of startled criminals as gunfire erupted elsewhere in the house. _Those're the ones we get ta bleed._

With a manic giggle, she launched herself forward, coming in low at first to slice upwards through their groin, crossing her arms in front of her, shivs dripping blood. Both of the men howled in pain and dropped their blades to clutch at their injuries.

Sara smoothly rose up to bring her shivs out and across their throats, silencing them forever.

She turned in place, looking for any other targets before her vision settled on the pair on the bed.

"Sara?" the young man whispered, wide-eyed.

"That's Sara?" Josie squealed quietly. " _That's_ yer girlfriend? _Niubi_!"

"Don' let yer mom hear ya sayin' that," Sara whispered back humorously, noting that the gunfire had ceased. She turned then as she heard quiet footsteps outside the door. Holding one bloody finger up to her lips, she nimbly jumped up on top of the dresser next to the door, poised to bring her shivs down on any intruder.

As she crouched there, she heard the others start to report in. "Three, clear, unable to locate Justin."

She sighed in relief, realizing it was likely Jess outside the door. "Four, clear, I have both Josie and Justin."

"Two, clear, I have Jacob and Lisa," Dani's voice came next, indicating she had both of Justin's parent's safely in hand.

"One, all clear," Keith finally reported quietly.

Sara let out a breath and hopped back down. She quickly cleaned her shivs off on the corpses of the escaped criminals, her gaze avoiding the bed, before tucking them away and standing upright. She opened the door then and glanced over her shoulder, careful not to meet Justin's eyes. "It's okay now, you c'n come on out."

She quickly strode out of the room, ignoring Justin's attempts to speak to her. _I can't hear it, ain't gonna see the look in 'is eyes when he realizes what I am... what I c'n do..._

She hurried out the door and into the early evening after checking in with Keith, the sun just starting to set behind the mountains. She blinked back tears as she hurried towards the ship.

 _So now he knows_ , Sara thought to herself morosely. _But at least they're safe. I gots that, at least._

It was little consolation, really, as she felt her fragile heart start to crack and break.

* * *

Aberdeen Landing Field.

Feather and Rain were walking back towards the _Favour_ when they heard shouting from behind. They turned to see Feather's cousin Justin running after them, waving his arm.

He stopped next to them, panting and out of breath. "Missed y'all... at the pub..." he wheezed.

"Yer gettin' outta shape there, cuz," Feather smirked. "Heard y'all got taken care of by the Capt'n and the rest, whatcha need?"

Justin took a deep breath and let it out roughly. "It's... Okay, look, I know we ain't ever been all that close an' all, but the two of y'all are the best to help me out here."

Rain raised her eyebrows. "What in the _diyu_ d'ya need us fer?"

"It's Sara," he explained as they began to walk forward together. "She ain't talkin' to me none. I think... Ah, _jian gui_ (to hell with it). She's completely avoidin' me, and I ain't gots a clue why."

Feather glared sideways at him. "What didya do to 'er, _piyan_ (asshole)?"

"Nuttin', I swear!" Justin protested. "She saved my life, an' my _meimei_ too! She didn' even stick around fer me ta thank her or nothin'!"

 _Think I gots an idea why,_ Rain thought towards her girlfriend.

Feather smirked. _Well, go 'head then, Doctor Grant._

_Very funny. Yer a regular comedian, should ferget bein' a mechanic an' all._

_Yep, I'll be here all night, performances on th'hour._

"Okay, _mi you ling_ (listen closely)," the pixie-haired brunette began out loud, ignoring Feather's comments. "Sara's had a lotta _gou se_ (shit) happen to 'er. She looks tough, but she's pretty fragile inside, yeah? So she's prolly scared yer gonna reject 'er now."

Justin shook his head emphatically. "No way! She's _huaidan_ (badass)! God, seein' her take out those _hundans_ (bastards), made me so hot fer her-"

Rain cut him off with a strangled cry. "Argh! Okay, enuff! Look, show her ya still like her, yeah? Give'r somethin', or gimme somethin' I c'n give to 'er."

Justin smirked. "What I wanna give 'er, I can't 'xactly pass on through ya..."

Rain glared at him wordlessly, while Feather smacked him upside the head, hard enough to cause him to stumble a step.

 _Thank you, dear,_ Rain thought humorously.

 _My pleasure, love,_ Feather snarked back.

Justin ducked his head, chagrined. "Ow! Okay, sorry _tang jie_ (older female cousin, father's side)! Lemme think... Oh, I gots it! _Deng yi miao_ (hold on a sec)!"

He turned then and raced back off across the town, legs and arms pumping.

 _Well, if'n nothin' else he's gonna get a workout today_ , Feather smirked.

 _I c'n think of better workouts_ , Rain replied smugly.

 _Mmmm, me too. Now, imagine yer_ meimei _gettin' a workout with him..._

 _Argh!_ Rain screamed inside her head, shooting a glare at her girlfriend. _Don' you dare send me anythin' like that! I don' wanna think 'bout it, an' I don' wanna get no image in my head 'bout it!_

Feather threw her head back and let out the tinkling laugh that always enchanted Rain. _I c'n still find ways to tease ya,_ the auburn-haired woman thought towards her lovingly.

_Yeah, tha's never been a problem fer ya none._

_And ya love me fer it._

' _Course I do. Ain't no part of ya I can't love with alla my heart an' soul._

Feather stopped and laid a hand on Rain's arm gently, bringing her to a stop as well. "You, Miss Grant, gots the soul of a romantic," she sighed out loud. "An' ya always know what ta say ta turn me inta mush."

Rain brought up a hand to brush away the tear forming at the corner of her girlfriend's eye, then leaned in for a tender kiss. _I love my mushy Feather-bear._

 _An' I love my_ jue dai jia ren _(prettiest girl ever)._

Footsteps sounded from behind as they turned to see Justin running back up towards them, They were almost to the ship now, the late-setting sun casting a shadow from the Firefly transport that reached to where they stood.

"Okay," he finally panted as he brought himself to a halt. "I gots somethin'." He had clenched in his right fist a baggy green and black striped article of clothing.

Rain looked down skeptically. "It's a shirt."

Justin snorted as if affronted by her words. "My fav'rite one! Used ta play ball in high school, that was my winnin' jersey! Always done brought me luck, so she should have it, keepin' 'er safe!"

Feather looked over at Rain after accepting the jersey. _Okay, tha's actually pretty sweet._

 _Fer a boy_ , Rain grinned.

Feather grinned back as they walked onto the lowered cargo bay ramp. _Well, yeah, tha's a given_...

"Wait here," Rain called out over her shoulder.

_Arya able to find 'er usin' yer brain-radar?_

Rain rolled her eyes in mock irritation. _Ain't no brain-radar, an' you know that._

_I do, just like givin' ya trouble._

_Oh just you wait till tonight, I'm gonna give ya some trouble..._

_Mmhmm, do tell..._

By that point, they had entered the lounge where Rain knew Sara was located. She was curled up on the loveseat and tried to look away from them as they walked in. It was fairly obvious, though, that she'd been crying.

"Hey there, _meimei_ ," Rain said softly as she went to crouch down next to her. "There's somethin' we needs to give to ya."

Feather handed over the jersey and between the two of them related the significance of the shirt to a wide-eyed and mute Sara. After they had finished, Rain's younger sister buried her face in the jersey and started to sob uncontrollably.

Rain looked up at Feather, perplexed. _Okay, I gots no idea what ta do here._

 _Don' lookit me none,_ Feather shrugged. _Yer the psychic person._

_Really?_

_Hey, I just call 'em as I see 'em._

_Yer really not helpin' here none._

_Sure I am, I'm yer moral support._

_I swear ta Buddha, girl, soon as I get ya alone..._

Feather smirked at her. _Ya keep threatenin' me, Grant, an' I keep waitin' fer ya to follow through._

Rain stood up with a little growl, about to drag her into their bunk and show her just how forceful she could be, when Sara finally looked up from the shirt. Her cheeks were tear-streaked, but she was smiling widely.

"Oh, _Ji du_ (Christ), I'm so happy... Thanks, guys-"

"Don' thank us, ya _lan ren_ (loon)!" Rain interrupted. "Go thank 'im, he's waitin' outside fer ya!"

Sara jumped up, still clutching the shirt. " _Ta ma de diyu_ (fucking hell)!" She quickly raced back into the cargo bay, a giggling Feather and Rain on her heels.

 _See? Went just fine, toldya so,_ Feather smiled proudly.

 _You didn' even... You..._ Rain actually sputtered mentally, unable to form a coherent thought at her girlfriend's ridiculous statement. _Never gets old, O'Donnel_ , she finally growled.

 _Yep, I know,_ she smirked in a very Grant-like manner.

Up ahead of them, Sara had skidded to a stop on the ramp in front of Justin, sniffling. "Ya still like me?" she asked, warily.

Justin smiled, cupping her face in his hands. "'Course I do, _lian ren_ (sweetheart)."

Sara smiled, then nodded determinedly, her curly brown ponytail bobbing behind her. "Alright, then I gots ta give ya somethin', too." She pulled out one of her shivs from her right sleeve. "This's my very fav'rite blade, made it myself. An' yer gonna learn howta use it, an' protect yerself when I'm not around, alright? Here, lemme show ya..."

' _Kay, now_ that's _gorram adorable,_ Rain snickered.

Feather shared a quiet laugh, snuggling back into Rain's arms. _Ain't gonna argue with ya none,_ lian ren _. I think they're good fer each other._

_I'm just glad to see 'er happy._

_Me too, sweetie. Me too._

Sara had finished her brief instruction and Justin was tucking the gifted shiv into his back pocket. "'Kay, well... I know y'all gots to lift soon," he mumbled awkwardly. "I just didn' want ya to leave none without, y'know... talkin' to ya..."

He made to reach down to give her a hug, but the diminutive girl was having none of that. She jumped up to pounce on him, wrapping her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist, locking her lips onto his intently. Justin let out a startled yelp which was quickly extinguished as he returned the attention with relish, holding her up with arms strengthened from years of bussing tables at the family pub.

"Well now, that there's one affectionate greetin'," they heard from outside. Lori strode onto the ramp, grinning widely. Behind her, Dani was shaking hands with the Alliance representative as she thanked her for the support during their operation.

Sara and Justin proceeded to ignore the new arrivals, rather wrapped up with each other, at least until an amused Dani walked up and cleared her throat loudly. At that, Sara jumped back off and hastily adjusted her clothing and hair, while Justin did the same.

It should be noted that both Rain and Feather made an admirable effort to keep a straight face during the whole situation, while Lori just didn't bother in the slightest.

Dani stood with her arms crossed and smiled gently at the embarrassed-looking couple in front of her. "Y'know, Lori, we plumb fergot to pick up supplies."

Lori blinked uncertainly. "We did? Oh! We did! Gonna take awhile yet, huh?"

"Yep. Rain, tell the tower we'll be liftin' off... oh, let's say two hours late." She turned back around, hooking her arm through Lori's, but not before giving Sara a wink.

Sara whirled around on Justin and grabbed his hand. "C'mon, you. My bunk's upstairs."

Rain and Feather finally gave in to their laughter, but they could still hear the conversation as they followed them up.

"Did yer _Kaasan_ really just... give us permission...?"

"Yeah, 'cause she's shiny like that. Hey, you ain't allergic to, like, silk ribbons or anythin', arya?"

"What? No, I don' think so, why?"

"You'll see..."

 _Why Rain, I didn' know yer_ meimei _wuz inta bondage none._

Rain stopped in her tracks, looking at her girlfriend in shock. _Wait, what? Izzat... what the ribbons're for?_

Feather gave another tinkling laugh. _C'mon,_ wo de ai _, I'll give ya some images ta think 'bout while yer talkin' to the tower, 'kay?_

Unnoticed by everyone, Kelly moved out of the shadows from the rear of the cargo bay, her eyes not on the crew but on where she last spied the Alliance representative.

She stood, still as a statue, as she pondered the woman that had just left. She recognized some things in the way she carried herself, the way she moved, that was hard to disguise.

 _I think_ , she mused thoughtfully, _she just might be more than she seems... I'll have to keep an eye out for her in the future._

* * *

Outbound from Aberdeen.

"Em? C'n I talk to ya fer a tic?"

Emily looked up from her bed to where Rain was perched on the ladder to her room. She gave her cousin a smile and a nod while putting her handheld away. "Sure, sweetie, I was just doin' some research. What's up?"

She noted Rain's nervousness as she entered and closed the door behind her. In fact, she seemed to be building up her courage to ask what she needed to, sitting on the bed and fidgeting next to her.

"Hey, you know you c'n talk to me, right?" Emily said gently. "An' whatever it is, it ain't going past the two of us."

"It's just..." Rain let out a soft growl of frustration. "This's embarresin'. An' not even necessary right now, I think. Mebbe. But now I'm all sorts of curious, an'..." She trailed off uncertainly. "An' I gotta work hard on blockin' Feather out so's she don' know none 'bout this."

Emily smiled. "Is there somethin' yer wantin' to do with Feather, an' yer not sure howta?"

Rain nodded rapidly, still looking at the floor.

"Hmmm..." Emily mused. "I'm gonna take a leap here. D'ya wanna know how ta go down on 'er?"

Again Rain nodded rapidly, this time blushing a furious red.

"Okay then. Lemme give ya my seven-step program."

That got Rain to jerk her head up incredulously. "There's a program fer it?"

Emily giggled in response. "Sorta. We all been inexperienced at one time'r another, sweetie. So," she started, sitting up straight. "First off, you gotta tell 'er, up front, how much you wanna do it. An' while yer doin' it, an' after, ya keep remindin' her 'bout how amazin' she is, an' looks, an' smells, an' tastes. Right?"

Rain nodded again, wide-eyed. "Should I be takin' notes?" she whispered.

"I think you c'n handle this," Emily snickered. "Alright, next step. Don' go assumin' what she's gonna like none, 'kay? Ain't no right or wrong way, but there's plenty of ways a girl's gonna like it. Might be dif'rent from how you might like it. An' that's fine."

Emily scooted back against her headboard to get more comfortable, crossing her legs. "An fer the next, it ties in with that. Ask her 'bout what she's wantin', an' what she might like. I know she's done it 'fore, an' had it done, so she might have an idea, or mebbe knows what she might want done, or tryin' somethin' new. Ya gotta ask, 'kay? Even while yer doin' it, ask if'n what yer doin' is good."

"Alright," Rain replied seriously. "I c'n follow ya so far, pretty much common sense."

"Shiny. So now I'm gonna get into the specifics, as it were." Emily cleared her throat and leaned forward, her elbows on her knees. "Take yer time. Do a lil' teasin', right? Give 'er bits time ta warm up some. Undress 'er nice an' slow-like, givin' 'er lots of kisses. You c'n even leave'r undies on an' fool around a lil', kiss 'er outside of 'em. Wait till she's squirmin' around 'fore ya go yankin' 'em off."

Rain was looking at her cousin, wide-eyed and breathing shallowly. " _Niubi_ (fucking awesome)," she whispered a bit hoarsely. "Um. What's next?"

"Now, ya know yer anatomy 'bout yer lady parts, right?" After receiving Rain's firm nod, Emily continued. "So, next ya wanna make sure ya spend some time focusin' on 'er clit. Lil' nubbin at the top, it's the most sensitive. Some'll like it direct, some right around it, more peripheral-like. You c'n tell which she likes, work yer tongue around it in a circle an' close in on it. Figure out how she responds. An' if'n yer not sure?"

Rain cleared her very dry throat. "Ask 'er."

"Right!" Emily grinned. "Lot's of dif'rent way ta stimulate it. Flat of yer tonge, usin' the tip, up an' down or side t'side. Suck on it, mebbe, or give it gentle flicks. Move around some, but yer gonna wanna focus on there."

Smiling at the unending blush Rain was exhibiting, Emily moved along. "An' fer the next step, yer gonna wanna get yer hands an' fingers involved. Have ya done that with 'er b'fore?"

"Um, sorta. I mean, she's done touched me, an' I did a lil', but not, um, not inside," Rain stammered, blushing even more.

"That's okay, it's gonna be somethin' ya warm up to. Once she's nice an' wet, slip a finger on in there. You c'n crook yer finger a lil' bit to reach her pleasure spot. Trace the folds of 'er labia, mebbe caress 'er thighs an' breasts. "

Emily paused, gauging how well Rain was receiving her tutelage so far. "Still okay here?"

"Yeah, shiny, it's good," Rain nodded a little rapidly. She cleared her throat again somewhat nervously. "So ya gots one more step, right?"

"Right," Emily smiled gently. "An' here's one of the most important. You gotta try an' be consistent, once ya figure out what she likes. Don' feel like ya gotta be all adventuresome or think ya gots ta perform right offa the bat. Keep it simple-like, don' worry 'bout variety. If'n ya figured out the way she's gettin' excited, then alls you gotta do is keep on doin' what yer doin' so's she c'n orgasm."

" _Jingcai_ (brilliant)," Rain murmured. "Okay, I think I gots it all." She stood up, her head tilted slightly due to the low ceiling. "I really 'preciate it, _biao jie_ (older female cousin, mother's side)."

"Oh, hon, yer more'n welcome." Emily stood up as well and reached over to envelop her cousin in a tight hug. "An' I gots one more tip I c'n give ya," she murmured in Rain's ear.

"What's that?" Rain asked.

"Have fun," Emily giggled, releasing her and stepping back. "I know yer gonna be nervous, but if'n yer enjoying yerself, she's gonna know an' enjoy herself all the more. 'Specially since she's readin' what yer thinkin' anyways. You gots an extra edge there. Use it."

"Yeah, I c'n do that," Rain grinned. She gave her cousin a wave as she slipped back out the door.

Emily closed the door behind her and laid back down on her bed with a sigh. "Gorramit," she lamented with a giggle. "Now I'm horny."

* * *

Londinium. White Sun.

Cavendish idly scrolled through the various newsfeeds on one of the screens of his wall of monitors as he sat in his chair. He had a slight frown on his face, as if what he saw left a sour taste in his mouth.

His perusing was interrupted by the buzzing of his intercom. "Sir, your daughter is here to see you."

"Thank you, Jarvis, let her in please," he replied with a faint smile. He knew it was ever so slightly petty of him to force Nimona to go through his assistant before seeing him, but it was just another one of the games they played. This one reminded her of who her boss and father was.

He swiveled his chair around as his daughter stalked in, her back ramrod straight as she stopped at a respectful distance from the desk.

"Report," he said succinctly.

"The team performed admirably," she stated without any emotion in her soft voice. "They were well coordinated, even though they were rescuing family they didn't let their emotions interfere with the operation. All of the convicts were eliminated, efficiently and quietly, without any collateral damage."

"Good, very good," Cavendish murmured.

She stirred slightly then. "Sir... With all that is going on, is this really the best use of my talents?"

He chuckled dryly. "No, of course not. That operation was set up before the Miranda leak to coincide with the transport's travel plans, and had to be followed up on." He paused, swiveling back to the wall of monitors which he regarded thoughtfully.

"Sir?"

The man in the tailored suit sighed wearily. "It was difficult enough, steering this enormous ship towards a centralized power structure and a secure future, and then this... this scandal has to happen." He glanced over at her in irritation. "It's taking up far too much of my resources to handle, yet I cannot overlook this leftover idiocy from my predecessor. As it is, we're going to have to pull Blue Sun further in. They need to step up and assist with suppression efforts before things get out of hand."

The Operative made a noncommittal sound. "So I am to be reassigned, sir?"

"Yes, Nimona," he replied, ignoring the wince that the use of her given name caused. "I have my hands full now and there's no time to test the crew any further. I'm pleased enough with their progress." He tapped a manicured nail against the desktop. "There are a few places where they could be of use soon enough. One, in particular, comes to mind, quieting an annoying council member who's demanding a full investigation of this mess." He shook his head dismissively. "Not yet, though. I'll try the usual methods first."

"Now then," the Parliament councilman said firmly, turning his full attention back on his daughter. "I am indeed taking you off of your current assignment. I have a few infiltration missions for you to perform. These criminals, this New Resistance movement is becoming more organized with this scandal, actively recruiting from around the 'Verse. I want you to work with a number of other Operatives that have been assigned to me to track these groups, perhaps fund them so we might keep tabs on them all."

The Operative's eyes widened ever so slightly. "Fund them, sir?

"Do you understand what the main advantage is for our enemies?" he replied with a question of his own.

She didn't hesitate in replying. "Their wide distribution. Ever since Unification Day, they have been disorganized and scattered, while we remain an obvious target, organized and centralized."

"Correct," Cavendish smiled genially. "But, give them funding, give them focus and organization..."

"...And they become vulnerable," the Operative continued calmly. "You mean to disable their main strategic advantage by strengthening them."

"Oh, yes," Cavendish replied, his eyes gleaming in humor. "Give them money, equipment... That way we will be able to tell where they are all located. Perhaps even purchase some convenient floorspace where they can congregate. And then when the time is ripe..." He gave her another rare smile, filled with malice. "Why, then we will have them all in easily identifiable places to stamp them out, once and for all."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title track is by the excellent group Veruca Salt. If you haven't heard it yet, check it out on YouTube, not only the lyrics but the song itself is so powerful and full of emotion. I think it really speaks to how Sara can try to pursue a relationship even though, in the back of her head, she still feels a little bit broken.
> 
> And yes I did launch into a lesson on cunnilingus. It's an art form that anyone, male or female, who is sexually attracted to women should know. Hope you took notes, unless you have as good a recall as Rain does. Original credit for it goes to the site Bustle, _How To Go Down On A Girl For The First Time, In 7 Sexy Steps_ (now there's an article guaranteed to get hits on the internet).
> 
> Now, from Cavendish's discussion with the Operative, you might recognize the setup for the Darkhorse comic run of six books called _Serenity: Leaves On The Wind_ (Zack Whedon did the writing). It's really, really well done, and worth the read. Not essential for keeping up with my story, but if you get the chance pick it up at your local comic book store (preferably, please support your local shops!), or on Amazon (and now available as a graphic novel as well). I did hear from Joss's interview at SDCC this year that he intends on writing a sequel set of comics, and I'm eagerly awaiting more on that...
> 
> I've had at least one of my Betas keep up with me so far (thanks, **KellyConnely**!), but I still need to give my heartfelt thanks for my other two Betas ( **Sylvana_Crowe, CaliopeGrant** ). Six episodes to go!
> 
> Thank you all for reading! Stay shiny!


	71. Episode 57: Nothin' But A Good Time

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **WARNING:** This episode contains violent imagery that some may find disturbing.  
>  **TRIGGER WARNING for Rape and Assault.**

Inbound to Hera. Georgia system.

Rain stretched her legs out in front of her languidly as Feather sat behind her on the bed, kneading the muscles in her back. _That feels sooooo good..._

_I know, love, I'm feelin' it too._

_Arya really?_ Rain furrowed her brow. She wasn't actively trying to convey her senses, but she supposed their bond was still continuing to grow.

Feather giggled. _I think yer right. Ain't relaxin' my back any, but I c'n feel it, still._

_Huh. Wonder if'n I were to stub my toe or somethin', you'd feel that too._

_Likely, yeah._ Feather gave Rain's shoulder's a little squeeze and pulled her back against her chest. And then she snaked her hands forward to grab her lover's breasts.

Rain let out a little squeak of noise. _Hey now!_

_Mmmm, yeah I c'n feel that too. Nice._

Rain was blushing slightly. It did feel really good as her girlfriend started massaging her front. _Um, hey sweetie, yer gettin' me kinda excited here..._

Feather giggled again. _Drat. My plot has been uncovered._

_Yer pretty transparent,_ bang jiar _(lover). Not that I'm complainin' none._

_It's still interestin' to me how yer gettin' excited gets me all excited as well..._

Their conversation was cut off by Dani's voice over the comm. "Rain, we're closing in on Hera."

"Work, work, work," Rain grumbled as she sat up and headed towards the ladder.

_Well, leastways we c'n still think dirty thoughts at each other while we're workin',_ Feather thought humorously.

Rain snorted as she entered the bridge. "Hey, _Kaasan,_ I'll take it in if'n ya like." _You just like makin' me blush all the time, Feather-bear._

_True enuff._ Feather's humor came through easily. _But I also like the stuff you think at me 'bout._

The couple spent the next few minutes trading several naughty thoughts and images, each successive one getting Rain more bothered as she squirmed in her chair.

"I take it yer talkin' to Feather again?" Dani commented nonchalantly.

Rain glanced over at her. "How c'n ya tell?"

"Well, yer blushin' hard enuff to blind me over here, an' yer squirmin' like ya gots an itch down yer pants, an' ya ain't said a word to me since ya first got here, an'-"

"Okay, okay! Yeah, we're talkin', I'll tell 'er to lay off!"

Dani snickered. "I don' mind all that much, _baobei_ , long as you c'n concentrate on the landin'. Which, if'n y'all are talking 'bout what I think yer talkin' 'bout, might be a tad difficult to do."

Rain sighed. "Yes, _Kaasan._ " _Okay, we gotta stop,_ Kaasan _is noticin' an' I gotta get us landed._

_Spoilsport._ Feather sent a small pout along with that, as well as the ghosting sensation of a kiss, which made her smile softly.

Rain started to reach upwards for the comm to contact Hera control, when she paused in her motions, hand barely resting on the mike. There were a number of incoming tracks, other ships coming in a mite too fast for normal shipping traffic. And their count was increasing exponentially.

"Um, _Kaasan_..." she began hesitantly.

Dani glanced over at first, and then quickly jumped out of her seat to peer over Rain's shoulder. She rapidly tapped a few keys to try and identify the incoming ships, and eventually they started resolving themselves into red icons.

Pirates.

" _Ta ma de_ ," the lanky captain growled. The incoming raider vessels were going to cut them off from the planet and surround them in short order. "Rain, change course, get away from them." She grabbed the mike out of her daughter's hands and switched over to the inter-ship comm. "All hands, brace for evasive action! Engine room, we need full burn, now!"

"Too late," Rain whispered, wide-eyed as her hands flew across the console.

The icons soon resolved themselves into various sizes and classifications of ships. Gunboats, armed transports, corvettes, cutters, even some of the slightly larger frigates - all older models but still deadly for an unarmed transport. There were several other commercial transports inbound to Hera who were changing course as well, trying to flee from the incoming pirate fleet, but they didn't have the velocity to escape any more than the _Favour_ did.

And then one icon blinked and was assigned the status of a large cruiser. Dani watched warily as it began to disgorge smaller ships, some sort of fighter-class, nimble and quick, who began to circle around and cut off any chance of escape.

"We are so ruttin' humped," Rain moaned.

Dani leapt back into her chair with a snarl, quickly strapping in and grabbing the controls. " _Zhe ta ma de_ (fuck that)," she replied irritably. "Not if'n I c'n help it. I gots the con."

She twisted the controls, and the stars quickly spun out of control as she sent the aged Firefly into a dizzying spin. She righted the ship, and they were at the edge of the swirling ships, almost near enough to break into Hera's atmo.

"Rain, track those ships. Lemme know if'n we pick up a tail."

"Oh, I'd say we gots ourselves some tails alright," Rain replied, much more calmly than she felt. The scanner showed three of the fighter-class ships directly on their rear and another cutter closing in quickly. Garbled transmissions started to come across their comms, demands to halt and to prepare for boarding.

Dani smacked her hand down, silencing them irritably.

A light on her console started to blink rapidly. From Rain's memory, she seemed to recall it indicated a weapon's lock on their ship. But as Dani seemed to be ignoring it, she did the same.

Wo de ai _, what's goin' on up there?_

_Feather, strap yerself in, we're dodgin' a whole mess of pirates._

Rain had to grin a bit at the colorful stream of Mandarin cussing that flowed from her mechanic girlfriend.

Keith ran onto the bridge and sat down in the nav seat, quickly strapping himself in. "What's..." He trailed off as he looked down at the scanner. "Well. _Ai ya wo mun wan leh_ (we're in big trouble now), eh?"

Dani snorted in amusement as she twisted the controls again, sending them into a looping run around the larger frigate, easily twice their tonnage, that suddenly appeared in front of them. Their transport circled around the midships of the frigate to reverse course, startling the trailing fighters. Two of them veered incorrectly to avoid collision and ended up smashing into each other, while the last one spun off and lost track of the psychotically-flown Firefly.

"Dani, what are you trying to do?" Keith asked mildly.

"Flyin'," his sister replied nonchalantly.

He winced along with Rain as the former Browncoat pilot sent the ship into another dive, this time soaring in between a pair of cutters who were pursuing a nimble Komodo-class transport.

"And how long do you think you can avoid a pirate armada?" he asked. Rain could tell it was beginning to become a strain to maintain his calm demeanor.

"Long as it takes," Dani mumbled, sweat beading on her brow. She sent the ship corkscrewing forward towards the large pirate cruiser, only to break off at the last minute to almost trade paint with an Odyssey-class liner that had been grappled by another frigate. The backwash of her engines caused the frigate to veer off, snapping the grapple lines and allowing the liner to escape again, if only momentarily.

" _Jiejie_..." Keith pleaded.

"Not now, _didi_ ," Dani retorted. "Concentratin' here." She yanked back on the yoke as a trio of fighters flashed across their bow, immediately pushing forward again to avoid the cutter who had been lying in wait above them. They heard a dull _thump_ of noise against the hull, and Rain looked back down at her console and the screen showing the ship's status.

"I don' see any damage," the pixie-haired pilot reported. "Did we bump one of 'em?"

"Nope, sounded like a grapple," Dani replied. "Didn' attach none, or we'd know it."

" _Ching-wah tsao duh liou mahng_ (frog-humping son of a bitch)," Rain replied, starting to panic a little bit.

"How many EMP mines we gots left?" Dani queried absentmindedly, twisting the yoke again to fly around a corvette that was securely latched onto an ugly-looking Knorr-class light freighter.

"Three," Keith reported after typing out a query. "What do you have in mind?"

"If'n I c'n take out one of the bigger boats ahead," she mused, yanking back on the controls again to avoid a head-on collision with an armed pirate transport, a small Wren-class model, "then we might be able to punch a hole, make it to atmo. Starport should have some ground-to-air defenses, yeah? Better'n bein' up here, tha's fer sure."

Rain glanced back at her scanner. There seemed to be five commercial vessels that had been captured. One had been destroyed, either by an overenthusiastic pirate captain or in a collision, and another two looked to have made it planetside.

Besides the _Favour_ , there were only three other transports still evading the pirate armada.

And then another icon appeared on the board, blue and very large.

She stared at it for a spell as it rapidly approached, and then began to spit out smaller blue icons. The bigger one soon resolved itself to be the giant Tohuku-class Alliance cruiser _IAV Endeavor_ , and the smaller icons two squadrons of Alliance gunships.

Rain let out a fierce cheer as many of the pirates veered off to engage the incoming gunships. "Alliance to the rescue!"

"Now that there leaves a sour taste in my mouth," Dani grumbled, still twisting the yoke wildly. "An' it leaves us in more ofa pickle."

"How d'ya mean?" Rain asked. The pirate fleet still outnumbered the Alliance vessels almost three-to-one, but they were outclassed in terms of firepower and armor. For every blue icon that winked out, four or five red ones were wiped from existence.

"Well, now we can't use th'EMP's none," the lanky captain groused. "An' instead of flyin' through pirates tryin' ta capture us, we're flyin' through a space battle."

Sure enough, the Black outside the viewport was beginning to light up with explosions as ship's oxygen supplies were consumed in a brief fireball before being snuffed out by the vacuum of space. Dani twisted the yoke again with a yelp as a missile tracked a little too close for comfort on its way to detonate against a pirate gunship. The unlucky boat disintegrated, sending fragments of debris spiraling outwards to ping against their hull.

" _Huh choo-shung tza-jiao duh tzang-huo_ (filthy fornicators of livestock)!" Dani growled. "Keith, get on the comm, tell those purple-bellies to watch where they're shootin'!"

As he did so, they were suddenly surrounded by the whirling battle between the Alliance and the pirates. The large pirate cruiser had now entered the fray and was sending rockets off with abandon.

Rain squawked as an Alliance gunboat flashed by their bow. "Are we dead yet?" she moaned, unable to close her eyes.

Dani smirked without taking her eyes away from her console. "Nope." She twisted the yoke and slammed it forward, sending the ship into a steep dive. Off to the side, the pirate cruiser had finally gotten the attention of the _Endeavor_ , and earned a barrage of missiles that opened up its hull like a ripe piece of fruit.

After a brief pause, Rain spoke up again. "Are we dead yet?"

Dani snorted in amusement. "Look, if'n we die I promise I'll let ya know."

Rain sought some assurance from her girlfriend but was unable to find what she needed. "Feather sez she still thinks yer the shiniest capt'n ever, but she'd also really 'preciate not dyin' just yet."

Finally, the Alliance gunboats seemed to have made enough of a dent in the pirate armada that they decided they'd had enough. Likely the loss of their cruiser affected their outlook as well. First a few, then increasing numbers of the red icons started streaming away from the battle and out into the Black, all of the captured transports still in tow.

With a sigh, Dani jerked the controls a few more times to avoid leftover debris before settling on a track down towards Hera. "Well, that was invigorating," she joked weakly.

Both Rain and Keith just stared at her, unable to adequately respond.

* * *

Hera Landing Field.

Dani stood on the ramp of her beloved ship, looking out across the field where battle-scarred transports had settled down. She'd been talking to a few of the other crews, discussing the unheard-of naval action outside Hera. They commiserated that pirate activity was becoming worse all across the 'Verse as it became obvious just how spread-out the Alliance was. One of the captains, who had ably piloted the Komodo-class transport named _Aspen Hills_ , blamed the Miranda broadcast for stirring up the trouble, making pirates and raiders alike bolder.

She leaned against the strut of the ramp, savoring the cool breeze against her face. Slipping a hand behind her, she gave her ship a gentle pat. "We did it again, old girl," she murmured affectionately. "Survived 'nother wild an' crazy ride."

"Ya know, I hear tell that talkin' to inanimate objects is a sure sign of _shen jing bing_ (insanity)," an amused voice called out from behind her.

Dani smirked over her shoulder as Emily walked over. "Well, s'pose you'd know 'bout that, yeah?" She turned back to watch the field as several gunboats settled down to disgorge Alliance troops and investigators. Every transport involved in the action would need to be interviewed as to their participation. She imagined the red tape might keep them grounded for at least another day. Maybe she and Lori could pay a visit to Alexis that evening...

She blinked a few times as she realized she'd missed Emily's last statement. "I'm sorry, _baobei_ , gots my head inna clouds fer a spell. What didya say?"

"I said," the petite blonde psychologist replied with an amused grin, "I 'spect you an' Lori might be enjoyin' a night on the town tonight, yeah?"

The brunette captain barked out a laugh. "Why _zhi nu_ (niece, brother's daughter), how'd ya know I wuz just think' that?"

"Professional talent," her niece replied loftily. They enjoyed a laugh together until a group of Alliance-uniformed naval personnel made their way towards the ship.

"Well, s'pose we gots ta play nice with the purple-bellies now," Dani sighed. She squinted then, noticing that one of the naval crewmen was walking a little faster out in front of the group, and she looked somehow familiar...

Realization dawned upon Emily first. "Kacy!" she squealed in joy and ran down to give her sister a tight hug.

Dani almost smacked herself in the forehead as she remembered that her niece Kacy was indeed assigned to the _Endeavour_ as a comptech. She smiled as she saw the two sisters interact. It'd been quite a few years since they'd even gotten to see each other, and she imagined they had some catching up to do.

The pair trotted up the ramp ahead of the other Alliance personnel so that Kacy could wrap her arms fondly around her aunt. "Oh, it's so good to see you again, _gu ma_ (aunt, father's sister)!"

"You too, _baobei_ ," Dani laughed. "So arya on leave?"

The lanky blonde nodded, stepping back. She was a few centimeters taller than her sister, lean and muscular where Emily was soft and curvy. It would be hard to tell they were sisters if it were not for their similar faces, round and dusted with light freckles across their nose and cheeks. Her blonde hair was tucked up under her service cap. "I have twenty-four hours. Been saving it up to go see mom and dad, but I can spare a day of it to meet with you guys."

"That's great," Dani replied warmly. Her expression soured somewhat as the group of Alliance naval investigators stopped at the end of the ramp. "Well, go on inside you two, looks like I gots some business to take care of."

"Captain Grant?" the male officer in the lead queried, glancing up from his handheld.

Dani nodded as Emily and Kacy walked past her. "Tha's right. Y'all come on inside the bay here, might as well get comfy if'n we're gonna be awhile."

* * *

Hera. Georgia system.  
Later that evening.

Dani lay on her back, panting lightly. Her sweat-soaked skin was cooling off quickly, save for the locations where two sets of limbs were intertwined around her on each side. She leaned over to place a kiss on Lori's freckled shoulder, and then the other way to do the same for Alexis.

"Well," the blonde sighed, stretching her legs out with a relieved groan. "That was somethin'."

Lori snorted. "Yeah, I'll say." She peered up at Dani, amusement written across her expressive face. "How was it fer you, _bang jiar_ (lover)?"

"I'll let y'all know once I recover my ability ta speak proper," Dani mumbled, earning chuckles from her two lovers.

The lanky captain marveled at the feeling of love and tenderness that radiated from the other two women in bed with her. If anyone had told her years ago that not only would she be remarried, but that she would also be involved in a polyamorous relationship (even if periodic), she'd have laughed outright in their faces.

And yet here she was.

At first, she was unsure how they would balance their activities. Do you trade places, take turns? Or just all get involved at the same time?

Somehow, though, they just seemed to synch. Sometimes one would watch or participate lightly, and then other times they'd come to a tacit understanding of who needed to be in the center of their attention, as Dani had just been.

And it was a feeling unlike any she'd ever experienced, having that much trust in not only one woman, but two, rendering herself completely at their mercy as they brought her to the kind of ecstasy that unmade her in every way possible.

Both of her arms encircled the two women's shoulders, and she moved her hands in circular patterns, lightly caressing them both, trying to convey her gratitude and appreciation.

"I love you guys," Alexis sighed, her eyes closed but mouth upturned in a smile of complete contentment.

Dani's hands stilled momentarily. They hadn't really discussed feelings very much, really just living in the moment. It was just sex, right? Sure they all enjoyed themselves, but it couldn't possibly go any further than that... Could it?

She looked back over to see her wife's warm brown eyes staring questioningly up into her own. Dani tried to convey her own tentative feelings, and Lori smiled in return, giving her a slight nod.

"We love you too, Alexis," Lori murmured back.

The blonde's eyes popped open, looking searchingly into the two pairs of eyes that were so near to her face. Dani gave her a reassuring smile.

"Yeah, _lian ren_ (sweetheart)," Dani said, giving her a quick kiss on her forehead. "We do."

"Well alright then," the blue-eyed woman murmured, closing her eyes again and snuggling tighter into Dani's side. "Glad we figgured that out."

Lori giggled and reached over to stroke the arm that Alexis had across Dani. "This certainly went... unexpectedly," she mused.

Dani looked up at the ceiling, trying to gather her thoughts. "Lexi," she started in a hesitant voice, "I don' s'pose you'd wanna mebbe, I dunno, fly with us?"

Her wife jerked her head, startled, but smiled warmly at the idea. However, Alexis opened her eyes back up and shook her head slowly.

"I 'preciate the offer," she replied quietly. "But I'm not a space-farin' kinda gal. Like ta keep my feet onna ground, y'know?"

"Well, just know th'offers gonna be there, if'n ya every change yer mind," Dani stated, resting her eyes.

They lay like that for a while, their breaths deep and almost in synch, while each woman relaxed in the embrace of the others.

Eventually, though, Lori broke the silence. "Hey, Lexi, didn' you have a job fer us?"

"Oh, yeah! I did!" Alexis replied, her earlier ease forgotten as she sat up excitedly. "Fella who comes inta the bar, regular patron by the name o' Henry Griffin, runs a 'shroom farm close by. Wants ta send a shipment over inta White Sun, looking fer reliable crew, an' I told 'im 'bout y'all an' how yer the best there is 'round the 'Verse."

"Stop, yer gonna make me blush," Dani joked as she rolled onto her side to face Alexis. "Mushrooms, eh? Never done shipped those 'fore. But yeah, we're headin' towards Ariel, we c'n take 'is cargo as well, so long as it ain't too big."

Alexis shook her head merrily, her blond curls swinging back and forth. "Nope, it's only a coupla crates from what he sez. And I vetted 'im fer ya first," she continued seriously. "Like I said, he's a regular, lil' odd sometimes but always pays 'is tab, treats alla the staff with respect an' all."

"Well alright then," Lori said, curling up around Dani's back and draping an arm across her belly. "Guess we'll hafta meet with Mister Griffin in the mornin'."

"Gives us a few hours still," Dani mused, her eyes glinting.

"Mmm," Lori hummed as she bit down gently on her wife's shoulder from behind. "Who needs sleep, anyways?"

"Not me, I gots a late shift tomorrow," Alexis replied, her own eyes bright and filled with anticipation.

"Well, then," Dani continued with a purr, moving onto her hands and knees, "mebbe we c'n give you our special referral fee fer sending us a client an' all."

"Oh really?" the blonde asked throatily as she rolled onto her back.

"Oh yeah," Dani smiled as she crawled over Alexis, hovering just over her without touching any part of her body. "One of a kind, just fer you."

Lori sidled over to lean in between the two women. "It's only fair, we show ya our sincere gratitude," she murmured as her lips grazed the blonde's collarbone.

"Lucky me," Alexis sighed contentedly, pulling Dani down for a long, slow kiss.

* * *

Hera Landing Field.

Morning came all too soon, though Alexis was of the opinion that if that was the sort of referral fee she could anticipate, she'd actively seek out more jobs for the crew. The three women parted ways once more, sharing tender kisses in the kitchen before Dani and Lori made their way back to the ship, and the pretty waitress stumbled her way back into her bed, asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.

Once back at the ship Dani arranged for Jess to go meet with the client, as she was feeling less than coherent at the moment. She and her wife snuck off for a quick nap while Kelly and Keith handled the loading of their regular cargo heading towards Ariel, large pallets of dried animal feed, vacuum-sealed tightly into bundles that took up little space for their actual volume.

A few hours later, and perhaps a half hour before launch, Dani stumbled bleary-eyed into the galley. "Tea," she moaned as if she were pleading for a life-saving vaccine.

"There's a pot on the stove, still warm," Jess chuckled as she sipped from her own cup.

The lanky captain managed to pour herself some of the caffeinated elixir without spilling any and furthermore made it to the table without dropping her cup. She sat in her usual space at the head, and Jess observed her humorously as the brunette took a sip and moaned again, this time ecstatically.

"Good?" the raven-haired cargomaster inquired drily. She received only a nod and an incoherent mumble in reply. "Well, let me know when your higher functions are working again, and I'll let you know about our newest client."

"Right, client," Dani replied, blinking the sleep out of her eyes. "Griffin. How'd it go?"

"We have a dozen small boxes of Crimini and Shiitake mushrooms to take to his distributor on Bernadette," Jess recited. "He's definitely a character... Kept going on about peace, and every other sentence ended with the word _man_." She quirked an eyebrow at her captain. "I did get the money up front. Even paid it in hard coin, for a change."

"Nice," Dani replied, taking another soothing sip of her tea. "S'pose we c'n put up with a lil' eccentricity if'n it gets us work, yeah?"

* * *

En route to Bernadette. White Sun.

That evening, as Keith watched over the bridge and the rest of the crew were peacefully sleeping, the cargo of mushrooms sat unobtrusively off to the side in the bay. Nestled among the crates of legitimate Crimini and Shiitake mushrooms was another one, indistinguishable from the others. This one, however, was packed with a super-hybridized form of psilocybin, a very hallucinogenic drug. It was an experimental crop that was illegal to export into the Core, and though the client had been very careful in its packaging, he did not realize the corrosiveness of the spores from these special mushrooms.

By morning, when it was normally time for Dani to take over her shift on the bridge, the seal on the crate housing had fully deteriorated, and the entire ship was filled with heavy hallucinogens that spread rapidly through the air ducts.

* * *

Dani woke in her bed, alone. Only it didn't seem to be her bunk anymore, the room stretched out in front of her, an endless corridor that led to a rickety wooden door. Without thought she was standing in front of it, weaving on her feet.

She wasn't sure if she should open it or not, but the decision was saved for her when it creaked aside until it vanished like it wasn't there.

The lanky woman took one step, and then she was in the middle of the room, her feet bare on the rough wooden floor. She looked down curiously, finding she was naked and covered with...

"Blood?" she whispered to herself. Her voice sounded odd, as if from underwater or from a great distance away. "Why am I covered in blood?"

She looked up again to see a piece of furniture in the room where there had not been one previously. It was a large wooden desk.

"Nooo..." she moaned, recognizing it. "No, no, no, not here, I don' wanna be here..."

Firm hands from unseen assailants grabbed her arms and propelled her face-down onto the desk. She squirmed, terrified, and started to scream.

"No, please, please no, not again... I'll do anythin' just... No..."

Her pleading was ignored by the men holding her down. She couldn't see who was behind her, couldn't see anything but the sudden bright red of color, the pain blossoming again across her entire body.

Dani felt another presence, that of a monster she had thought long since dead and banished.

"Now, little _suka_ (Russian: bitch), let us see how you like it again..."

She gave another scream, full of anguish and desperation, as she felt him move behind her.

* * *

Lori crouched on top of a roof, her sniper rifle at the ready. She wondered why she brought her giant Callahan _Long_ out to play this time. _Mebbe I'm lookin' ta make a mess_ , she giggled to herself.

"This's is Five, in position," she reported into her comm. She was met by silence.

"Um, guys? Anyone there?" She knew the team was inside, they had breached the doors, even though they looked intact... and kind of purple one minute, pink the next... She peered around with her scope, unable to see anything inside the opaque round windows. Or were they square? It was hard to make out, really. She looked up and huffed in irritation.

Before she could figure out what to do next, a swarm of bad guys headed into the building. She could tell they were bad guys because they wore all black. "Dani!" she yelled into her comm. "Get outta there!"

She did not receive a response, which was highly obvious considering she was talking into an apple. And why did she bring a shovel along instead of her rifle? That wasn't going to help at all. But Dani needed her, and she was determined to help, somehow...

Lori stepped off of the roof and glided gracefully towards the ground. _Well, that was easy,_ she thought with amusement. Her good mood slowly evaporated as tendrils of dread began to snake their way through her abdomen. "Dani," she moaned. She didn't know how she knew, but her wife was in danger. But where?

A body flew out of the window above her, and though she stretched her arms out she couldn't prevent it from falling to the ground, shattering into a million pieces. Before it disintegrated, she could see a pair of bright green eyes staring at her in accusation.

"No!" she screamed. Her anguished voice was echoed from inside the building, as she heard her wife begging, pleading for mercy.

She wiped the tears from her face. "Hang on, _wo de ai_ ," she yelled, surging back to her feet determinedly. The redheaded sniper plowed through the orange doorway as if it were mist, and entered into a hall that was dimly lit.

"Dani!" she called out. "Where arya?"

She could still hear the cries, sobbing moans that seemed to echo through the mansion. She followed the noise as best she could until she came into a large open area. The warehouse in front of her seemed to stretch out for kilometers, but at the other end, she could see her _zhen'ai_ (true love), her Dani, being held at gunpoint.

Before she could even take a step in that direction, the shadowy figure shot her wife through the head. A trail of blood arced from the side of Dani's temple as she collapsed bonelessly to the ground, pooling red liquid that turned into a dark puddle of mud on the jungle floor. Lori choked back another scream but quickly realized that her wife's body had once again vanished.

Lori looked around, panicked, as she noticed she was back in the Jungle Run. She heard her wife's screams again and started racing through the foliage, heedless of the dangers that closed in on her.

"Hang on, Dani," she shouted, more hot tears blurring her vision. "I won' let you die again!"

* * *

He was back in Serenity Valley. The ugliest bit of fighting he'd ever been in, and one he visited often in his nightmares. Only this time, it didn't seem like a dream. The sounds, the textures, they were all too real... The bright pink and blue explosions as mortar shells went off, bullets whizzing by his ears, sounding like mad hornets...

Keith grunted with the effort of climbing out of the crater he'd been hiding in as the gunfire let up. He glanced around warily for the rest of his squad. They needed to get to... somewhere... He was a little fuzzy on the details at the moment. _Must have taken a blow to the head, or affected by a concussive charge_ , he mused.

He couldn't find his squad anywhere. He knew they survived Serenity Valley with him, didn't they? They were heroes, capturing someone... or was it blowing something up... they all seemed to blend together...

He felt a hand on his leg and turned his head in relief. "There you are-"

Keith broke off in horror, staring down at the emaciated clawed hand that was reaching out of the goop at the bottom of the crater. It was latched onto his leg, trying to drag him under. More forms started to ooze out of the muck, resolving themselves into his teammates, members of his squad he had let down, gotten killed.

"Sarge," they moaned eerily. "Come back to us... you said you'd never leave us, Sarge..."

His chest tight with panic, Keith struggled to escape. The heavy equipment and pack weighed him down, and he was unable to free himself of their burden. More hands grabbed at him, dragging him back, back into the hell that he had escaped... pulling him into the foul-smelling muck...

* * *

"I like the name Caliope," the panda said cheerily.

"Why thanks, mister panda-man," Cali replied with just as much cheerfulness. She paused a beat. "Wait, that can't be yer name none. What's yer name?"

"Alice," he replied.

"Okay, Alice," the pigtailed mechanic grinned. "What d'ya wanna do?"

"Well, I like a good tea party."

"Really?" she asked skeptically. "I never done been one fer tea parties, Alice."

"It's Robert," he replied calmly. "And you used to, long time ago."

"Well yeah, back when I was a lil' girl, but I'm all growned up now!" Cali stated with pride. "I'mma mechanic!"

"Oooh, nice!" the panda said, skipping around in a circle. "Is that why we're in the engine room?"

"Oh, yeah!" she said, turning about and looking at her beloved acceleration core. "Hey, Robert, wanna help me fix stuff?"

"Sure thing!" the panda replied gleefully. "Oh, but it's Gertrude. I told you that already."

"Sorry, Gertrude," Cali apologized. "I gots a poor memory sometimes."

* * *

Kelly woke with a start.

Her head was ringing, a migraine buzzing about on the outskirts of her brainpan. "Ugh," she groaned, sitting up. "I don't remember drinking last night..."

She looked around warily. It was fairly late in the morning and she had uncharacteristically slept in. Staggering to her feet, she fished out a couple of aspirin from her bags and dry-washed them down. She prayed it took the edge off soon before it got any worse.

Climbing down the ladder from her bunk, she noticed that the ship was eerily quiet. Usually, by this point, there were folk up and about in the galley making breakfast. And why hadn't anyone woken her for their morning _tai chi_ exercises? It had become a morning tradition after a time, most of the female crew members joining in with each other down in the cargo bay to work out together. She relished the time spent in quiet harmony with the others.

But instead, she seemed to be greeted by a ghost ship.

The former Agent perked her head to the side, senses alert for any trouble. Very faintly she could hear a rhythmic noise, that of metal hitting metal, from somewhere up above.

She quickly ducked back up into her room, retrieving her faithful little Astra pistol and tucking it into the back of her waistband. She was glad she wore her sweats to bed last night, at least she didn't have to dress before investigating the strange situation.

Creeping stealthily up the steps, she finally registered the noise coming from the engine room. In it, Cali was sitting cross-legged on the floor with a large wrench in her hands. She was hitting it against the floor, her eyes bloodshot and wide.

"Cali?" she called out cautiously. "What are you doing, _baobei_?"

"Hi, Clarence!" the diminutive mechanic called out cheerily, if somewhat subdued. "Oh, sorry, right, ya said it wuz Pickle now. Tha's a funny name fer a panda," she slurred, before breaking off into high-pitched giggles.

"Um," Kelly started, nonplussed. She looked around, puzzled. There didn't seem to be any liquid nearby that she could have taken, or any illicit substances... She racked her brain, trying to think of what might have caused such behavior in the girl before her. Seemed to be more hallucinogenic than anything, ingested or inhaled...

Suddenly she breathed in sharply. "Inhaled," she murmured. _That would explain the headache_. The same set of implants that granted her immunity towards the sonic devices that Blue Sun Agents carried also filtered out any sort of debilitating gasses, but would leave a residual headache behind to let her know what had happened.

"Right, first things first," she began, leaning over and plucking the heavy wrench out of Cali's hand. She had started to wave it around, getting dangerously close to the core behind her. "Come on, Cali, let's go play in the galley for awhile, alright?"

"Sure thing, Pickle!" she giggled as she staggered to her feet, swaying unsteadily.

Kelly guided her out of the engine room, sealing it up behind her. She led Cali over to the seats under the observation dome and gently sat her down.

"Now, you stay here, alright girl?"

"You betcha, Emmie!" the girl replied, promptly falling onto her side. "Oops, the ship just went sideways."

Laughing to herself despite the situation, Kelly headed forward towards the bridge. Keith was still there but curled up into a tight ball on the floor. She could hear sobbing coming from Dani and Lori's room, some sort of singing from where Jess must have been in her room, and surprisingly laughter from Sara's. There was only an eerie silence where Rain and Feather bunked.

She gave herself a shake, resolving to do things in the proper order. She was feeling a bit light-headed and wondered if the filters were less effective than she thought. The blonde woman marched forward, stepping over Keith's prone and unmoving form, to flip a couple of switches on the console. The first locked the controls into place, only changeable by Dani, Keith, Rain, and herself, as they were the ones with the code. She hoped that would prevent anyone from messing with things in their current state.

Next, she switched the air recyclers off to try and slow the progress of whatever was causing the hallucinations. She felt immensely better once the air stopped blowing on her face.

Leaving Keith in his fetal position on the deck of the bridge, she headed down towards the cargo bay, searching for the culprit among the crates of mushrooms they had taken on. Sure enough, one of the crates had darker rings around the rim of the seal, indicating it had been corroded.

She promptly hauled the crate over into the airlock, careful to breathe as little as possible, and flushed it out into the Black.

"Okay," she sighed, dusting her hands off. "Now for damage control."

Fortunately, Mirabelle had kept a very good stock of medicines on board. She found what she needed, enough to hopefully give a dose to each of the crew on board the _Favour_. In addition, she gathered up all of the rebreathers she could find, pulling them from spacesuits and salvaging some from spare parts. She had enough for everyone, but only five were working.

In short order, she had Cali, Keith, Dani, and Lori hooked up with rebreathers and given the antidote. Cali woozily got the other rebreathers working so that Kelly could finish up with the rest of the crew. Most of them needed some time to recover from their ordeal but eventually recovered.

All except for Feather and Rain.

Kelly and Dani stood over their unmoving forms. They lay next to each other in their bed, curled on their side, Rain around her girlfriend. Feather's auburn hair reached back to cover Rain's, but neither would stir even when prodded.

"But they're breathin' okay, yeah?" Dani asked worriedly, her words muffled by the rebreather clamped over her face. She was still trembling from the realistic nightmare she'd endured but refused to discuss it just yet with her friend.

"They seem to be," Kelly replied, peeling back one of Rain's eyelids. "Shallow but steady. They don't seem to be dreaming, or hallucinating, just comatose." She looked up into Dani's worried eyes, gleaming even more brightly green with unshed tears. "I wonder if they're stuck in some sort of feedback loop? You mentioned that they could share things with each other, right? Not just words?"

"Right," Dani replied, wonderingly. If they could share feelings and images as well...

The lanky captain gave herself a shake. "Well, good thing we're headin' fer Bernadette. We gots someone there who might be able to help 'em..."

* * *

Bernadette. White Sun.

Rain and Feather woke up simultaneously and in a large fluffy bed together on their backs, a late morning sunlight filtering in through the curtained window. They were side by side and holding hands as if they had done so in their sleep, and wearing their nighttime clothes.

_Where are we?_ Feather thought warily, looking around.

_I feel someone... Oh!_ Rain grinned over at her girlfriend. _We're at my Aunt Maribelle's!_

She sent a wave of images and memories at Feather, who wrinkled up her nose and forehead in thought as she sifted through them. As always, Rain thought it was the most adorable thing she'd ever laid eyes upon.

_Stop that. Tryin' to... Oh, okay, gotcha, I 'member her now. So she knows about ya?_

_Mmhmm. Even better, we c'n tell her all about what we c'n do._ Rain rolled her eyes. _If'n_ Kaasan _ain't told 'er already._

Just then the door opened and the small blonde woman walked though, a gentle smile on her face. "Good morning, you two. I felt you were awake. Feeling better?"

Rain nodded, struggling to sit up while still maintaining her grip on Feather's hand. "Yep, much better now. I'm guessin' we should thank ya fer yer help, _ayi_ (aunt, mother's sister)."

Feather shifted as well to sit up against the pillows. _Arya sure we c'n trust someone outside the ship? I don' want anything happenin' like Sara an' Cali had on Ariel._

_Don' worry none,_ wo de ai _(my love). We c'n trust her._

Maribelle had started walking over to sit on the foot of the bed but halted suddenly as the two communicated. "Well, I suppose Dani had the right of it," she murmured, as she lowered herself the rest of the way. "You two really can talk to each other, inside your heads, can't you?"

Rain and Feather both nodded, unusually solemn looks on their faces.

" _Wo kao_ (well fuck me)," her aunt murmured, causing Rain to giggle.

"Ain't never heard ya cuss 'fore, Aunt Maribelle."

"Not around you, maybe, but I think we're all adults here. Can we try something?"

Rain and Feather shared a glance and then turned back to Maribelle to nod simultaneously.

"Okay," Maribelle said softly, closing her eyes. _Can you hear me?_

" _Ai ya, huai le_ (shit on my head)!" Rain exclaimed as Maribelle opened her eyes again, grinning. Feather looked on as well, dumbfounded.

"Both of you heard me?" the blonde doctor asked.

"How..." Rain trailed off uncertainly.

"...Izzat possible?" Feather finished for her, eyes wide and unbelieving.

Maribelle smiled and reached over to lay her hand on top of where the couple had theirs joined. "You never knew your grandmother, sweetie, but she was very strong, mentally. She and I could talk like that, while neither your mother nor Mike could do so. Though there were times when I could tell Beth was in trouble, like when... well." Maribelle swallowed, the memory still painful. "She didn't Wave me when she was sick. I knew, and came right away."

Rain furrowed her brows. "So _wai po_ (grandmother, mother's mother) could do what I c'n? An' you c'n as well?"

Maribelle smiled and leaned back again, releasing their hands. "I'm not as good at it. Takes me some concentration, though it was easier with my mother. What the two of you have, however, is a very special bond indeed."

Feather smiled brilliantly. "Yeah, we know," she replied softly and laid her head on Rain's shoulder.

Maribelle grinned and stood back up, shaking her head. "Ah, young love. Well, just so you know, your _Kaasan_ has the _Favour_ in repair dock, cleaning out the ventilation systems. As I understand it, they're billing the supplier, since it was an illicit cargo. I believe she strongly suggested it was the only way for him to avoid the slam at this point." The blonde woman chuckled lightly. "But they're holed up in a hotel on the other side of the planet, the whole crew, next to the spaceport."

"They left us here?" Rain asked, incredulous. It was the first time she'd been without her home nearby since the time she ended up in slam with the rest of her immediate family. Even if they were still on the same planet, she almost felt a sort of separation anxiety.

_You know it ain't like that,_ wo de ai _. Yer_ Kaasan _would have a good reason not to stick 'round._

Maribelle was nodding reassuringly. "You were both pretty out of it, and needed time to get the toxins out of your system." She took a few minutes to explain the effects that the hallucinogenic mushroom spores had on them, as well as the rest of the crew. "In any case, you were here for less than a day, and she needed to concentrate on the ship. I convinced her you'd be fine with me. And," she grinned suddenly. "I remember being young and in love. Having a nice big bed available is a pleasant change sometimes, right?"

Rain blushed, and knew without looking that Feather was doing the same.

Maribelle laughed again. "Well, nobody else is in the house, and now that you're both up and about I'm going to head into work for a few hours. Help yourself to anything in the kitchen. If you make it that far, of course." Still laughing merrily, she left the room and closed the door behind her.

_You gots some awesome family,_ zhi'ai _(most beloved),_ Feather thought with humor.

_Yep, that I do, Feather-bear. First things first, though. I gotta pee._

Feather looked over at her with a gleam in her eyes. _Not if'n I beat ya to the bathroom first, Grant._

_Oh, bring it, O'Donnel._

Giggling, the girls lunged towards the bathroom, Feather scrambling over Rain, only for both of them to get tangled up in the sheets and tumble to the ground in a mess of limbs.

_Ow._

_S'what ya get fer not lettin' me go first,_ Feather laughed in Rain's head. _Can't move none. The sheets, they gots me. I'm trapped ferever in their embrace._

_Yer such a_ lan ren _(loon)._

_They have! They done accepted me as one o' their own. 'Sides, yer on top o' me._

_I think we'll wear out our hospitality if'n we pee on the floor, though._

_Well, I c'n give ya some inspiration to get ya movin' offa me._ With that, Feather sent along an image of how she'd like to occupy her fingers and tongue for the rest of the morning.

The sheets didn't stand a chance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title track by Poison. Some might recognize the "Are we dead yet?" interplay from Green Arrow and Black Canary in the _Justice League Animated Series_. 'Cause, yeah, I'm a huge geek.
> 
> So, a little bit of action, a little bit of psychedelic weirdness, and a dash of Rain and Feather sweetness. What would we call the pairing? Fain?
> 
> Much love as always to my amazing Betas ( **Silvana_Crowe, CaliopeGrant, KellyConnely** ) who continue to manage to keep up with my manic writing schedule.
> 
> Stay shiny!


	72. Episode 58: In 'N' Out

_Fortune's Favour_. Outbound from Bernadette.

The crew was gathered around the dinner table still as the meal wound down and the conversations continued. Jess and Keith had put together a tasty meal of tofu, noodles, and a spicy peanut sauce, served with fresh veggies from their hydroponics lab, courtesy of Cali and Sara.

Dani sat at her usual spot at the head of the table, judging when to enact her plan.

" _Wo de ai_ , ya look like yer plannin' on somethin'," Lori murmured, leaning over and running her fingernails along the lanky captain's inner thigh.

With a small squeak of noise, Dani jumped slightly. "That tickles!" she hissed in mock annoyance.

"Oh, sorry," her wife grinned, unrepentant. "Mebbe a lil' higher then...?"

Dani squawked louder and jumped out of her chair. The rest of the crew fell silent, looking up at her in various stages of amusement, while Lori was turning red from holding in her merriment. She spared the redhead a glare.

"Well, now that I gots y'all's attention," she stated dryly, "there's a certain bit of celebratin' I wants to share with ya." She walked over towards the cabinets and pulled a bottle of alcohol down from an upper storage bin. "Lori, _lian ren_ , if'n yer done embarrassin' me, could ya fetch us all shot glasses please?"

"Sure thing, _bang jiar_ (lover)!" her wife replied cheekily and jumped up to skip over towards the kitchen area.

"When did you pick that up, _jiejie_?" Keith asked curiously.

"Few months ago, scored it in partial payment fer a delivery. Client fell a lil' short."

"I wondered when you were going to break that out," Jess commented wryly, having taken part in the transaction. "You said it was for a special occasion."

"It is, an' this's a special bottle." Dani held up the glass vessel containing a smoky-colored liquid. "This here's Yun Walker-175 whiskey, barely legal on a buncha Core worlds. Bottle costs more'n a month's pay fer a laborer most places."

"So what's the occasion then?" Kelly questioned as the shot glasses were passed around for all of the crew after being filled with the potent stuff. Cali sniffed hers cautiously, wrinkling her nose.

"'Cordin' to the calendar, it's been three years now since I bought the _Favour_ ," Dani replied quietly, holding her glass by her chest. "An' I gots a lil' somethin' I've been wantin' ta say 'bout it." She looked down into the swirling alcohol, seeing past it and reminiscing about the strange yet wonderful journey she'd been on over the last few years. With a sigh, she lifted her head and looked around the table. Her crew, her family, all standing by her side through thick and thin, all the trials and tribulations, more than most captains could say they'd been blessed or cursed with, depending on who you asked. Her three daughters who boarded the ship as teenagers. Rain was now twenty-two and Sara just about twenty-one now. Cali at nineteen was on the cusp of no longer being called a teenager, though she often acted like she'd never escape that stage of life.

Clearing her throat, which suddenly felt a mite constricted, she finally spoke up again to her expectant audience.

"Sometimes life c'n remind ya of how shiny things are, if'n ya take the time to relax an' look around ya some." The lanky captain raised her glass, eyes brimming with unshed tears. "I love all of y'all. Thanks fer stickin' by my side. Cheers!"

After a round of murmured congenial replies, her family joined her in tossing their shots back. Cali, as should have been expected, immediately started to cough and wheeze, tears streaming down her cheeks, but Rain and Emily weren't that much better off.

"Wow," Feather said hoarsely, carefully placing the shot glass back on the table. "Tha's some strong stuff!"

"Ruttin' _chou maniao_ (stinking horse piss)!" Rain choked out, trying to catch her breath. Feather tried to thump her on the back, but stopped and smiled innocently as Rain glared at her, evidently conveying her opinion of her helpfulness through less than verbal means.

Cali finally lurched to her feet and staggered over towards the kitchen, sticking her open mouth under the faucet and turning it on.

"Oh, now yer jus' bein' a _chwen_ (dumbass) 'bout it," Dani snarked.

"Lightweights," Sara sighed dramatically, shaking her head.

Rain and Emily turned towards Sara, incredulous looks on their faces while they slowly rose up from their seats.

"Now, I didn' mean it like that none," Sara backpedaled, her hands raised. She scooted her chair away from the table slightly, but it stopped short. Her eyes widened as she caught the sound of dripping water pooling behind her.

"Eep," she squeaked, and lunged forward under the table, barely avoiding Cali's wet grab.

"Get 'er!" Rain yelled, as Sara bolted out from under the table and sprinted towards the back stairwell. There was a clatter of chairs as they were pushed back, and then a giggling mob of women went sailing out of the room in hot pursuit.

Dani looked around at the four older crew members who were left. "'Nother shot?" she asked nonchalantly.

"Love one," Jess replied, pushing her glass forward.

* * *

En route to Santo. Qin Shi Huang.

Dani was pretty comfortable right where she was, even if it meant she was sitting in her chair and sprawled face-down across the dining table. Which meant she wasn't all that enthusiastic about heeding her eldest daughter's instructions.

"C'mon, _Kaasan_ , you gots a Wave, an' he won' tell me what it's 'bout none," Rain urged, pulling on her arm.

She mumbled something incoherently in response, which might have been a rather creative use for the Cortex unit, or possibly just an advisement to leave off with the pulling before a hand was irrevocably lost.

"Gorramit, it's Tom! He's waitin' fer ya! Get yer _pigu_ up!" Rain finally roared in exasperation.

Dani was startled upright, swaying slightly with a befuddled look on her face. Her movement dislodged her wife, who must have been curled up against her left side, and her sister-in-law, who must have been curled up against her other side. Both of the women's foreheads hit the surface of the table with a loud _smack_.

Jess slid to the floor and sat there, looking around blearily, while Lori managed to stay in her chair though she let forth with a blistering stream of Mandarin, most of it nonsensical.

Keith somehow had ended up over in the chairs under the observation dome and had his head back and feet propped up on the small table there, looking for all the world like he was just napping, while from the soft snores coming from under the table Dani supposed that was where Kelly had ended up.

" _Kaasan!_ " Rain barked again urgently.

"Yeah, okay, yeah, sorry _baobei_ ," Dani responded, trying valiantly to gather her wits enough to attempt to get out of her chair. She still wasn't sure how much she wanted to tempt the ship's gravity just yet. "Not so loud, yeah?"

"Wha' happened?" Lori asked, eyes slightly crossed, as she ran out of Mandarin curses, real or made up.

In reply, Rain reached forward and picked up the empty bottle of Yun Walker-175 whiskey and wiggled it in the air. Lori attempted to follow it with her eyes but had to close them, moaning miserably.

"Oh, yeah," Dani finally muttered. "We finished that bottle off, didn' we..."

"That ya did," Rain replied with an aggravated sigh, setting the bottle down with a bang. Dani, Jess, and Lori all jumped from the noise, wincing in pain, while Kelly snored on. For his part, Keith still looked like he was lightly resting.

"Okay then," Dani groaned, rising out of her chair on unsteady feet. "I'll go answer the Wave. Y'all might wanna get ta bed. And Rain?"

"Yeah, _Kaasan?_ " her daughter asked, arms crossed irritably.

"Please go check on yer uncle an' see if'n he's still alive."

"I'm fine," the man in question replied in his quiet baritone, eyes still closed peacefully. "Just resting my eyelids."

Dani shook her head, immediately regretting the act as the ship began to perform intricate combat maneuvers around her. She put an arm out to brace herself against the hull, and seeing how that seemed to go well enough, continued to hold on as she made her way towards the bridge. She could hear a thoroughly disgruntled Rain staying behind to help the others get moving and off to their more comfortable bunks.

She managed to make it to her chair and sat down with a sigh of relief. Behind her, Rain's voice was suddenly raised.

"Lori, watch what yer doin' there!"

Her words were followed by the muffled thump of a body hitting the deck inside a bunk. "I'm okay!" the faint voice of her wife assured.

Grinning wryly, Dani turned towards her console and flipped the switch for the Cortex unit.

"Dani! 'Bout gorram time, girl, what were ya space walkin' or somethin'?" The former Browncoat mechanic grinned jovially from the screen in front of her.

"Shhh, shhh," Dani weakly protested, reaching over to dial the volume down. "No yelling. Soft voice. Very soft voice."

Tom chuckled. "Still can't hold yer liquor none, eh?"

Dani sighed, holding her head up with one hand. "Tom, please make this short, I gots to get ta bed 'fore my head plumb falls offa my neck."

"Okay, sorry there Dani-girl," Tom grinned back. "I'll get to the point, then."

He leaned forward in an almost conspiratorial fashion. "I gots a job lined up for y'all, but ya need ta meet up with the client, over here on Osiris. An' it needs to just be yerself, nobody else."

"Tha's pretty gorram mysterious," Dani replied warily. "Why're ya bein' so cagey?"

"Can't talk none over a Wave. You'll understand once ya meet up with 'im. Willya?"

Dani brought her free hand up to rub at her face. Normally this whole conversation would send up a barrage of red flags, but this was Tom, and she trusted him explicitly with her life. And had done so on numerous occasions, actually. "Okay, yeah. I'll meet. Gotta finish up on Santo first, 'kay? Then we'll head fer Osiris, even if'n we ain't got a cargo fer there. Could use 'nother engine flush while we're down."

"Shiny!" Tom beamed back. "Lemme know when yer plannin' on arrivin' yeah? I'll escort ya over."

"Will do, Tom," she smiled halfheartedly as she flipped the Cortex off. She put her head down on her crossed arms, groaning in pain.

"So you're not suspicious at all?"

Dani rolled her head slightly to the side to glare at her brother with a single bloodshot eye. "I'm too drunk still ta react to ya none. How're you even upright?"

Keith shrugged, an infuriatingly smug look on his face. "Had a nap. I'm good now."

" _Si pi yan_ (damned asshole)," she grumbled in response, rolling her head face-down again. "An' no, I ain't none. It's Tom. I trust 'im. Ev'ryone else situated?"

"All except for you," he replied gently. "Rain's finally in bed as well, so let's get you into your bunk, alright?"

"Alright _didi_ ," his sister affirmed softly, allowing him to help her out of the seat and towards her bunk.

Once she got to the open hatch, she sat down and dangled her legs over before descending the ladder. "Hey, _didi_?"

"What is it, _jiejie_?" Keith replied, leaning against the bulkhead with his arms crossed.

"Been a spell since I done said it, but... Thanks."

"For what?"

"For bein' you," she replied, smiling up at him. "Puttin' up with alla my crazy schemes, my _gou se_ , an' keepin' me safe. Keepin' alla us safe." She reached forward and grabbed ahold of the ladder before she tumbled down onto her face. Clinging to the rungs, she managed to lower herself down. "Love ya, _didi_."

Keith watched her until she reached the bottom and stumbled into bed to join her snoring wife. "I love you too, _jiejie_ ," he replied quietly, as he closed the hatch and turned to head back to the bridge for his watch.

* * *

Osiris. White Sun.

"So where 'xactly are we headin'?" Dani asked curiously. She and Tom were strolling down one of the seedier neighborhoods of Osiris, not a place she'd elect to travel alone even if well-armed.

Fortunately, she at least had the armed part taken care of. She gave her beloved Ares pistol at her side a loving pat.

"You'll see," Tom replied smugly. The alley they were headed down was ringed with neon lights and large Cortex screens which were blaring some sort of counterpoint talk show. Her ears perked up as she realized they were discussing Miranda, but she stopped paying attention when she overheard the mediator's obvious bias towards the Alliance. _Shoulda 'xpected that._

As they turned a corner, though, she was confronted with the bulbous, sweating visage of one of the guests on a screen directly in front of her.

"...These people are sowing the seeds of unrest. The wounds of the Unification War have only just begun to heal and these... These terrorists..."

Dani snorted in disgust, tuning out the odious Alliance shill. But she stopped suddenly as she spied a colorful flyer plastered on the wall. It was a clenched fist, upraised in protest with the Browncoat colors of green and yellow on it, a single black star on the palm.

" _Shenme ta ma de_ (what the fuck)...?" she breathed, stunned.

"C'mon, Dani-girl," Tom urged, tugging on her arm and looking around warily. "You don' wanna be caught out in th'open gawkin' at those posters."

She allowed him to lead her along again, looking around in wonderment as she spied numerous identical posters plastered on various surfaces around the neighborhood, walls and windows and catwalks. The only place they didn't seem to reside were on the storefronts that sporadically lined the alley.

Eventually, they came upon a teahouse, unassuming and sparsely populated. Not an ideal place for a discrete meet, but Dani wasn't the one who picked the spot.

Instead of sitting down, however, Tom gave her a wink and led her into the back, passing through a beaded curtain to end up at a door. It was guarded by a very large _hundan_ of Asian descent, wearing loose black silk trousers and nothing else. He gave the two of them a toothy smile, nodding at Tom in a friendly fashion and opening the door for them. "Welcome, welcome!" he said genially.

Dani gave him a friendly nod as they passed through and started down a steep, rickety staircase. At the bottom were rows of tables where men and women labored. Some put together packs for first aid or rations, some worked a printing press in the corner, and some were cutting and stacking the papers that had come off of said press. She immediately noted that those papers, as well as the ones inside numerous open-topped boxes that lined many of the tables, were identical to the converted Browncoat symbol posters that she saw on the street.

"Tom," she said, trying to remain calm, "what in the ruttin' _diyu_ have ya gotten me into?"

"Like I said, a job offer, nothin' more!" the burly mechanic placated. "I swear!"

"I ain't movin' one more step 'less I find out what's goin' on," Dani stated, crossing her arms resolutely in the middle of the room. "Who's in charge here?"

"That'd be me, Angel," a voice replied from behind her.

She whirled, an incredulous yet pleased look on her face. "Jory!" she exclaimed.

Her former co-pilot and fellow escaped prisoner looked much healthier than when she saw him last. He'd put a little bit of weight back on, as well as a decent amount of muscle. She ran into his outstretched arms and gave him a tight hug. " _Shi niao_ (shit  & piss), it's good to see ya," he murmured.

"Gorramit, man," she laughed as she released him. "What's it been, two and a half years now? What've ya been doin' with yerself?"

"Lil' of this, lil' of that," Jory replied cheekily. He held up his right arm. "Gots myself a new prosthetic, much nicer."

"I could tell!" Dani smiled. "So you're runnin' this here show?"

"Yep!" he replied. "Welcome to th'Osiris chapter of the New Resistance!"

Dani sighed, her amusement fading, as she looked between Jory and Tom. "Guys... I done toldya 'fore. War's over fer me, I ain't gonna get inta it 'gain."

"Oh I know," Jory laughed. "It's just a job offer, promise. We need blockade runners, got a whole convoy assembled but we needs the best gorram pilot in the 'Verse ta lead 'em." He looked seriously into Dani's eyes. "We need Angel."

Dani sighed again, closing her eyes and raising her face towards the ceiling. Wasn't she just asking Keith for some way to help out those who started this whole mess? This could be a slippery slope, sure, but she'd spent many a night thinking about the future and how she could either try to avoid what she knew was coming, sure as she knew the proper escape velocity for a Mark III Firefly, or she could do what she could to foil purplebellies like the pompous ass on the Cortex screen outside in the alleyway.

In the end, there was little chance they could avoid getting caught up. So maybe she should just try and direct her own fate, instead of letting the cards fall where they may.

"Okay," she finally said, looking back at Jory again with a steady gaze. "Tell me what ya gots in mind."

* * *

 _Fortune's Favour_. Osiris.

Dani stood with her arms crossed in front of her at the head of the table while her crew filed in. They all gave her curious glances but could tell from her closed stance that she'd be giving nothing away until they were all assembled. Finally, Emily jogged in, her hair still wet from her shower, to sit at her place.

The lanky captain looked around at the expectant faces. "I gots a job lined up," she began cautiously. "But it ain't fer alla us."

She turned and started to pace around the circumference of the room as her family's eyes followed her around. "There's a lil' planet out on the Rim called Zephyr, in Kalidasa. Ain't had the pleasure of settin' down there 'fore. They had a riot lately, over the Miranda report, an' it done turned inta larger uprisin'. Th'Alliance is blockadin' the planet, no meds or any goods at all. They gots a media blackout on it, nobody else knows what's goin' on."

Dani paused behind Lori as she finished a complete circle of the room and placed a hand on her wife's shoulder. "The New Resistance, they hired me ta lead a group of blockade runners in with cargo." Lori covered her hand with her own and gave it a squeeze, smiling up at her reassuringly. Dani responded with a squeeze of her own before moving on again in her circuit.

"They gots a ship set aside, Keppler-class light transport, fast an' armed, called _Ebon Hawk_. Just need a crew. Job is ta get the cargo in an' then get out 'gain. Flyin' from here, on Osiris, an' comin' back on a diff'rent transponder, avoid suspicion that way." She gave a small sigh and leaned onto the table at the opposite end. "So. I c'n do this myself, an' get mebbe Tom ta be my mechanic, but figgured I'd put this out here to y'all first."

"When do you need to give them your answer?" Keith asked quietly.

"Meetin' is back downtown 'gain, with whatever crew I'm bringin'. We'd need to leave in a half hour," she replied. "I know it ain't much time, but they gots ta move quick-like."

"I'm goin' with ya," Lori replied, fire in her eyes. Dani gave her wife a grateful nod, happy that she'd have some company up on the cramped bridge of the _Ebon Hawk_.

"Me too," a cheerful voice piped up from an unexpected source. Dani blinked as she looked over at her youngest.

"Cali?" she asked. "You sure _baobei_? This is gonna be rough mebbe..."

"Ya needs a mechanic," the braided pigtailed girl replied smugly. "Why're we still talkin' 'bout it?"

Dani grinned at her affectionately. "Alright, then. Guess that gives us a crew." She looked over at Rain. "Stick to a normal cargo run, somethin' fairly close by. We'll be gone an' back mebbe two weeks from now. If'n y'all c'n take off tonight, we c'n meet ya back here at Tom's yard, we'll put off th'engine flush till then. Won't 'rouse no suspicions that way."

Keith cleared his throat before she could continue further. "You said this Keppler ship was armed?"

"Right," Dani nodded, unperturbed as to the interruption. "Gots a gun turret up onna top from what I hear. It's kinda low-tech, no control from the bridge, so it needs manned to fire."

"And can any of you work these guns?" Keith asked, already knowing the answer.

Lori shifted uncomfortably. "I c'n pick it up..." She trailed off hesitantly.

Keith gave a long-suffering sigh. "I'm coming. I'll be your gunner."

"Well alright," Dani agreed after only a moment's pause. "S'pose that makes Kelly in charge, yeah? You an' Jess c'n get a cargo t'gether-"

"Actually, I'm coming too," Jess interrupted. "I'll help you with your cargo, Kelly and Sara can get the _Favour_ cargo easy enough. Besides, you need someone else to watch your _pigus._ "

Dani smiled agreeably, yet feeling slightly like the situation was beginning to get out of her control a little bit. "Alright, then-"

"If'n the rest of the ground team is goin', so am I," Sara stated firmly.

" _Gao yang jong duh goo yang_ (motherless goats of all motherless goats)," Dani sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. " _Baobei_ , no, ya don' need ta come an'-"

"Look, 'less you wanna try an' tie me up, an' yeah I'd like ta see _that_ happenin', I'm comin'. Gonna sneak aboard anyways, so's y'all c'n just deal with it." Sara sat back with her arms crossed, a triumphant smirk on her face.

Lori gave a snort of laughter, valiantly trying to cover it up when Dani gave her a mock glare. The rest of the table were grinning just as widely, however.

"Okay, fine, _wuh duh ma huh tah duh fong kwong duh wai shung_ (Holy Mother of God and All Her Wacky Nephews)," Dani gritted out. "Anyone else? Em, you gots th'urge ta join in?"

"Nope, I'm good!" the blonde replied cheerfully.

"Right," the lanky captain said firmly. "Like I wuz sayin', we're gonna have a buncha ships with us, most of 'em bigger'n us. We're gonna be the spearhead, but should be easy 'nuff. These New Resistance folk are gonna be keepin' my name outta the whole mess, only goin' by Angel, so's none of this gets back ta us. None of the rest of y'all give any names neither, 'kay?" She was met by nods from the Keppler crew, but she focused in on Cali. "You gots me, _baobei_?"

"I gots ya, I gots ya," the braided pigtailed mechanic grumbled. "It's like ya don' trust me none ta keep my mouth shut."

She spent the next few minutes squawking indignantly at the entire family as they erupted in guffaws.

* * *

 _Ebon Hawk._ En route to Zephyr.

The planet Zephyr was originally thought to be the moon of Angel, as they share the same orbit of Kalidasa. It was classified as such originally, but Zephyr leads Angel in the orbit instead of orbiting Angel itself. Thus they could more aptly be called dual planets.

Didn't make much of a difference for the job, of course, but Dani found it interesting nonetheless.

They were far enough out from any navigational satellites that she decided to risk a communication that she'd been planning ever since their full-crew convoy meeting right before they lifted off. Lori looked over at her curiously as she punched a few numbers into the console, hoping she remembered them correctly since she only had the chance to glance at them.

Before long a lean but friendly face appeared on the Cortex unit. He had a short buzz of black hair on top of his head but was clean-shaven otherwise. "This is the transport _Merriweather_ ," he said cautiously. "Is this coming from one of the other transports?"

"That it is," Dani smiled. "We're flyin' th' _Ebon Hawk_ right now, but ya might 'member our regular ship, the _Fortune's Favour_."

The man's face lit up with a brilliant smile. " _Wo kao_ (holy shit)! What are the chances?" He gave a chuckle. "Though I suppose it makes sense, as much as Jory was singing the praises of the mighty Angel. You're her, right?"

Dani nodded, smiling back. "I am, yeah. Hope I'm not riskin' myself or my crew here, but I needed ta talk to ya."

"Sure thing, Angel," he replied confidently. "You can trust me. My name's Jim Moon, by the by."

"Well, Jim, I hope yer gonna be open to my suggestion," Dani began earnestly. "Been thinkin' a bit 'bout our approach. Yer boat's the biggest in our convoy, an' likely the most vulnerable. I'm thinkin' that, instead of followin' us in, you come in on a dif'rent track, slightly after we hit atmo."

Moon nodded slowly. "Right, so the rest of you draw off most of the blockade, leaving less to intercept me." He gave a grin. "I can work with that."

"All right, then," Dani replied, somewhat relieved. "We'll see ya on the ground in a few hours."

They left off amicably, and Dani sat back in her seat, a thoughtful look on her face.

"Whatcha thinkin' 'bout, _wo de ai_?" Lori asked quietly.

Dani sighed. "I'm now hopin' I didn' just get 'em killed."

* * *

Inbound to Zephyr.

"Unidentified transports, you are entering a restricted zone, by authority of the Alliance government-"

Dani slapped a button, cutting off the officious voice. "Blah, blah, ruttin' purplebellies..."

"Well, ain'tcha all rebellious an' all," Lori snarked from the copilot's seat.

Dani grinned over at her. "Hey, I'm livin' the life ofa rebel now, may as well play it up, yeah?"

She leaned over to switch the comm on. "Engine room, you set _baobei_?"

" _Shi a_!" Cali sang out.

"Gunner?"

"Ready and waiting," Keith replied calmly from up inside of the turret.

"Passengers all nice an' cozy?"

"Other'n goin' stir-crazy, yeah," Sara chimed in. "Shoulda brought a game'r somethin'."

"We'll make a note of it fer the next time," Dani smirked. "Fifteen seconds till we hit the outer blockade, hang tight."

She flipped the comm back off and zoomed in on the scanner. "So, we should have a fair hole here ta dive through, 'cordin' ta our client..." She trailed off as her eyes began to register what was in front of them, mere seconds away.

"What, Dani?" her wife asked anxiously.

"They're waitin' fer us," she replied with an eerie calmness in her voice. "Half of the ruttin' blockade ships, lined up right in our path." She slapped the comm again for the special convoy-wide frequency, only to be used in emergencies. _An' if'n this ain't an emergency, not sure what is._ "All ships, Angel here. It's gonna get interestin' real soon. Push forward an' get ta ground soon as yer able." She flipped another switch and tightened her restraints. "Keith, look sharp, we're 'bout to have a whole mess of targets."

"Bring it," he replied confidently.

Dani snorted in amusement. "Why ain't I surprised by that response none..."

And then they were upon the ships of the blockade.

It was immediately apparent that they were not even going to attempt to capture or board any of the approaching transports. Missiles streaked out towards the incoming blockade-runners, seeking out a quick and easy end to the confrontation. Fortunately for the approaching convoy, all of them were ably equipped with countermeasures, and out of the ten transports only one detonated in a quick flash of light.

Dani twisted her controls, bringing the nimble Keppler in at an angle to try and draw further fire. She set a looping course around, coaxing several ASREVs out of position.

"Dani, we gots a couple on our tail!" Lori called out nervously.

"I see 'em," Dani replied, hoping Keith was able to do his job.

Sure enough, both of the ASREVs winked out on their console, though they were quickly replaced by an Alliance Patrol Boat. It opened fire with a spread of missiles. Lori rapidly deployed the rest of their meager remaining countermeasures, and the flares took care of most of the barrage, Dani's wild corkscrewing flight path evading the rest.

As she looped back around, she glanced down at the scanner. Over on the far side of the planet, she saw the _Merriweather_ making its approach, practically unopposed, while most of the other transports had made it down as well. One other ship from the convoy had been destroyed, and there were several disabled ASREVs drifting in the path they had taken towards the planet.

Smiling to herself in satisfaction, Dani set up her approach to follow them down, not noticing the Patrol Ship that had lined back up on their rear to pop off one more missile, this one an EMP. At the last minute Dani saw the flicker of a lock and twitched aside, but it was too late. The missile detonated just off the bow, immediately sending the bridge into blackness illuminated only by the planet of Zephyr looming in front of them. The engines didn't shut down at the same time, causing the _Ebon Hawk_ to start into a tailspin towards the planet.

Before Dani could react any further, a panel over her head was jarred loose from the vibrations and slammed into her head, plunging her into darkness.

* * *

Bernadette. White Sun.

Dani blinked her eyes uncertainly. She was sitting in a chair, surrounded by sunlight, and at an outdoor cafe table. She looked around curiously, it was all so familiar...

_Michaela's Cafe. Where Beth and I used to go on Bernadette, 'fore we left fer Jiangyin._

"Hi, sweetie." As if summoned by her thoughts, the melodious voice that she'd not heard in a very long time sounded from behind her.

Swallowing hard, Dani turned back around. Sitting in the chair across from her, looking radiant and as young as when they first met, was Beth.

She smiled warmly at Dani, her eyes twinkling in humor. "Been awhile."

"Yeah," Dani nodded dumbly. "It has." She sniffled, trying to control the tears that threatened to roll down her cheeks. "I miss you."

"I miss you too, _wo de ai_ ," Beth replied, reaching over to clasp her trembling hand. "But you're in good hands now, right?"

"I think so," Dani replied, looking down at their intertwined fingers. "It's been good fer me with Lori. An' the girls... they've gotten so gorram big now, hon. You'd be proud of 'em."

"I am proud of them," Beth replied softly. "And of you. And I am so, so happy that you've found happiness yourself." She squeezed her fingers and got Dani to look back up into her eyes. "You make sure you keep Keith around you, alright? He grounds you like I used to. Lori can keep up with you, but you need a dose of reality every now and then."

Dani chuckled, wiping the tears away with her free hand. "Yeah, I s'pose I do."

"Our time's over now, though."

"Really?" Dani asked forlornly. "Can't we get just a lil' longer?"

"No, sweetie," Beth replied with a sad smile. She rose up and placed a gentle kiss on Dani's forehead. "You have to wake up now, Dani."

* * *

Inbound to Zephyr.

Dani was startled awake, alarms blaring in her ears and a voice screaming at her to wake up.

She looked over, confused, at Lori's wild expression of fear. "Dani! We're gonna crash!" she shrieked.

Glancing through the viewport, she could see they were just now entering atmo, spinning wildly about. _Right. EMP hit us. Gotta get power back._

Dani quickly unbuckled herself and bolted from her seat, ignoring the blood streaming down her face from what must have been a head wound. Clutching at the edge of the console for support, she grabbed hold of an orange and yellow striped panel on the floor between the two seats, flipping the clasps on it and letting it fly free. Reaching down determinedly, she grabbed ahold of twin handles and strained with all of her might to pull them towards her.

They didn't budge.

Snarling in frustration, she braced her feet on either side of the panel and lifted with her entire body. With a few small jerks, they began to move, slowly at first and then with a lurch they opened all the way up.

Dani nodded in satisfaction. The emergency landing wheels were down, standard equipment on aerodynamic models like the Keppler. Now if the relays would still be intact...

She saw lights flicker up on the console, and with a whoop of glee she hurtled back into her seat. The experienced pilot rapidly toggled switches with her left hand while pumping a lever under the console with her right. Eventually, the tailspin slowed and then stopped as the ship seemed to level out slightly.

"Nose still too high," she commented to herself, frantically working her console to get some semblance of attitude thrusters online. Lori still clutched her restraints wide-eyed, no longer making any noise at all.

Tiring of the alarms, she slapped a few buttons to silence them. Immediately she was overwhelmed by shouts over the comm as it came online, some panicked and others demanding to know what in the _diyu_ just happened.

She spared a second to flick another switch. " _Ni men dou bi zui_ (Everybody shut the hell up)!" She kind of liked having the comm controls right on the console rather than overhead. Nice design choice. "Cali, I'm gonna need as much thruster as you c'n give me. I c'n glide, but not overly, _dong ma_ (understand)?"

" _Shi a!_ " Cali piped back, the earlier panic gone from her voice. "They're startin' ta come back online now!"

" _Jingcai_ (brilliant)," Dani breathed. "We just might make it down alive after all."

That comment finally got a squeak of protest from her wife.

"No worries _lian ren_ , we're fine," Dani reassured her, pushing forward on the yoke. The nose of the ship began to slowly dip further down until they were on a proper approach angle. She blew out a relieved breath as the thrusters gave all green lights.

"There, see? Nothin' ta worry 'bout," Dani said confidently as she swung around towards their original landing destination.

Lori gave a small whimper in reply, maintaining her grip on her restraints.

* * *

Zephyr. Kalidasa.

They set down in the heavily fortified New Resistance camp without further incident. Dani convinced Lori to finally release her grip from the restraints and suggested she might want to wander outside for a spell to relax. She watched her wife walk onto the tarmac, curious if she'd kiss the ground, but Lori just staggered out and plopped down against the nearest crate to breathe in and out deeply.

The unloading went fairly smoothly otherwise. Dani had the chance to converse with the other captains, including Moon who made it down as well.

They agreed with her that obviously someone leaked the details of their run and betrayed them. There was no other reasonable explanation as to how the majority of the blockade was lined up in wait on their exact approach vector. In fact, the only ship to make it down unmolested was the _Merriweather_ , which aroused suspicion with several of the others until Dani intervened. She revealed her earlier conversation with Captain Moon, explaining that she had hoped to give the ungainly transport a better chance of entry.

Satisfied, they set about a new plan to escape Zephyr once the unloading was done. Instead of timed exits on individual vectors, Dani and the others rearranged things a bit. They'd pair up now with only eight ships left, each taking a new vector out towards the Black and none of the original ones that had been planned. Once far away from the blockade they'd set a new course back to Osiris.

Dani made sure that she'd be accompanying the _Merriweather_ on their way out, still feeling responsible for the lumbering transport.

* * *

Outbound from Zephyr.

The large, ponderous Osprey-class transport rose up through the atmo, closely attended by a smaller and more nimble Keppler-class one. Most of the others from the convoy were already gone and into the Black, and Dani felt they had a better chance heading towards the other planet, Angel, feeling it was a good omen. They could slingshot around the other half of the planetary pair and hopefully avoid further complications.

Their hopes in that regard were quickly dashed.

" _Ebon Hawk_ , I've got another Patrol Boat closing in!" Moon called out over the comm.

"I see 'im, _Merriweather_ , you able to burn yet?" Dani asked nervously. She angled her departure to intercept the Alliance vessel before it could close with the other transport.

"Negative, almost there," Captain Moon replied.

Dani threw the thrusters forward, having already warned Keith to prepare for more action. "Gorramit, really wished they'd replenished our countermeasures down there," she growled irritably. _Ruttin' job has been one giant disaster, tired of bein'_ yu xingjiao _(fucked with)..._

She broke off her musing with a yelp as the proximity alarm blared. The Patrol Boat had launched a full spread of missiles, ten of them spiraling their way towards the _Ebon Hawk_. She twitched the yoke, sending them veering to the side.

" _Hun dan gou niang yang de_ (bastard son of a bitch)!" she yelled, pulling their course back around. None of the missiles seemed to track back on them, in fact they all seemed to be heading back...

Directly towards the _Merriweather_.

" _Ta ma de_ (fuck me blind)," Dani breathed, hitting the comm switch again. "Jim! Break off!"

The awkward transport tried to evade but just didn't have enough mobility. The bright flash that marked the end of their existence was visible even from this distance.

She wasn't able to react to the loss, as another set of missiles were headed their way. She slammed the thrusters forward, heading straight towards the Patrol Boat.

"Dani..." Lori said, her voice strained. "Why arya headin' right fer the big angry Alliance ship?"

"Can't use 'is missiles if'n I'm close enuff," she replied absentmindedly. Had to time the approach right, twitch to the side to throw the missiles off... "And the missiles gots an even chance of lockin' onta their ship as they do ours."

She felt the vibration through the hull as Keith opened fire, attempting to detonate the missiles in their path. He managed to pick off a few, and then they were hurtling past them. Dani noted the half-dozen remaining tracked back around and closed in again, but Keith kept up with the fire to detonate three more.

"That's it, I'm out," Keith reported, frustration evident in his voice. There hadn't been any resupply available at all on Zephyr, not just the countermeasures but no ammunition or fuel as well.

They were closing in rapidly on the Patrol Boat but it didn't seem that they would make it in time. The other ship, perhaps sensing what Dani was attempting, had changed course away from them, and it seemed that the missiles might just about catch up before they could get close enough.

Dani opened the intership comm. "Cali, how much more c'n ya give me?"

"I c'n do a quick boost," Cali replied after a second's hesitation. "Won' last too long, an' it's gonna make it that much longer'n we c'n do a full burn!"

"Do it!" she ordered. "I don't lose these missiles, we're not gonna make it ta worry 'bout full burn none!"

Mere seconds passed before there was a surge in power, the thrusters redlining as they strained under the load. Dani exultantly noted they would easily intercept the Patrol Boat now.

"How weird is it I'm happy 'bout getting all close an' personal with an Alliance boat that's gunnin' fer me?" Dani asked rhetorically, eyes glued to her scanner. It was going to be very close...

There was a _bang_ of noise that caused Dani to look up. They were almost upon the Patrol Boat, and it had opened fire with their guns. " _Ta ma de yuangu_ (for fucks sake)," she growled, twisting the controls to send them into a spin. "Fergot 'bout their other guns..."

Alarms started to blare as more hits registered. By the quick glance Dani spared, it looked like their right airfoil was completely gone, as well as the fuel lines from their auxiliary tanks. _That's gonna be problematic._ More worrisome, though, was the atmospheric pressure leaking from the cargo bay.

She didn't have time to worry about that any further as the other ship shot by. Dani gritted her teeth and pulled back on the yoke, coming up inside the wake from the larger vessel. All three missiles looped around, two of them getting a hard lock on the boat that launched them.

A bright detonation registered off of their port bow, and Dani grinned. "There, failsafes kicked in. Automatic detonation when their own missiles lock onta 'em." She peered down at her scanner, was that all of them...?

Her eyes widened at the last remaining missile that was too close to avoid.

She tried to anyways, jerking the yoke sideways, and might have actually succeeded were it not for the proximity fuze. Fifty meters from the stern the missile detonated, the fragments shredding much of the rear of the _Ebon Hawk_.

The entire ship shuddered from the impact and the bridge lights flickered. Dani tried to change course again away from the Patrol Boat, but the controls were completely unresponsive. They were drifting in the Black.

" _Kaasan!_ " Cali's panicked scream came across the comm, faint and scratchy. "Engine room's on fire!"

" _Cao!_ " Dani swore, reaching across the console. "Cali, get yer _pigu_ outa there! Keith, help 'er!"

"On it," Keith barked back.

Dani's hands flew across the board. Most of the ship was now unresponsive, systems were quickly failing one by one, even with the redundancies built into a relatively modern ship's design like the Keppler. She was able to reroute the emergency power and air recyclers over to at least keep them running for awhile, but if she couldn't get the fire under control...

"Dani, we're out!" Keith coughed out hoarsely over the comm.

"Thank Buddha," Lori breathed.

Dani nodded with relief and punched a few more buttons. The engine room was sealed up and she started to purge the atmo from there to snuff out the fire.

Sara walked into the bridge at that point. "We gots Cali an' Keith back in the lounge," she reported. "They're okay, lil' smoky but nothin' major."

"Thanks, _baobei_ ," the lanky captain replied warmly.

"What now?" Lori asked. "We can't run none, c'n we?"

Dani sighed and sat back in her chair, rubbing her eyes wearily. "Nothin' else ta do. Likely th'Alliance will pick us up." She paused, putting her hands back in her lap and cocked her head to the side. "Actually, didn' seem ta be any other ships in th'area, if'n it's just that Patrol Boat..."

Sara grinned, her hands twitching at her sides. "Mebbe we c'n turn the tables on 'em, yeah?"

* * *

 _Ebon Hawk_. Zephyr orbit.

The group of ten Alliance marines looked quite intimidating in their dark purple blast armor as they burst through the airlock and into the upper hold of the blockade runner. The lieutenant in charge has his men lined up and ready to board as soon as their Patrol Boat, the _Darter_ , was able to come alongside and get a good seal.

What they were not expecting, as they fanned out, guns at the ready, was their greeting party.

The small and slender girl looked quite unassuming in her spacer's garb of tan cargo pants, off-white long-sleeved shirt, and athletic shoes. She stood in the middle of the room, twirling one lock of curly brown hair in a finger as she watched them file in, unimpressed.

The lieutenant was at a momentary loss for words, but she grinned at them. "Hi there," she said cheerfully as if they had just dropped by for a social call. "Arya here t'arrest me?"

"Where are the other crew?" the lieutenant barked out.

The little girl waved her hand aimlessly behind here. "Oh, here an' there," she replied airily.

With curt gestures the lieutenant sent his men off in pairs to search the ship, keeping one man behind to guard the portal as well as keep an eye on the harmless-looking girl. He walked past her as she stood with her hands clasped behind her back, humming some sort of tune, and held a hand up to his communicator earpiece.

"Team, report," he ordered.

Before he could receive an answer, he heard a gurgle from behind him. Whirling with his rifle extended, he saw his other soldier lying face-down on the floor with blood leaking in a puddle beneath him. The little girl was nowhere to be seen.

" _Ta ma de diyu_ (fucking hell)," he whispered incredulously.

Suddenly shots rang out from deep inside the ship and garbled reports started to come in from his soldiers of multiple ambushes. He turned back towards the door that his men had gone through but stopped, his rifle completely out of position, as he was faced by a tall, lanky woman with faint scars on her face and a pistol raised to his eye level.

It was the last thing he saw before his world exploded into darkness.

* * *

Alliance Patrol Boat _Darter_. Zephyr orbit.

Dani stood inside the Patrol Boat's airlock. She pushed the bloody corpse of an Alliance naval officer aside with her foot as she waited for the rest of her crew to join her, which they did quickly enough.

"Alright, Keith an' Cali, go secure th'engine room," Dani ordered, her Ares sidearm still out but pointed in a safe direction. "Jess an' Lori, search the bunks an' common areas. I'm gonna go meet up with Sara on the bridge, see if'n she left me anyone ta play with."

"Way that girl goes through targets?" Keith chuckled, slapping a fresh magazine into his assault rifle. "Highly doubtful."

Cali was grinning widely as she set off with her uncle, pulling her little revolver from her panda-head buckled hoster. "Mebbe we'll get ta fight some _hundans_ , yeah,  _jiu jiu_ (uncle, mother's brother)?"

Jess gave a laugh as she and Lori headed down another passageway. "She's entirely too enthusiastic about that," she joked. Her hands were filled with her two Beretta pistols, while Lori was clutching her Browncoat Service Pistol determinedly.

Smiling to herself, Dani headed forward, following the trail of violence. It seemed the crew decided to make a last stand there by the bridge, evidenced by the pile of four bodies she had to step over to enter.

Sara was sitting in the captain's chair, widely grinning and kicking her feet. "Welcome aboard, pilot!"

" _Ni zai jiang shen me pi hua_ (what the fuck are you saying), I've been demoted?" Dani laughed as she looked around. There were a couple more bodies, one obviously that of a senior Alliance officer, stashed off to the side.

"Hey, I captured the ship, I gets ta be the captain!" her _nu'er_ replied cheekily.

Dani laughed as she sat at the pilot's seat. The console was still unlocked, and she checked the ship's status. "Well then, Capt'n Sara, why don'tcha organize th'others ta get alla these dead bodies offa yer ship, yeah?"

"An excellent idea, pilot!" she giggled and hopped down to skip off towards the rear of the ship.

Dani smiled to herself as she scanned the controls in front of her. It was a little different from what she was used to, but should be able to suffice, so long as they got out of the area soon. The scanner showed the immediate area to still be clear, and it didn't seem as if they had the time to get a distress call out.

While she was thinking about it, she got down and crawled under the console, looking for the transponder. She located it but left it be for now. She had the second transponder with her, the one to use for re-entry into Osiris, but changing it now would cause all sorts of alerts within the other ships of the blockade.

Sitting back in her chair, she laced her fingers behind her head and grinned exultantly.

"First a blockade runner, now a pirate. Guess we're expandin' our resume a bit..."

* * *

Osiris. White Sun.

It was the middle of the night on Osiris where Tom was waiting impatiently. He'd worked with Jory and some of his most trusted people to secure a discreet and remote landing platform that was able to be covered and sealed against prying eyes, no mean feat for a Core World. Still, money could make most things move, and the New Resistance seemed to be flush with the stuff lately. Seemed there were finally some high-rollers who decided that now that the Alliance had shown their true colors they would throw their lot in with the Independents.

Finally, he spied the flare of an incoming ship's drive. It was running without any landing lights, which was a gutsy thing for most pilots to do, but hardly even worth worrying about with the woman he knew to be at those controls. Eventually, the ship was close enough to make out the outline of a small warship.

" _Ai ya, huai le_ (shit on my head)," the portly mechanic murmured wonderingly. "She really did it, captured a ruttin' Patrol Boat."

After a few more seconds it had settled onto its landing struts in the exact center of the pad and Tom hit the controls to close the roof overhead. Once the night sky was no longer visible, he hit another switch to turn on the bright spotlights in the cavernous bay, marveling at the sleek and deadly lines of the ship.

He whistled at the six crew members who filed out of the airlock, waving them over. "Yer somethin' else, Dani-girl," he hooted with laughter. "They're gonna be tellin' stories 'bout ya fer years ta come."

"Long as they don' actually use my name," the lanky woman warned him good-naturedly. "I don' mind too much the legend of Angel spreadin', but I don' need more ofa heap o' trouble landin' on my family's heads."

"Don' worry none, Angel," Tom replied merrily, leading them towards the rear of the bay. "It's all on the down-low. Already transferred yer money, came from my office so no way ta get back at the New Resistance none. Yer clean."

"Did the _Favour_ get down okay?" Lori asked worriedly.

"Yep, just today," he said, turning the lights back off and locking the door behind him. Tomorrow a crew from the New Resistance would come over to inspect the ship and see how they might be able to use it. Jory was making sure that only a select few knew about what was being hidden there, cognizant of the likely leak within his organization.

" _Ta ma de diyu_ (fucking hell) yes," Cali groused. "Can't wait ta get back home 'gain."

"Miss the rest of yer family?" Tom inquired.

"Well yeah," Cali replied heatedly, "but really, it's the gorram food! How c'n any of those purplebellies stand those things they call rations? _Dung e hwar_ (yuck/disgusting)!"

* * *

Londinium. White Sun.

Cavendish was at his desk once again, this time pouring over the reports from the recent incidents over Zephyr. He gave an irritated grunt that his subordinate, standing by faithfully, couldn't help but notice.

"Is there something I can do, sir?"

The suited man leaned back in his chair, still eyeing his display. "No, Jarvis, thank you, though. I'm a little disappointed in the results of our anti-blockade activities. We had forewarning of the convoy due to our funding of all the supplies and our inside man on the planning commission, we had all the ships in position... and yet most of them slipped through our fingertips." His eyebrow made an irritated tic. "We lost three ASREVs in the action and had one Patrol Boat captured, yes _captured_ , compared to the destruction of five out of the eleven ships. One of which they detonated themselves after making off with an Alliance Naval Vessel."

His fingers tapped out a dance across his keyboard as he reviewed the findings, but they slowed as a puzzled frown creased his brow. "Now this is interesting..."

Cavendish hit another key and one of the monitors on the wall changed over to show the profile of a Keppler-class transport, upgraded with armor and illegal weaponry. "This ship here, the _Ebon Hawk_ , was the one that captured the _Darter_. But on the flight in, we have recordings of the flight profile..." He trailed off thoughtfully. "Jarvis, what was the location of the _Fortune's Favour_ during this action?"

"Sir," his assistant began, typing in rapid queries onto his handheld. "It would seem... Yes, this transport did a cargo run from Osiris to Bellerophon and back. Landed at their usual berth, a salvage yard, and stayed for a few days of maintenance."

"Was there any overlap with the convoy?"

Jarvis studied the report in front of him. "I'm not entirely sure, sir... It's possible that someone from the _Favour_ might have gotten off on Osiris in time to board the _Ebon Hawk_ , if that's what you're thinking. But we have no idea where the _Darter_ ended up."

"No, that ship is buried away somewhere on the Rim," Cavendish replied dismissively. "And Captain Grant would not have left her ship alone for that long in the untrained hands of her daughter to fly on a trade route."

He gave another thoughtful grunt before clearing the wall monitor and resetting it to show stock quotes from the Cortex. "Well, no matter. Our current endeavor with funding the New Resistance has started to finally bear fruit, and this anti-blockade action is just the start of it. We're beginning to collect enough data to track all of the Browncoats, all of the cells across the 'Verse. Make sure you send a discreet message to my daughter with my congratulations on her team's performance so far."

"Yes, sir." Jarvis hesitated before leaving the office. "What if this transport crew develops ties with the New Resistance? The captain is a former Browncoat, after all."

Cavendish waved his hand dismissively. "She hasn't so far. They are mercenary in their work, yes, but look at their clientele. Many of their routes are within the Core. Both the first officer and cargomaster are former Alliance military members, and hold considerable sway over the good captain." He smiled at his subordinate. "Keith Grant is a war hero, it is fairly obvious that he has impressed upon his sometimes hotheaded sister the need for stability. She's had the opportunity to join up with these rebels before and has declined."

"Sir," Jarvis nodded before turning and exiting the office. He paused outside, tapping a finger against his handheld thoughtfully. _Just because she has not to date, does not mean she won't at a future date..._ He gave himself a shake. With all of the monumental work they had in front of them, restoring the stability of the Alliance while still advancing his superior's goals within the Parliament, the actions of a single tramp freighter captain was of little consequence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title track by Van Halen, a group I grew up listening to and will forever hold near and dear to my musical heart...
> 
> There's likely going to be some concern over how it is Cavendish didn't know about Dani joining up with the convoy. Consider, though, that all they really cared about were the ships themselves and where they would end up. Those high in the upper echelons of power oftentimes have a myopic view regarding the actual people affected, as they play their games and move their assets like pawns. And yes he is grossly misinterpreting both Dani's motivations and Keith's influence, but so do many people instilled with the hubris of almost absolute power tend to misunderstand how the common folk might react. Should make the next, oh, four episodes rather interesting, hmm?
> 
> There are a couple of easter eggs in here, the most obvious being the _Ebon Hawk_. I just love the hell out of the _KotOR_ games... Also, the alleyway scene was directly taken from the Dark Horse comic series _Serenity: Leaves On The Wind_ , first few pages of the first issue. Just imagine Dani and Tom strolling through that tableau.
> 
> Stay shiny!


	73. Episode 59: Workin' For A Livin'

En route to Sho-Je Downs. Kalidasa.

Dani stretched her limbs out with a groan while still sitting in her captain's chair on the bridge. _Need some tea_ , she mused. They were still a day out from their destination of Sho-Je Downs with a cargo of freeze-dried foodstuffs. Not the most profitable of cargos, to be sure, but a reliable one. Plus it put them back out in Kalidasa, familiar territory for the _Favour_ and her crew. She reached over to pause the music she was currently listening to, a lovely and moving tune by an ancient Earth-That-Was artist called Lacuna Coil. Funny name for a group, but the song, _Swamped_ , always moved her for some reason, both relaxing and energizing her at the same time.

"Mebbe we should pop by Aberdeen fer a spell," she wondered out loud as she rose from her chair. It'd been a few months since they were last there, and that occasion was just for a quick layover. _Had ta make with the heroical rescuin'_ , she snickered to herself. It'd be nice to actually pay a decent visit, spend some time there. Might even be able to coincide with her and Lori's anniversary...

Her musings were cut off as she crossed over the threshold of the galley. Scattered about the table there were numerous magazines and adverts, sketches on flimsi paper, and several handheld units. Her initial perusal surmised that most of the material had to do with either ship's systems or guns.

Most remarkable of all, however, were the members gathered around the table. Rain, Feather, Cali, and Sara were clustered in a group, intently conversing over the assembled clutter.

Dani headed over towards the kitchen area and poured herself a fresh cup of tea. "So, ladies," she began as casually as possible. "Just what in the sphincter of hell are y'all doin'?"

Cali glanced up at her, grinning. "We're looking at stickin' a gun on the _Favour_!" She immediately looked back down while the other three women barely reacted to the intrusion.

Dani stopped in her tracks, blinking uncertainly. "Yer gonna... Wait, what?" She could not possibly have heard that correctly.

Rain gave a sigh and leaned back, folding her arms and giving Dani her full attention.

"So there's this buncha laws regulatin' armaments on transports," the pixie-haired brunette began, her eyes sparkling with excitement. "Th' Alliance Armed Craft Laws. Sez ya can't have somethin' firin' bullets'r explosives'r 'lectric charges. Well, we're already illegal with our EMP mines, but it's hidden. So we figgure, we rig somethin' up ta look like a railgun, which is plenty legal. Well," she amended thoughtfully, "mostly legal. It's a grey area."

Feather nodded enthusiastically. "Only it ain't actually a railgun, it'd be the same dimensions as a scrap-metal spittin' 'lectromagtatic gun, but it's really a chaingun, an' ya can't tell the difference none 'less ya take it apart."

"An' we already gots the power," Cali added. "Our girl, she's a model 03-K64, an' it were manufactured as both civilian an' military. Same base power design, same 'lectrical systems, wires an' other bits already there, ready fer us ta tweak some." She paused for breath, looking at the others with a gin. "It'll be shiny as all get out."

"No," Dani shook her head adamantly after having patiently listened to the whole spiel. "No ruttin' way are ya armin' my gorram ship."

All four of the women were now focused on their captain, curious as to her resistance to the idea, and Sara gave a confused frown. "But _Kaasan_ , ya already gots a mine dropper!"

"Mine _launcher_. And no."

At that point Emily strolled in from the rear bunks, stopping when she saw the assembled chaos. "What's the fuss?"

Feather grinned over at the new arrival. "We're plannin' on mountin' a gun on the ship."

"You guys! I want in!" the blonde squealed excitedly. "What c'n I do t'help?"

"Wait, no! We ain't doin' this!" Dani protested. _How in the_ diyu _is this gettin' away from me?_

They had been making enough of a ruckus that Keith had noticed as he passed by. He strolled into the galley in his workout clothes, evidently having just finished up down in the cargo bay. He didn't say a word, just stood next to Dani with his arms crossed and a puzzled expression on his face. Dani turned to her brother in desperation. " _Didi_ , c'n you talk some sense into these folk? They wanna stick a gun on my ship!"

Keith snorted. "Unacceptable."

"Thank you!" Finally, someone was seeing reason.

Keith stepped forward and took his usual seat at the table, picking up one of the gun mags. "How could you possibly think to plan something like this without my input? I'm the only one around here qualified to use shipboard weaponry."

Dani practically screamed in frustration. "Graahhh! No! Gorramit, I'm the ruttin' capt'n here, an' I'm tellin' y'all it ain't gonna happen!"

Lori entered next, a concerned look on her face, and slipped an arm around Dani. "I heard screamin'," she said soothingly. "Hey now, what's gotten ya so riled up, _wo de ai?_ "

Dani turned to her wife pleadingly. " _Bang jiar_ , please, please help me. I'm losing my gorram mind here. Nobody's listenin' to me on this none. I ain't gonna have a ruttin' gun stuck on my ruttin' ship!"

Lori looked over the assembled crew, now back to pouring over the plans, and fought to conceal a smile. "Y'know... an' I don' want ya to think I'm takin' their side or nothin'... but havin' some sorta weapon woulda helped 'round Hera coupla months ago, wouldn' it?"

The lanky brunette wordlessly bestowed upon her a glare in reply. Lori smiled back innocently. "I'm just sayin'."

With that, Dani carefully placed her now-cold cup of tea on the table, turned, and stormed off towards her bunk, grumbling curses under her breath.

Lori leaned in and whispered to the rest of crew gathered there. "I'll work on 'er. Y'all get a gorram good plan t'gether right quick, y'hear?"

Tapping a speculative finger on the table, Keith gave a slow smirk. "I remember reading about the Firefly III's they converted into gunboats during the War. They had a weapons station across from the navigator's station. I wonder if the hookups are still there? Even though this is a transport, it should still have the same structure for them to have modified it as such..."

He broke off as Dani stomped back down the hallway in her exercise gear, stopping with a huff just outside the galley. "I'm gonna wail on the punchin' bag fer a few," she announced grimly.

Lori smiled and walked over towards her. "I'll come with ya, beautiful."

After the two of them had left, Keith leaned over, a conspiratorial look on his face, and whispered unnecessarily for effect. "Cali, Rain. Go."

Giggling, the two siblings scurried off to the bridge but quickly returned within only a few minutes. "It'll take some work, an' movin' of a coupla lockers, but we c'n fit it in there!" Cali grinned.

Rain picked up her handheld. "Let's get plannin'!"

Down in the cargo hold, Dani was giving the punching bag a fierce workout. Lori had initially offered to hold the bag for her, but when she realized the violence with which her wife was pummeling the inanimate object today, she wisely decided to instead watch from a perch atop a nearby crate.

The redhead observed her lover as she spun and delivered a high kick that likely would have decapitated a man, and then whirl back around to give a rapid combo of elbows and fists. She was in rare form today, and truth be told, Lori thought she was pretty gorram hot. But right now she was a little more concerned with Dani's reaction upstairs, and giving it further thought, couldn't quite understand the reason behind it.

"Hey, _wo de ai_ , c'n I ask ya somethin'?" she interjected when Dani paused to take a breath.

The lanky captain dropped her arms and turned towards her wife. The beautiful redhead had such a look of loving concern on her face that it melted her heart and her anger away.

Dani gave a sigh and walked over to drop to the deck grating, leaning back against the crate Lori was sitting on. "Yeah, go 'head, _lian ren_. Promise not ta bite yer head off."

Running her hands through the damp brown hair of her best friend and _zhi yin_ (soulmate), Lori smirked a little bit. _I c'n think ofa few things I'd like 'er ta bite._ She shook her head, mildly irritated with herself. _Gorram hormones. Behave, save it fer later._

"So, I don' want ya ta get upset, but I'm a lil' worried," she began hesitantly. "I figure ya might resist the idea 'bout armin' the _Favour_ , but you got pretty... well, _angry_ up there. An' I'm watchin' ya burn off yer anger down here, but I'm not understanin' the why of it, ya know?"

Dani let out another sigh, bringing one hand up to interlace her fingers with her wife's. "I just..."

Leaning forward and planting a kiss on her forehead, Lori smiled down into her favorite bright green orbs. "You c'n talk ta me, hon."

 _Those warm brown eyes of 'ers, they just get me ev'ry time_ , Dani thought wryly. "Okay, so this's gonna sound, I dunno, odd mebbe." She looked back down, staring off into nothing but seeing more than she wanted to in her mind's eye. "I was always pretty gorram proud of flyin' unarmed ships in the war. I weren't a fighter pilot, nor a gunboat pilot... but I did plenty good.

"Every time I went up inna air I knew I was riskin' my life, an' those on board. Took a lotta skill t'evade the purplebellies in the sky an' their groundfire. Learned fast enuff, wasn't all just natural talent, yeah? Woulda made my life easier if'n I could fight back, sure, but that weren't why I was up there." The former Browncoat pilot gave a soft smile. "I was savin' lives, not endin' them."

She leaned her head back, resting it against Lori's knee and closed her eyes. "Puttin' a gun onna ship where it ain't called fer is like walkin' inta saloon wavin' yer pistol 'bout. It's just bound ta cause problems, attracts it, yeah? I get doin' it fer special-like boats, like the Keppler we flew, that was nice fer a change. But on our home?" She shook her head wearily. "I can't put our family in danger like that none."

Lori gave a small sound of understanding, releasing her wife's hand to resume the stroking of her head. Dani almost started to purr in contentment.

"What was it you told Sara, ta get 'er ta start carryin' a gun?" Lori finally inquired.

Dani grunted in annoyance as her purring ceased. "Told 'er that even havin' a gun on 'er c'n stop most fights 'fore they start. It's a deterrent." She sighed irritably. "Ain't the same thing."

"S'true," Lori conceded. "Still, tha's fer a gun right out inna open, yeah? Not like she's wavin' it 'bout, lookin' fer trouble. It's just... there. Sittin' at 'er side, an' she hardly ever pulls it out none. But how many fellers look at 'er, thinkin', oh there's a cute lil' harmless thing, but then they see the gun an' decide ta leave 'er alone?"

"Any _hundan_ who tries to take on that harmless lil' thing would have a tough time chewin' on what they bit off," Dani laughed, opening her eyes back up.

"'Gain, true enuff," Lori replied, smiling. "Kinda like the whole crew, yeah? We always hold our own, no matter what we go up 'gainst. An' ain't we oftentimes underestimated?"

"Riiight," Dani drawled out uncertainly before she let out another sigh. "I see where yer goin' here."

"Alls I'm thinkin' is, it'd be a nice deterrent ta have 'long," Lori said softly, never ceasing in her strokes. Her fingers were now running through her wife's full-bodied hair, pulling it into wavy lines. "Not like we're goin' out inta the Black, sayin' lookit us, we're totin' a big ole gun. Right?"

"Right," Dani said again. She reached up to grab Lori's hand and pulled her down into her lap. "How come you got so wise on me?"

"Well, I married you," the redhead giggled. "Hadta do somethin' smart, right there."

Dani looked searchingly into her eyes, running her thumb along a freckled cheek. "I love you, _zhi'ai_ (most beloved)," she whispered.

"Love you right back, _lian ren_ ," Lori murmured as she leaned in to seal her lips against Dani's. They sat like that for some time, neither one minding the fact that they were collectively now a sweaty mess, and that they were sitting on the cold, hard deck and against an equally hard crate.

Nothing in the 'Verse mattered in the least, except for that moment in time, and they enjoyed it to the fullest.

By the time dinner rolled around, the table was once again cleared, though all of the crew gathered were buzzing with talk about arming the _Favour_. The conversation ceased as Dani and Lori walked in, freshly showered and in much better humor after having shared said shower.

Dani stopped at the head of the table and crossed her arms, looking sternly around. "I wanna see a full writeup 'fore you try boltin' anythin' on my boat," she stated firmly. "An' ya best gimme a rundown on all what's required fer parts, so's I c'n see how much coin this's gonna set us back."

Wisely, none of the crew gave her any hard time as she resumed her seat, but the conversation picked back up again, even more excitedly than before if that were possible.

"Gettin' soft in my old age," she muttered under her breath.

Lori leaned over, her light brown eyes sparkling. "You didn' seem old none earlier," she whispered huskily, giving her earlobe a little nibble.

Dani made a soft squeak of noise but graced her wife with a wide grin when she leaned back, smiling like a freckled cat who got into the milk.

 _Mebbe not so old_ , she amended to herself.

* * *

Ta'lab. Moon of gas giant Djinn's Bane. Kalidasa.

After having dropped their cargo off on Sho-Je Downs, Jess tried unsuccessfully to find another cargo run within Kalidasa. Though none turned up, she did get wind of a group of colonists out on a moon nearby who needed help, badly.

The town of Woodspring, though apparently not near any woods nor any noticeable water, had been the subject of numerous Reaver attacks. What caught Jess's eye, and Dani's as well once she reviewed it, was that these Reavers didn't seem to behave like normal. From the given reports, they only seemed to kill when they had to, and they seemed to operate with some kind of rank and file, very unlike any Reavers anyone in the 'Verse had ever run across.

Their curiosity piqued, the crew of the _Fortune's Favour_ headed towards the gas giant of Djinn's Bane and one of its tiny little moons called Ta'lab to see what they could discern.

And so it was, less than an hour from setting down, that the ground team found themselves arrayed inside a tiny pub, meeting with the town elders.

"So these Reavers," Keith was inquiring skeptically, "they just appear out of nowhere, rob a house or two, and then disappear again?"

The local sheriff, a man by the name of Barnes, first or last was unknown but that was the only name given, nodded wearily. "S'right. No ship or nothin' that we c'n see. They cart off alla they c'n carry an' hightail it back out 'gain. Only one we ever get a good look at is the leader."

"Right, this 'half-breed' that you say leads them," Jess commented. "She's the one who has done the killing, what little there has been?"

"Tha's right," Sheriff Barnes confirmed. "Vicious as they come. Any folk dumb enuff ta stand up to 'em, they get themselves kilt. Plumb lucky I ain't been around any time they hit a place, or I'd likely be dead myself."

"Lucky," Keith nodded, though his tone wasn't one of complete agreement. "And you already went to the local Alliance garrison."

"Gorram waste of air," spat out one of the older folk there, man by the name of Rick Gentry. There wasn't any sort of mayor or council in this widely spaced out mining community, just a collection of elders who mediated disputes and the like. "They ain't ever set foot in this here town, an' are too lazy ta ever do so."

"C'n y'all help us out?" Barnes asked humbly. "We wanna make a stand, but ain't enuff guns around here, much less hands ta use 'em, an' ain't nobody able to go up 'gainst that devil-woman."

Keith glanced around at the others on the team, and as they seemed willing he gave the Sheriff a nod. "We'll need to see the last place they hit, and a map with all the locations they've attacked marked out by date."

"I'll get ya the latter 'fore the hour's out," the Sheriff confirmed. "Roy here c'n show ya the Parkinson's place that got hit last."

The five crew members filed out after agreeing on the bounty, which specified dead if at all possible, and walked wordlessly with the young deputy Roy. He left them standing in front of a ransacked homestead just on the edge of town and left without a word.

"That kid looked hardly old enuff ta know howta use that gun," Lori murmured.

"Pretty sure he ain't ever used it none," Sara commented nonchalantly as she walked around the house, examining the dirt. "T'was awful shiny in that new-lookin' holster of 'is."

"Good eye," Keith replied with a smirk as he stood back from the others, eyes roaming about. "Waiting to see if it's good enough to pick up on what I'm suspecting we'll find here."

"Gorram know-it-all," Dani grumbled as she poked her nose through a gaping hole in the wall. "Don' s'pose yer gonna clue us in?"

"Nope," Keith said, widening his smirk.

Dani edged her way through the hole. " _Si pi yan_ (damned asshole)," she muttered.

Sara, however, had stopped in her tracks, staring at her feet. " _Ching-wah tsao duh liou mahng_ (frog-humping son of a bitch)," she said wonderingly, looking up at Keith.

The burly ex-Spec Forces trooper strode over and crouched to squint at what Sara had discovered. "Yep, that's it alright."

The others gathered around, taking a bit longer to comprehend what they were seeing, but had the approximate same reaction.

"Those _liou coe shway duh biao-tze huh hoe-tze duh ur-tze_ (stupid son of a drooling whore and a monkey)," Dani murmured. "So now what?"

"We head back," Keith replied, standing back up and brushing off his legs. "Take a look at the map and figure out the pattern. We wait for them to hit next, and when they do..."

"Surprise," Sara giggled darkly.

* * *

Ferrel Homestead. Ta'lab.

Late that evening, the people of Woodspring were tucked into their beds after another long day working in the mines or fields or wherever honest men and women labored to put food on their tables. A silence settled across the community like a soft blanket, no livestock or wild fauna on the moon to disturb it. With the lights all out, the stars sprinkled the sky like glittering diamonds. Just over the horizon lurked the gas giant of Djinn's Bane, which within a few hours would rise over the distant hills like an enormous multicolored sunrise. For now, however, the darkness held firm and coated every surface, faint shadows cast only by the twinkling starlight overhead.

The soft sounds of creeping footsteps soon intruded into the quiet night. In near silence, dark forms flitted through the outer buildings of the Ferrel family's homestead, darting from shadow to shadow. There were ten of them, spread out and assuming a standard combat formation, save for one slim form who stood apart with her arms crossed and looking around for any signs of trouble. Finally satisfied that all was as it should be, she gave a curt nod.

Quickly the side door was slammed open and three of the figures slipped inside, weapons out and ready. They quickly searched the house as the others stood guard outside, starting up on the top floor, only to find the bedrooms empty. Moving back down, they covered each other as they glided through the kitchen and dining room, moving into the large family gathering room. The house was eerily quiet, with no sign of occupation... until a table lamp clicked on, bathing them in dim light.

A small girl with curly brown hair stood by the lamp, grinning widely. "Hi there!" she said cheerily.

Outside, the other figures were immediately alerted by the screams from inside. The solitary figure gestured for another two to move in, but they barely made it to the doorway before each silhouette's head exploded. The faint sound of a rifle's dual report echoed across the distant hills.

The remaining four figures sprang into motion, two heading towards each side of the house, seeking cover from the sniper, while the leader started to run back the way they came. She was brought up short by a shotgun blast that took her in the shoulder and upper chest, flinging her about in a circle until she landed in the dirt, blood rapidly leaking out to form a dark red pool of mud beneath her.

The pair of raiders heading towards the front of the house rounded the corner only to be greeted by a large figure cradling an assault rifle. The last thing they saw was the wink he gave them before their world exploded into fragments.

Around the rear of the house, the other two fared little better, having run into a beautiful yet deadly raven-haired woman with an assault rifle of her own tucked into her shoulder. Bullets stitched through their torsos, and each slumped to the ground, breathing their last.

"One, clear. Report," Keith murmured over the comm.

"Four, house is clear," Sara responded immediately. She crouched down over the bloody corpses to wipe her shivs off. _Sorry 'bout the carpetin', folks_ , she grinned to herself.

"Three, back yard clear," Jess replied, toeing the pair of corpses at her feet, making sure they were quite dead.

"Five, scope is clear," Lori said next, scanning the area with her starlight-enhancing scope. "An' might I just say, I'm lovin' the new scope. Thanks fer th' early anniversary gift, beautiful."

"My pleasure, _wo de ai_ ," Dani replied, standing over the fallen leader with her shotgun still trained on her. "Two, clear, got a live one."

Keith, Jess, and Sara joined Dani at the side of the house while Lori started up the Mule to retrieve them. The woman on the ground lay gasping painfully. Keith crouched down to pull out her gun and knives and toss them aside. Though her features were scrunched up in pain, they could tell from the dim light that she had a wild, bestial look about her, ragged and feral.

"How..." the woman started. "How... did... you..."

"How'd we know where y'all'd hit next?" Dani finished for her, lowering her shotgun. "T'weren't that hard ta figgure out. Y'all made a pretty lil' pattern, pickin' on the colonists. If'n yer askin' how we managed ta kill yer buddies, well..."

Keith smirked as he leaned in further. "Really should have thought to get your corrupt Alliance soldiers to change boots. It was a dead giveaway, so we expected the bodyarmor. Lucky for us, we had plenty of Armor Piercing ammo left."

" _Go... tsao... de..._ (dog fucking)," the woman choked out bitterly before gasping in pain, unable to finish her curse.

Keith sat back on his heels and looked at her intently. "Bad luck for you, though," he mused.

She looked like she might have had a response to that, but it was left unsaid as her last breath gurgled in her chest and her head rolled to the side, sinking into the bloody mud.

"Well, time ta get paid an' get offa this rock," Dani said, clicking on her shotguns safety and slinging it over her shoulder. She turned as the lights of the Mule washed over the group and Lori pulled up alongside them.

"Y'all need a ride somewhere?" Lori inquired cheekily.

"Only if'n yer comin' home with me," Dani grinned, climbing into the seat next to her.

Sara jumped nimbly up to plop herself next to Dani by the door. "So, _Kaasan_ , where to next?"

Jess climbed into the back right after her husband. "Haven't found any sort of cargo off of here, it's kind of a dead-end for shipping."

"No worries, hon," the lanky captain replied in good humor as Lori started off towards the town center. The Sheriff and elders, along with the Ferrel family, were waiting at the tiny pub for reports of their success. "I figure we head on over ta Beaumonde, take 'bout a week ta get there, an' do a lil' shoppin', pick ourselves up a cargo there. Preferably one t' Aberdeen."

"Oh, yeah?" her freckled wife inquired, eyes sparkling. "Plannin' on spendin' some time with the family?"

"That's the plan," Dani replied with a grin, leaning back and clasping her hands behind her head contentedly. "I figgure we're due fer some R an' R, don' y'all?"

* * *

Outbound from Ta'lab.

Dani sat at her usual seat on the bridge, looking over the plans that Rain had handed to her on her own handheld. She stirred, shifting position to curl one leg under her as she chewed on her bottom lip, wholly absorbed in her reading.

Lori sat behind her, reading over her shoulder from the nav seat. She glanced up at Rain, who was observing them apprehensively and gave her a wink of support.

Finally, Dani sighed and handed the unit behind her to the _Favour_ 's co-owner so that she could look it over closer. "Well, _baobei_ , it's quite the writeup."

"Soooo..." Rain drawled nervously. "Whatcha think?" The others had appointed her their spokesperson, seeing as how she could relate to her _Kaasan_ on a piloting level to convey how exactly they could pull it off. Any further convincing seemed to be unnecessary, however, as Dani gave her _nu'er_ a wide smile.

"I think it's _niubi_ (fucking awesome)," she stated warmly. "Lemme talk ta Tom 'bout it, 'kay? See what he thinks an' if'n it's feasible with what he c'n scrounge up fer us. Some of it we're gonna hafta get from other sources..."

"Like Mikki an' Dev?" Rain asked, her eyes sparkling with excitement.

"Likely, yeah," Dani grinned. "An' yes, both you an' Feather c'n come along if'n y'all wanna."

"Feather sez she's more excited'n a dog inna hubcap factory." Rain paused, eyebrows furrowed. "Though I ain't gots a clue what she means by that, an' she ain't tellin' me none."

Chuckling, Dani turned towards the Cortex unit on her console, pulling up the contact info for her former Browncoat mechanic. "Not sure I rightly understand neither, _baobei_ , but I get 'er meanin' just fine."

After a minute or two, the connection was established and Tom's flushed face appeared. He was out of breath and sweating profusely.

"Um, hey there Tom," Dani began, trying to smother her grin. "I catch ya at a bad time?"

"Dani-girl!" he replied cheerily. "Naw, just doin' inventory, gotta crawl up inta places no man my size should ever try ta fit, y'know?"

The lanky captain chuckled good-naturedly. "I s'pose I follow ya. So, I gots somethin' I wanted ta float by ya, if'n ya have a minute."

"For you, girl? Always!" Tom said, settling back and wiping his broad face with a rag. "What c'n I do ya fer?"

Dani talked to Tom for a good ten minutes, transmitting the plans during the conversation. The burly mechanic listened closely, nodding along and examining the writeup. "C'n ya make somethin' like this happen?" Dani finally asked curiously, unable to judge Tom's reaction so far.

Tom was quiet for a few heartbeats, then peered intently into the camera. "Angel- Er, sorry, Dani, this is... _Ta ma de_. Who came up with this?"

Dani grinned proudly despite herself. "My girls, originally. Rest of the crew had a hand."

Tom shook his head wonderingly. "Listen', if'n you lemme take these plans an' distribute 'em some, leavin' credit to y'all, or just fer Angel an' 'er crew if'n y'all wanna keep it on the down-low still, I think I c'n finagle most of what ya need an' get it installed here at my shop. Gimme a month to get stuff t'gether, an' I'll let ya know 'head of time what I ain't gonna get my hands on. Mebbe a couple days ta figgure that bit out."

"How much, Tom?" she pressed.

"If'n ya lemme use the plans elsewhere, within the New Resistance?" Tom gave her a broad smile. "Free."

Dani blinked a few times as his last word registered within her brainpan. " _Wo cao_."

* * *

Beaumonde. Kalidasa system.

A week later saw the _Fortune's Favour_ touch down at the familiar sprawling mass of humanity called Central Docking on Beaumonde. It was early evening local time, and while Keith and Jess stayed behind to handle the loading of their cargo of machine parts and mining equipment bound for Aberdeen, the rest of the crew were disembarked in short order.

As usual, there was a bustle of activity around the busy city that made up Central Docking. People from every walk of life and culture, from the desperately poor to the extravagantly wealthy, were hawking wares and bartering over goods. Neon lights and banners reflected from the storefronts and visors of passerbys. Rain walked in between Dani and Feather, her shoulders hunched inwards, valiantly trying to ignore the itch in the back of her head from all the voices and images assaulting her mental shields.

"I still can't believe none that Cali went with the rest of 'em ta go clubbin'," Feather laughed.

"Well, likely she's not gonna partake of any extra activity like Kelly an' Em might," Dani smirked. "But yeah, Lori's gonna have 'er hands full keepin' tabs on 'er once she gets 'erself caffeinated an' inna mood ta dance."

Rain let out a soft snort of laughter despite her sour mood. "I'd pay good coin ta see a vid of that."

"Well, hope they all keep in mind we're liftin' early in the mornin', even if'n they sleep through it," Dani grumbled.

"I think they got it after the fourth time ya 'minded 'em," her _nu'er_ snarked, earning a light smack on her arm.

It took the trio perhaps ten minutes of walking to reach the deserted-looking warehouse. If anything it looked even more desolate in the dim lighting that seemed to create more shadows than illuminate the area. Feather watched, silent and wide-eyed as they went through the process of gaining entry while holding on to Rain's hand. She did not, however, react when the screen descended down.

"No fair warnin' 'er in yer brain," Dani murmured out of the corner of her mouth. Rain just looked back at her innocently, which the lanky captain didn't buy for a second.

"Well, well, well," mused the visage on the screen in front of them. "Captain Danielle muthafuckin' Grant. If it isn't our once frequent customer, back from the dead."

"Oh, don' go bein' like that, Mikki," Dani snarked back, grinning widely. "We all missed ya so much, we saved up our money ta spend on just y'all." She looked over his new hairstyle, a short spiked style dyed a brilliant yellow. "An' it was worth the wait, yer lookin' like a million creds there, hon. Ya gonna leave a lady waitin' out here?"

"Bitch, you're no lady, you're far too badass for that," Mikki grinned back, his humor restored. "Dev has been moping about, inconsolable without your company. First, though, I see we have a new kitten in our parlor." He looked the auburn-haired crew member over with a critical eye. "So, poppet, who might you be, hmm? Scanners say Feather O'Donnel of Aberdeen, niece of your lovely wife, am I right darling?"

"Got it in one, babe," Dani laughed. "My assistant mechanic an' this one's girlfriend."

"Girlfriend?" Mikki exclaimed. "Oh, now we have got to get the new fish in here, this is just too fun. You know the drill girls, drop your goodies and then come on in."

The panel to the left opened up and the three women proceeded to place their weapons inside. Feather was looking worriedly at Rain, evidently communicating volumes mentally, and Rain was doing her best to soothe away her concerns.

"It's alright, _baobei_ ," Dani reassured her as they entered the elevator.

"I'm just worried I'm gonna say somethin' wrong an' just, I dunno, come off as a _xiang ba lao_ ([derogatory] hick/bumpkin)," Feather whispered.

"An' I keep tellin' her not ta worry none," Rain sighed. "She ain't listenin' ta me."

"Okay, _mi you ling_ (listen closely)," Dani said softly, looking Feather in the eyes. "They give you sass, you sass 'em right back, an' you'll do just fine. 'Kay?"

Feather nodded nervously. "'Kay."

The elevator doors opened, and Feather stopped two steps inside the cavernous warehouse space, her mouth gaping open in wonder at the assembled weaponry and accessories.

"It's gotta be seen ta be believed," Rain snickered.

"What wuz it that Lori called it?" Dani mused. "Oh yeah, a great big toystore fer killin' folk."

"Still need to get that on our business cards," a cheerful voice sounded from just to their right. The three turned to see Dev stride over from one of the many workbenches lining the wall, his long flowing hair dyed an identical shade of eye-searing yellow as Mikki's.

" _Ai ya, huai le_ (shit on my head), your hair matches!" Dani squealed in a very un-captainy manner as she ran over to give the arms dealer a hug. "You are both adorable!"

"Girlfriend, you're the only one who'd ever get away with calling us that," Dev snarked as he returned the hug enthusiastically before holding her back. "Look at you, still goddamn sexy as ever!"

"Oh, stop," Dani snickered. "You know full well I ain't yer type."

"Bitch, if you're ever his type, I'm joining a monastery," Mikki laughed as he joined the group. Dani turned to take in both of their outfits, which were flamboyant as always. Mikki had tight green shorts on, revealing his long but muscular legs, and an equally tight pink tee shirt. Dev, however, was dressed to kill with tuxedo pants and a ruffled white shirt, offsetting his mocha-colored skin nicely and left open down to his navel.

"Well, good thing then, 'cause you in a monastery? I fear fer the virtue of alla them lil' boys," Dani laughed, giving Mikki a hug as well.

"Now, you two," Dev said speculatively, tapping a manicured nail against his chin and eyeing the pair of crew members Dani had brought along. "I like what you're working here. Very butch, Rain, and Feather? You rock that femme look. Bitch, you look to be more than your girlfriend could handle."

"Bitch, I'm more'n most women could handle," Feather snarked back. "Men I just chew up an' leave fer the wolves."

Both Mikki and Dev howled with laughter, while Rain stared at her girlfriend like she just sprouted another head.

"Girl, I like your style," Mikki chortled, taking Feather by the arm. "Come on over and chill on our couch."

"Long as yer not gettin' overly fresh," Feather commented wryly. "Would hate ta get messy."

"You want to talk mess?" Mikki was heard to giggle as they walked towards the rear of the cavernous space. "You should have seen the state Dev left his last hairdresser in..."

"He had it coming!" Dev called out in their direction as he followed at a distance. "Man had no business ever holding a comb!"

Rain closed her mouth finally, looking away from where Feather was walking like she'd known Mikki all her life. " _Kaasan_ , I'mma lil' scared."

Dani laughed, pulling her along. "Well, _baobei_ , alls she did was take our advice ta heart."

"Yeah," Rain protested quietly. "But she's doin' it so _well_!"

They reached the couch where Feather was perched, her eyes bright with amusement, as Mikki and Dev sat in their usual lime-green egg-shaped chairs and recounted a humorous tale of a bondage orgy gone wrong. Dani tried not to think overly much about the mechanics of it all, while Rain was grimacing in distaste, evidently picking up on Feather's reaction whether she wanted to or not.

"And then he said, wait not there!" Mikki howled finally, clutching his sides in laughter.

"But it was too late!" Dev snickered. "And there was no decent way to get it out!"

"I c'n think ofa few ways," Feather retorted. "But none of 'em would keep 'im out ofa hospital!"

"Oh, he went to the hospital alright," Mikki giggled wickedly.

"No, you didn'..." Feather said with a horrified laugh.

"Oh, yes," Dev said, his face the picture of innocence. "Just planted my feet and pulled! And he thanked me afterwards, as they carted his sorry ass off in a stretcher!"

"Sorry ass is right," Feather exclaimed. "Mine's puckerin' just ta think onnit!" She glanced over and gave Rain a wicked smile.

Rain growled slightly in response. "She's havin' entirely too much fun with this," she murmured to Dani, who just snorted in reply.

"So, girlfriend," Dev said, finally turning to Dani. "While we love the visit, I'm sure you have a list of goodies you want. Dish."

Dani grinned. "Well, definitely none of whatever went up that poor man's _pigu_ ," she started, to the groaning of Rain but the snickering of the rest, "but we do need a restock of our AP ammo. Mebbe a crate of each caliber, y'all know what we gots. This time lemme add in a crate of twelve-gauge AP slugs if'n ya gots 'em. Also throw in 'nother crate of the caseless nine-mil fer the Nova pistols, gettin' low on those."

"A crate each?" Mikki exclaimed, his elegant eyebrows rising in surprise.

"You expecting trouble?" Dev inquired, tapping his foot against his chair.

"We're always 'xpectin' trouble," Dani replied a bit cagily, "but it seems ta be nippin' at our heels lately. Better prepared than not, yeah?"

"Fair enough," Mikki replied, tapping a few keys on the keyboard embedded in the arm of his chair. "We've got all that in stock. What other toys you want?"

"Well..." Dani began hesitantly. "Is there any way we could get a set of transponders, set fer medium-class transports?"

Dev barked out a laugh. "Transponders now? Going pirate on us?"

Dani shook her head, smiling. "Nah, been there, done that an' all, we just wanna be able ta disappear if'n we gots the need ta do so."

Rain glanced over at her, but she wasn't the only one to catch her slip.

"Been there, done that," Mikki repeated musingly with a speculative gleam in his eye. "You know, there are these rumors I keep hearing, about a certain Alliance Patrol Boat that got hijacked during a blockade right here in the Kalidasa system. You wouldn't know about anything like that, would you girlfriend?"

Dani just smiled, her eyes revealing nothing. "Not a thing. Sounds like a pretty gorram _feng li_ crew ta me, pullin' somethin' like that off."

"Mmhmm," Mikki replied, obviously not buying it. "Girl, you best be watching your ass out there."

"Trust me, Lori does that just fine," Feather replied. "Constantly. Like, not even trying to be subtle about it."

Rain snorted out a laugh as Dev chortled, "Hard to blame her, fine ass like that."

"True, it has a certain firm athletic bounce to it, doesn't it," Mikki mused, the corners of his mouth tugging upwards.

"Lori does go on an' on 'bout it," Feather interjected, her eyes twinkling.

Dani looked around at them indignantly. "Gah, okay, c'n we stop with the talkin' 'bout my ass now, please?"

By this point Rain had fallen off the couch she was laughing so hard, and the others joined in enthusiastically. Dani just chuckled and shook her head ruefully.

Mikki finally regained control of himself, wiping the tears from his eyes and smearing his mascara. "So, sweetheart," he finally chuckled, "transponders we can do. Pricey, but I can program them as you like. All set for your ship, Firefly III, right?"

Dani nodded in affirmation. "C'n we get mebbe a half dozen? You c'n pick the names, just don't go namin' 'em like ya do yer own."

"Bitch, please, we're professionals," Dev protested, flipping his dyed hair behind his shoulder.

"And just because you're our favorite customer, we'll throw the programming in for free," Mikki added. "How are you doing for EMP mines? I've kept a couple extras in stock."

"Yer such a sweetie," Dani smiled. "Yeah, need one of them ta restock, thanks. And then, finally," she sighed, pulling out a piece of flimsi, "we need alla this."

Mikki took the paper from her, glancing it over. His eyes widened slightly, and then he passed it over to Dev, looking the three girls over speculatively.

"Well," Dev finally said. "Nothing here too expensive, just a little hard to come by, except for the ammunition you want." He looked up at Dani. "Armor piercing incendiary shells? You building a tank?"

"No, hon," Dani replied quietly, her earlier reservations gone for the most part. "We're armin' the _Favour_. Lil' design these girls came up with, 'long with others on my crew."

Mikki and Dev shared a glance before they both sat back and crossed their legs simultaneously. "Now, listen here girl," Mikki began earnestly. "I've seen the plans you're talking about, they came to us from this New Resistance movement that's all the rage lately. Are you involved with them?"

Dani shook her head. "Only peripheral-like. The mechanic who's hookin' us up with the refit, he's got some connections with 'em, but I ain't a part."

"No?" Dev inquired quietly.

Slightly worried by their reaction, Dani shook her head again. "Swear ta Buddha, guys, I ain't a parta them folks."

The pair exchanged a glance again and gave each other a nod. "Alright then," Mikki finally said. "They're bad news, girl, I'm telling you now. Stay clear of them, unless you want to get dragged down into the same shithole they're bound for."

Dani blinked her eyes uncertainly. "Yeah, sure," she replied cautiously.

Dev clapped his hands together, suddenly all cheerful business again. "So, we can get this all out to your ship by early morning, say eight local time?"

"Perfect," Dani said. "What's the tab fer alla this?"

The final bill was considerable but as the entire crew was pitching in for the gun mounting to cover the costs, it was certainly doable. Rain ended up also purchasing a butterfly knife similar to the ones she and Sara and Cali had, as Feather had expressed an interest, and Dani added in a few sets of throwing knives for general use by the ground team as well as a mixed box of micro-grenades.

While the rest of their visit went pleasantly enough, Dani couldn't get the reaction of the flamboyant pair out her head regarding Jory's group. Were they headed towards a disaster that Mikki and Dev knew about? Or were they just giving cautious advice?

On their way back to the ship, Rain voiced her own concerns. " _Kaasan_ , what did they mean 'bout those New Resistance folks?"

"I don' rightly know, _baobei,_ " she replied. _What do they know that we don't?_

* * *

 _Fortune's Favour_. Outbound from Beaumonde.

"So we were there fer mebbe ten minutes when some _hundan_ (bastard) comes up an' gets in lil' Cali's face," Emily was recounting. The entire crew was gathered around the table over lunch, finally able to regale those who hadn't been there with the previous night's events. Dani, Rain, and Feather had finished with their storytelling, and Feather was on the receiving end of many a congratulatory high-five. "An' then this _chwen_ (dumbass), he goes, you old enuff ta drink _ni zi_ (little girl)?"

"Gorram good thing I wuz gettin' drinks, or I woulda shiv'ed 'im right there on principle," Sara snorted.

"An' then Cali goes, _piyan_ (asshole) I c'n drink ya under any table ya want," Emily continued, her eyes gleaming with humor.

" _Baobei!_ " Dani exclaimed. "What were ya thinkin', peanut?"

"Didn' like the way he was lookin' at me none," Cali retorted defensively. "An' he looked drunk already, so I figgured he'd go down easy."

"But _meimei_ , ya ain't never really had a drink 'fore!" Rain said worriedly. "None that ya could stand, leastways!"

"Yeah, s'true, but then I found out 'bout this lil' drink they gots there called _Níngmeng Shui_ (lit. Lemonade)," Cali grinned. "Saw it listed and wanted ta give it a try, and this _bendan_ (idiot) was willin' ta buy fer me."

"You entered a drinking contest to get free drinks?" Jess asked incredulously.

Keith leaned back with a smirk. "Pretty ingenious, actually."

"I know, right?" Cali said, returning the smirk.

"So Cali gets up there, tumblers fulla this potent lemonade-like alcohol, an' she starts tossin' 'em back like she's been doin' it her whole life," Emily continued with relish. "The _chwen_ keeps up with 'er, two bottles they go through, till he falls over, passed out. An' what does our lil' Cali do next, not missin' a beat?"

Cali leaned back proudly with her hands behind her head. "I went dancin'."

"She done tore up the place," Sara affirmed. "Never saw nuthin' like it 'fore. Like a dancin' _lan ren_ (loon) out there."

"Aw, _yao wo_ (bite me)," Cali giggled. "I wuz havin' fun."

"Leastways she was, 'til 'nother guy tried ta pick 'er up," Lori snickered.

Cali's face quickly turned into a scowl. " _Fay fay duh pee-yen_ (baboon's asshole) wouldn't take no fer an answer none."

"And that," Kelly interjected dramatically, "is when the riot started."

"Um, riot?" Dani queried. " _Ni zai jiang shen me pi hua_ (what the fuck are you saying)?"

"Weren't as bad as all that," Cali grumbled, blushing. "Just an honest bar fight."

"With an entire nightclub," Kelly grinned.

"An' the staff," Emily added.

"Oh, an' then there were the two _lan rens_ (loons) that decided ta fight fer 'er honor, or some such," Lori giggled.

"An' then," Sara joined in, "she decided _jian gui_ (to hell with it) an' broke both their noses."

Cali was blushing furiously at this point, her head down and panda hat pulled over her eyes. Keith, Jess, Rain, and Feather were staring at her open-mouthed, while Dani calmly got up from her chair to walk over to her youngest _nu'er_. The others stopped their ribbing to look at their captain askance.

" _Baobei_ ," Dani said gently, laying a hand on Cali's shoulder.

The pigtailed braided mechanic looked up, pushing her hat back on her head. "Um, yeah, _Kaasan?_ "

The lanky brunette leaned over to envelop her in a hug. "I'm so proud of you," she choked out through her happy tears.

The entire room erupted with laughter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title track by the great Huey Lewis and the News. You know a guy's gotta be awesome if he goes by the name Huey.
> 
> Just when you start cheering for Feather and her newfound badassery, Cali comes in to say "Behold the power of the Panda!" Or something like that...
> 
> I do so live Mikki and Dev. Many hugs as always to their original authors, **dayzejane** ( _The Firefly Chronicles_ ) and **Thug-4-less** ( _The Firefly Chronicles: Untold Tales of the 'Verse_ ), and my undying thanks for letting me use them!
> 
> Next ep is an Interlude, but worth reading. I have some interesting developments for the four couples based around the Favour.
> 
> One additional note, the idea for mounting a gun on a Firefly came to me from **dayzejayne's** _The Firefly Chronicles_ , much love and appreciation for that author who has inspired much of my writing.
> 
> Stay shiny!


	74. Episode 60: Interlude III

Inbound to Aberdeen. Kalidasa system.

The crew of the _Fortune's Favour_ were gathered around the dinner table for a quick meal before making planetfall on Aberdeen. It had been decided that they would remain there for a full two weeks to give both the crew and the ship itself a rest.

While most of the crew were full of happy banter, anticipating a restful leave, one couple in particular were embroiled in a rather intense argument. It was a sign of their unique relationship that none of the rest of the crew had any inkling of their conversation so far.

 _Look, I don' mind seein' yer folks none, that ain't the problem,_ Rain thought, suppressing a growl.

Feather snorted in derision under her breath. _No, ya just don' wanna tell 'em 'bout us._

Rain's shoulder ticked, almost a ghost of a reluctant shrug. _Just don' see how it's necessary right now._

 _An' I ain't understandin' it none,_ Feather thought. Her irritability came across clearly. _Arya embarrassed ta be with me?_

 _No, tha's not it,_ lian ren _,_ Rain replied, just as irritably. _An' you know it._

Feather abruptly stood up from the dinner table, glaring down at Rain with her arms crossed. _What? What do I know, huh?_

_Ya know I love you!_

_But ya won' talk none 'bout it 'cept in my head! Why's that, then?_

Rain finally growled low in her chest, ignoring the silence in the room and curious stares coming from the other family members as she stood as well. _You know why. Yer in my head, an' ya know why that kinda stuff makes me uncomfortable-like._

_An' it's gettin' a mite old! I love you, too! An' I wanna tell my folks 'bout it, I wanna tell all my family 'bout it! Ya know they'd understand! Why izzit yer family gets ta know an' not mine?_

Rain winced slightly at the volume coming into her head. _Never shoulda taught ya how ta yell at me in my head._

The auburn-haired mechanic actually stomped a foot on the ground furiously, holding her clenched hands to her sides. Leaning forward, she fixed Rain with a withering glare. _I c'n fix that fer ya just fine._

With an almost audible slam, she dropped her shields into place and stalked off towards the engine room.

"Tha's bein' childish, O'Donnel!" Rain called at her back.

" _Qu nide_ (fuck off), Grant!" Feather yelled over her shoulder.

As Rain stomped out of the galley the opposite way, towards the bridge, she heard Cali mutter to Sara, "Tha's gotta be the weirdest gorram thing I ever did see."

Dani cleared her throat and sat her chopsticks down, wiping her mouth on her napkin. "Y'all go 'head an' finish up, we're gonna be landin' in an hour'r so." She got up then and followed in her daughter's footsteps.

She walked onto the bridge quietly and sat down, scanning the console before glancing over at her _nu'er_. Rain was sitting with her arms crossed in her seat, anger and frustration radiating off of her in almost visible waves as she glared forward out of the viewport, somewhat accusingly, at the small marble of Aberdeen centered there.

Leaning back in her seat, Dani let out a sigh. "Gettin' into a relationship ain't the hardest part. Feels like it, but it ain't," she began quietly. "It's the workin' on keepin' yer relationship, that's the toughest. Ain't always a give'n take, neither. Ya gotta share, an' sometimes meet inna middle."

She looked back over at Rain, who was still glaring forward, her jaw now clenched tightly and tears brimming in her eyes.

"Sometimes, though, ya gotta ask yerself somethin', _baobei_."

That got the pixie-haired brunette to look in her direction inquiringly.

Dani smiled warmly at her eldest daughter. "How important is Feather to ya? Is she important enuff fer ya to let go of whetever's holdin' ya back?"

Rain gave a sniff and turned back forward again. Dani turned her own attention back to her console, ignoring the tears she knew were cascading down her daughter's cheeks. Her heart ached with the knowledge, but she knew this was something that Rain had to work through herself, and that she'd ask for help if she truly needed it.

* * *

 _Fortune's Favour._ Inbound to Aberdeen.

Perhaps a half hour before landing Cali was standing in the hallway for the crew bunks, hammering on Sara's door. " _Jiejie_! We gots ta talk!"

"Busy!" came the muffled reply.

"Ain't got time fer busy none!" the diminutive mechanic barked, overriding the hatch lock and dropping into her sister's bunk. She closed it quickly behind her and spun back around.

Over on the bed, Sara was sitting with her legs spread wide, on top of a towel, with a razor in her hand. Her only article of clothing was a tee shirt.

"Cheesy Buddha!" Cali shrieked, blushing a bright red and turning away. For good measure, she covered her eyes with both hands.

"Really? Cheesy Buddha?" Sara chuckled, her earlier scowl dissipating.

"Brain bleach! I needs brain bleach!" Cali complained, loudly, rubbing at her eyes. "What in the name of ever-lovin' tubby pandas arya doin'?"

"Shavin'," her sister replied humorously.

"I gathered that," Cali noted irritably, "but why arya shavin' yer nethers?"

Sara gave a shrug that she couldn't see. "Well, thought I'd try somethin' new fer Justin." She turned back to her task, bending over with her tongue poking out from in between her teeth in concentration. "Say whatcha needed ta say, 'cause I ain't stoppin' on yer account."

" _Jiao ni sheng haizi zhang zhi chuang_ (May your child be born with hemorrhoids)," Cali growled, sounding like a kitten faced with a bath, but still facing away. "Right, so we needs ta talk 'bout our _jiejie_."

"Rain still in a funk?"

"It's more'n that," Cali replied, working on her calm. _Calm, I c'n do calm. I c'n take everythin' in stride, even if'n I did just see 'er..._ She gagged slightly but swallowed and continued. "She's sulkin' up on the bridge, not talkin' ta nobody, an' Feather's doin' the same in th' engine room. What're we gonna do?"

Sara snorted a laugh. " _Meimei_ , ain't nothin' to do onnit. They needs ta talk it out, whatever's got 'em in such a tizzy."

"But they ain't happy!" the pigtailed braided girl wailed, her earlier attempt at calm forgotten.

Sara looked up at her younger, yet bigger, sister with an affectionate smile. "Oh, _meimei_. Fer someone who ain't ever gonna end up with a person, by yer own accord mind ya, yer a romantic at heart."

" _Bi zui_ (shut up)," she replied, almost offended. "I just like folk ta be happy! Ain't necessarily 'bout gettin' with someone, but Feather an' Rain, they make each other happy, like _Kaasan_ an' Lori do, like Uncle Keith an' Aunt Jess. _Shi niao_ (shit  & piss), like you an' Justin!"

"Riiight," Sara drawled, returning to her task once more. "An' all those're relationships."

"Wha- You-" Cali sputtered indignantly, almost turning but catching herself at the last second. Even if her hands were still firmly clamped over her eyes. " _Wen wo de pigu_ (kiss my ass)! Are we gonna help'r what?"

"No, _meimei_ ," Sara answered calmly as she dropped the razor into the washbasin next to her on the nightstand. She wiped herself clean and stood to pull on her panties. "I don' think we needs ta. They're big girls an' they c'n handle this." She crouched down, searching in her lower wall cabinets for a clean skirt. She pulled out a bright blue one that went nicely with her off-white top and stepped into it.

"But, _jiejie_..."

Slipping her sandals on, Sara walked around Cali and pulled her hands down from her eyes. "You ain't gotta fix everythin'," she said quietly. "Sometimes the fixin' gots to be done on their own, yeah?"

The braided pigtailed mechanic sighed morosely. "I s'pose."

"C'mere," Sara laughed, pulling her sister into a hug. "If'n ya like, we c'n go up an' just tell 'er that we're here for 'er if'n she needs us, 'kay?"

"Yeah," Cali sighed again, wrapping her arms around the girl she always thought of as her sister, and to her delight had gotten to name as one for real as of over two years ago. "Love you, _jiejie_."

"Love ya back, _meimei_ ," Sara laughed, pulling away. "Let's go give our Rain some support."

* * *

Aberdeen Landing Field.

The _Favour_ settled down on the landing field late evening, local time. There wasn't any work to be done that night, as the cargo wouldn't be unloaded till the next morning, so the rest of the crew, save Dani and Rain, were assembled in the cargo bay to head over to O'Toole's Pub where the clan was waiting for them. They'd been forewarned of their arrival, and no doubt had a grand shindig planned as was their wont. Robert O'Toole was nothing if not a gracious host for family and friends alike.

As soon as the ramp was down Feather set off across the landing field, her back rigid with lingering anger. The others followed at a more sedate pace, but Lori stayed behind to wait for her wife.

Dani and Rain headed down the steps from the bridge, the lanky captain looking eager while the brunette pilot had a somber, thoughtful expression on her face.

Once they reached the deck Rain spoke up tentatively. "Um, _Kaasan_ , c'n I talk ta ya fer a tic, 'fore we leave?"

"Sure, _baobei_ ," Dani replied. She gave her redheaded wife a wink. "I'll lock up, _wo de ai_ , you head on over."

Lori smiled and waved in reply, striding off into the dark towards her family pub, while Dani turned to her eldest daughter curiously.

"Been thinkin' 'bout what ya said," Rain started hesitantly, "an' I wanna ask ya 'bout somethin' else now..."

* * *

O'Toole's Pub. Aberdeen.

The pub was filled halfway to capacity, no mean feat for a room that size. All of the combined O'Toole and O'Donnel clans had turned out, as well as extended members of the family. The crew of the _Favour_ was spread out and conversing happily over drinks that were poured with abandon.

As she walked in, Rain immediately picked out her girlfriend at a table in the middle, speaking with her parents. Her face was solemn and she was staring at her clenched hands in front of her.

She glanced around for her other siblings. Rain knew they had offered support, but right now she wanted to make sure they were otherwise occupied. She shouldn't have worried in Sara's case, as she had made a beeline for Justin who was working at the bar. Her knees were on a high stool and she was leaning over the counter to share a long, tender kiss with the boy. The others at the bar, including Lori's brother Jeb who was also behind the counter, simply smiled indulgently and returned to their conversations.

For her part, Cali was busy talking to some of the younger members of the clan. They gathered around her with wide, adoring eyes as she recounted some of their adventures, highly embellished of course. She was a natural-born storyteller, waving her hands about animatedly. Rain snorted with humor, the waves of hero-worship were strong from that corner, centered on the diminutive mechanic with the ever-present panda hat perched on top of her head. For a girl who proclaimed to dislike younger children, she certainly had a propensity for attracting them around her.

With a sigh of resolve, Rain cracked her neck to each side and started to walk across the pub towards where Feather sat. Her girlfriend immediately noticed the approach and gave her a glare before muttering a few more words and then stalking off in the opposite direction to speak with some of her other relatives. Rain kept walking over to the table she had vacated, where her parents looked up at the pixie-haired pilot expectantly.

Rain cleared her throat uncomfortably. "Hi, um, Mr. an' Mrs. O'Donnel. I'm Rain, if'n ya didn' know that yet..."

Ericka smiled and reached out to touch Rain's arm reassuringly. "It's okay, hon, we know who y'are. An' we know yer our Feather's girlfriend. She seems t'be a lil' miffed at ya right now."

The short-haired brunette nodded. She had left her flight cap and vest on the ship, and instead of her usual tee shirt with a snarky saying she had opted for a plain dark green tee, attempting to dress somewhat nice to meet with Feather's parents. "Yeah, we're havin' a bit of an argument, 'bout... well, c'n I sit fer a spell? I'd like to talk with y'all 'bout somethin'..."

Ericka glanced over at her husband John who was smiling in amusement at the nervous young woman. Turning back, she gave her a welcoming smile of her own. "Sure, honey. Have a sit."

Dani chose that time to finally make her entrance, slightly out of breath. Lori met her at the door with a bottle of O'Toole's finest homebrew. "What's wrong, _wo de ai_? Didya run here?"

Her wife nodded, gratefully accepting the brew and taking a long pull. She was clutching a small, round, wooden object in her other hand. "Had somethin' I needed to go back inta the bunk to get," she explained finally. "Where's Feather an' Rain?"

Lori pointed out her daughter sitting with Ericka and John, and then Feather standing with some of the other O'Toole cousins by the booths along the side of the room.

"Perfect," Dani snickered. "C'mon, _lian ren_ (sweetheart), we needs ta get a seat near where Feather is standin'."

As she and Lori moved across the room, calling out greetings to other family members as they came across them, she noticed Rain standing up and giving hugs to both Ericka and John. _Alright then. Be strong, honey, you c'n do this._

They had just taken their seats when Rain made her way over towards Feather. She had a determined look in her eyes which made Dani relax. _She gots this._ She placed the carved wooden ball on the table, where it rested on the slightly flatter side. Lori looked at it curiously, but after a second her eyes got wide. " _Zhi'ai_ (most beloved), izzat...?"

"Yeah, it is," Dani grinned. "Now shush, it's showtime."

By that time Rain had reached Feather, who stiffened as she felt her girlfriend's presence. The auburn-haired mechanic turned, but Rain placed her hands gently on her arms to keep her from moving away again.

"I need to talk to ya right here," Rain started pleadingly. "Please?"

Feather's expression softened and she nodded warily. Glancing around, she could see her parents nearby, having moved to another table closer. She curiously noted Dani and Lori perched in a booth nearby as well.

Rain cleared her throat and said in a loud, clear voice, "I love you, Feather."

Her girlfriend blinked as a slow smile spread across her face, her mental shields dropping away. _Didya really just say that in front of ev'ryone?_

 _Ain't done yet, Feather-bear,_ Rain thought with a smile of her own, and then got down on one knee.

The auburn-haired girl's breath hitched. _What arya..._

"Feather Michelle O'Donnel, willya marry me?"

A shroud of silence fell across the entire pub as everyone seemed to hold their breath. Feather's hands shot up to her mouth, and tears started flowing freely down her face. She could only nod rapidly, but to Rain she answered, _Yes, yes, yes, a thousand times yes,_ wo de ai _!_

Rain got back to her feet and wrapped her arms around Feather as the room exploded into cheers and applause. "I don' have a ring to give ya just yet, _lian ren_ ," she murmured audibly into her ear, "but I'll get a pair fer us, okay?"

Feather pushed Rain away slightly so she could look into her eyes. _I don' care none 'bout rings, only you._

Rain smiled back at her happily, and they both leaned in to kiss, long and tenderly. They broke apart and turned at a gentle touch on their shoulders. "Girls, c'n I talk to y'all fer a tic?" Dani asked softly.

She led them back to her table, where Lori was sitting and grinning widely before jumping up and giving both women tight hugs. Dani sat and took hold of the small carved wooden box, turning the top half of it to screw it off and reveal a set of rings nestled within while Lori took her seat again.

Rain's eyes got wide. " _Kaasan_ , izzat yer rings?"

"Yeah, they are," Dani smiled warmly. "An' I want the two of y'all to have 'em. This one," she plucked out a thin white gold one with a simple diamond on top, "was mine, an' I'd be honored if'n you'd take it, Feather." She placed it on the table in front of them. "An' then this one..."

"That was Mom's?" Rain whispered, unable to hold back her tears.

Dani nodded, clearing her throat. "I'd like ya to wear it, _baobei_ (treasured one)."

Rain was flooded with memories again of her mother, gone for some time now but never forgotten, always missed. She sniffed quietly and shared her sadness and joy and fond memories with her now-fiancee, who smiled tearfully over at her. Rain reached over to pick up the thin gold ring, a matching diamond on top from the other, and rubbed her finger along its surface. _This's perfect._

_Yeah, it is. I love you._

Rain smiled at Feather and reached over and took the other ring from the table. She placed the gold ring into Feather's palm and then slid the silvery one onto her girlfriend's finger. _I love you too._

Feather took Rain's hand to place the gold ring around her finger next. _Together ferever, my_ zhen'ai _(true love)._

 _Got that right,_ wo de ai _(my love)._

Dani enveloped them both in a warm hug. "Welcome to the family, Feather," she murmured.

* * *

O'Toole's Pub. Aberdeen.

Dani and Lori sat together the next morning back at the pub, after having informed Keith and Jess they could handle the unloading while the two of them snuck off. Keith had protested at first until Dani reminded him of the last time she had covered for him on their anniversary. Jess gave him an elbow and told them to _nigeiwogun_ (get out of her sight).

"So, _wo de ai_ ," Dani murmured as they finished off their breakfast of eggs and bacon, an almost unheard-of delicacy for spacers. "We gots two weeks here."

"Mmhmm," Lori replied softly, smiling at her wife. "An' what didya have in mind, beautiful?"

"Well, I was thinkin', this bein' a pub an' all, we might rent a room from yer dad. Mebbe spend a night'r two here ta celebrate our anniversary, get away from the ship an' any responsibility fer a spell."

The redhead smiled even broader, her freckled cheeks creased and her eyes twinkling. "Oh, I love that idea," she quietly gushed. "Just you an' me? Kinda like our last anniversary?"

"Not as, I dunno, high-class," Dani amended, "but I figgured this'd suit our style better anyways. The once was nice, but we're not really spa kinda folk, yeah?"

Lori giggled, sliding her hand into Dani's. "I agree completely, _lian ren_ (sweetheart). Want me ta talk ta Daddy?"

"If'n ya don' mind," Dani replied, squeezing her hand affectionately. "I c'n head back an' grab a coupla bags fer us. Anythin' ya want in particular?"

"Well..." Lori replied as she stood, grinning. "There's that one toy we gots, th' purple one..."

"Oh!" the brunette laughed. "Yeah, okay, I'll grab it."

Lori gave her a saucy wink and walked towards the back of the pub, her hips swaying. Dani swallowed hard before tearing her gaze away. _Oh yeah, this's gonna be all sorts of fun..._

* * *

On the next floor of the pub, Sara and Justin lay in bed together, attempting to catch their breath.

" _Wo cao_ (holy shit)," Justin breathed, grinning up at the ceiling. "That was..." He trailed off contemplatively.

Giggling, Sara rolled over to place her hands on his chest, resting her chin there. " _Niubi_ (fucking awesome)? 'Cause that's what it wuz fer me."

"Yeah, definitely," the tousle-haired boy answered, stretching his arms up above his head before wrapping them around Sara, who snuggled in further. "Ya changed a lil' bit since the last time."

"I did?" Sara asked curiously.

"Yeah, ya feel more... I dunno. Confident?" He grinned down at her and gave her a peck on the forehead. "An' not just bein' all dominant, which turns me on somethin' fierce, by the by. But ya know that already."

Sara giggled again, her fingers tracing aimless patterns on Justin's chest. "Yeah, I did know that. I'm glad, 'cause I like it too."

"I'm also really, really, really likin' the, um, smooth effect. Can't rightly express none how much I like it."

Sara smirked. "I think ya done expressed that well enuff without words."

"Sooo... did somethin' else change?"

Rolling onto her side, Sara put her head on Justin's arm and stared off into space for a few heartbeats. "While back, we had some trouble with a cargo," she began quietly. "We was carryin' 'shrooms, an' the shipper snuck a crate in with some that were less'n legal, if'n ya get my meanin'."

"Hmm," Justin mused. "I'm guessin' they were the kind that's regulated-like?"

"Yeah, hallucinogenic," Sara confirmed. "We all had episodes, some worse'n others. _Diyu_ (hell), Rain an' Feather got themselves into a coma over it."

" _Ta ma de_ (fuck me blind)," he breathed.

Sara nodded. "I ain't really talked 'bout what I saw. S'pose I could with you though... Ya 'member all 'bout Shrike, yeah?"

Justin thought back to the many conversations they had over the Cortex since that night five months or so ago when she came in through the window like an avenging angel to save his family. "Yeah, I 'member. That's what th' other part of ya calls 'erself. Thought y'all had made up?"

"Sorta," Sara conceded. "She'd always been there, though, an' it'd been a fight fer control at times. We had a truce of a sorts. I gave 'er blood ta shed, an' she let me keep control." She looked up to gauge his reaction. "An' yer still sure none of this freaks ya out any?"

Justin smiled and traced her lips with a finger. "Nope. I seen whatcha c'n do, an' I accept all of ya."

Sara sighed again and closed her eyes, leaning into their embrace. "How'd I get so lucky," she murmured.

"Well, I am a pretty good catch," Justin replied with false modesty.

" _Piyan_ (asshole)," Sara laughed, lightly slapping his chest. "Lemme finish what I was sayin'."

She adjusted her position a little bit to get more comfortable, as her arm was falling asleep where it was trapped under her. "So when I had this, I dunno, vision, it trapped me an' Shrike t'gether. We were inna dif'rent place than usual, standin' in yer _meimei_ 's room of all places. It felt like a dream at first, all shadowy an' scary. I was _jing kuangwang_ (scared shitless) fer a spell there til I seemed ta get some control over it. An' then the conversations we startin' havin', well they gots more real."

"More real?" Justin repeated quietly.

Sara nodded again. "Yeah, we was fightin', not like physically but with words. She kept goin' on an' on 'bout how I'd never be normal none, folk would always see me as a monster. We went back an' forth, she was spewin' all this vile _pi hua_ (shit, nonsense) an' I couldn't seem ta fight it none. Just kept hammerin' me down, makin' me feel small. Unimpor'nt. Weak."

As she sniffled slightly, Justin tightened his arm around her. He didn't comment any further, letting her run through her tale at her own pace.

"So then, she finally stands there over me as I'm kneelin' with my arms wrapped 'round my middle, she's all smug an' all and sez ta me if'n I look deep down, I know I ain't ever gonna be normal, ain't no use in resistin' it. So I did, I looked down, like really deep down. An' know what I realized right then?"

Justin shook his head mutely as Sara gazed into his eyes solemnly. "I figgured out," she whispered, "that if'n someone like you could care fer me, accept me fer alla my faults an' what I really am, then I had a real shot at bein' normal. An' once I had that idea in my head, it sorta rang out through me like a bell, y'know? I knew, really knew at the core of my bein', that this was _dao_ (the path to truth)." She reached up to cup Justin's face with her hand, stroking his lightly stubbled cheek with her thumb. "An' then it changed, we weren't in that room no more, we were back on Shadow like usual, only Shrike was kneelin' 'fore me. I didn' think none, just reached down and pulled 'er to 'er feet, and we hugged. The hug got tighter an' closer, an' then we were like one person finally."

" _Wo cao_ ," Justin breathed wonderingly.

Sara nodded and then grinned. "After that, the vision took me back inta my bunk, an' you were there, an' then it got really good from there on."

"Oh really?" Justin asked, his eyebrows raised. "Just how good we talkin' here?"

Giggling, Sara leaned in and planted a hard kiss on his lips. "Well, if'n ya feel recovered enuff," she whispered huskily after she pulled her head back again, "lemme show ya a lil' bit of it..."

* * *

A couple of hours later saw the couple in the exact same position as before, though this time they were both covered in a sheen of sweat and all of the covers and pillows had ended up on the floor.

Sara looked over at him, grinning. "What, not even a _wo cao_ this time?"

"I think," Justin panted, "that I ain't got the means ta adequately express myself no more."

Sara giggled and sat up, stretching as she climbed out of the bed. "Much as I'd like ta spend the whole two weeks right here, I should let ya rest some. Don' wanna go wearin' ya out."

Justin chuckled and rolled over on his side to watch Sara as she moved about the room to gather up her clothes. "You are so beautiful," he murmured after a moment's pause.

Sara looked up, blushing. "I never c'n get over how ya c'n lookit me like that," she murmured back.

"It's the truth," Justin replied, still grinning and unabashedly looking her over. "I gots the _jue dai jia ren_ (prettiest girl ever) fer my girlfriend."

"Stop that," Sara replied, blushing harder as she pulled her panties on. "Still ain't used ta bein' a person's girlfriend none, neither," she muttered.

"May as well get used ta it," he replied cheerily, reaching down to snag his own underwear. "I ain't goin' nowhere."

Sara slipped her skirt on and then pulled her shirt over her head. She walked over to the bed as Justin pulled his pants on, leaving his chest bare, and ran her hand across his torso.

"Didya wanna spend some time with my folks?" Justin asked hopefully, trying to keep his thoughts coherent while her touch set his nerve endings on fire.

"Mmhmm," Sara replied absentmindedly. "That'd be nice." She kept running her hand across his chest with a thoughtful expression on her face. "So..."

"Hey, what's on yer mind still, _lian ren_?" Justin asked.

Sara sighed, and much to Justin's regret moved her hand away, though she slipped it into his own. "Is this what we gots?" she asked finally. "Do we just see each other every few months'r so?"

"Well, I know how ya are," Justin replied solemnly. "I don' 'xpect ya to settle down none in one place."

Sara shook her head firmly. "Ain't gonna leave the _Favour_. Not if'n I ever gots the choice innit. That's my home, an' my family. They needs me."

Justin nodded back in agreement. "An' I ain't got no desire ta pull up my own roots an' run off inta space like my _tang jie_ (older female cousin, father's side) did," he continued. "She was always more ofa free spirit, kinda like 'er mom. I'm happier bein' in one place, feet onna ground." He gave a small smile. "'Sides which, I gots the feelin' that my gran'pa is mebbe lookin' fer me ta take the pub over in a few years."

"So, we just keep on goin' as we are?" Sara asked again neutrally. "Keep up with the Waves, an' just visit every few months'r so?"

"I'm okay with that," Justin said softly, looking deep into her eyes. "Makes the times we do see each other even more intense-like, yeah?"

"It does at that," Sara finally grinned. "Okay, yeah. I'm good with that too."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

"Okay then," Justin said, pulling her down into another kiss. After a few minutes, they came back up for air, breathing heavily.

"I s'pose we c'n wait a spell longer ta see my folks," Justin whispered hopefully.

With a giggle, Sara launched herself back on top of her boyfriend. "Works fer me."

* * *

 _Fortune's Favour_. Aberdeen.

Jess lay on her stomach across her bed as Keith crouched over her, kneading her back with strong yet surprisingly nimble hands. She was unabashedly moaning with pleasure at the sensation, squirming as he managed to hit every kink in her back muscles after a long day of wrangling the unloading of cargo.

"Not going to ask how that feels," Keith chuckled in his deep baritone. "I think I can tell."

"Baby, I'll show you just how much I'm enjoying it after you finish," Jess breathed.

Keith barked a laugh, giving her a light smack on her bottom. "I'm done now, might get to your legs later, though." He moved off of her to sit on the edge of the bed.

He chuckled then as he noticed that she didn't move a bit. "So, that's your appreciation, eh?"

"Mmhmm," Jess murmured. "My muscles are jelly, that's how much I liked it."

Keith laughed louder and reached over to tickle her side. She let out a shriek and tried to wiggle away, but he was unrelenting and had her curled into a helpless ball of laughter in no time at all.

"Okay, okay, stop!" she giggled. "I'm going to pee on the bed if you keep it up!"

Keith chuckled as he stopped the tickling and instead wrapped his arms around his wife, pulling her into his large frame and pressing his lips against hers.

"You're such a _ji ba_ (dick)," she smiled finally when they separated.

"Mmmm, love it when you talk dirty," Keith murmured as he leaned down and grazed her collarbone with his teeth.

"Ahhh, _bang jiar_ (lover), wait a sec..." Jess moaned softly.

"Say please," he rumbled against her chest.

" _Ni ta ma de_ (fuck you)," she snickered, swatting him on the shoulder.

"That was my intention," he replied, nipping at her neck.

"Seriously, _wangdiao ta_ (forget about it)," she laughed. "Get your _pigu_ off of me for a second, I want to talk to you."

Sighing, Keith sat back on his heels. "You're killing me here, love."

"Oh, you're a big boy, you'll survive," Jess snarked as she sat up and crossed her legs. "I want to have a talk about something, alright?"

"Why does that fill me with the feeling of cold dread?" he murmured.

"Don't be like that," she said, but sat back and toyed with the pillow that she placed on her lap before continuing.

Sighing, Keith settled back onto the frame of the bed and stretched his legs out, caressing her hand with one of his own calloused ones. " _Wo de ai_ , you know you can talk to me. What's got you all nervous?"

Jess glanced up at him, and then back down at the pillow. "I want to have a baby," she finally blurted out.

Keith's hand stilled, and he blinked a few times. It wasn't that often that he was at a complete loss for words, but this occasion made the list.

"I'm thirty-three this year," Jess said quietly, keeping her one hand in place under Keith's touch but using the other one to continue to restlessly toy with the pillow. "Not getting any younger here. I thought at first, well, maybe we could wait a while until we're settled down... But then it occurred to me. This is as settled down as I want to be." She looked up at him, her eyes shining with emotion. "Do you ever want to leave the _Favour_?"

"No," Keith finally got out. "I agree, this is home. Once you're a part of this ship..."

"...You don't ever want to leave it," Jess finished for him. "Who would want to? So this is our home. The bigger question is, do you want kids? I know you didn't at first, we decided it wouldn't work with our schedules and travel... But here on this ship, we have family who could help raise them, especially Dani, she's such a good mother, and she'd be surrounded by her cousins..."

"She?" Keith interrupted with a grin.

"Well, she or he," Jess amended. "It'd be weird having another male on board, though. You'd have to give up your title of Token Male."

Keith threw his head back and barked out a laugh. "I think I could relinquish it. Maybe have one of each, boy and a girl."

Jess stared at him wordlessly for a beat. "So... you're okay with it? Having kids?"

"Yeah. I am," Keith smiled, leaning over towards his wife. "We're going to have to work at it, though," he murmured against her lips.

"Definitely," Jess breathed back. "Lots and lots of practice."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you go waaayy back to the first few episodes, you might recall the round wooden jewelry box that Dani had.
> 
> So this was an admittedly shorter episode than the last few, even for an Interlude at that. But I wanted to tie a few things up, relationship-wise, before we head into the home stretch. Might have also noticed the accelerated publishing schedule; I've got them done and want to get them out to y'all, but I'm going to leave a week or so between the next two episodes remaining.
> 
> Stay shiny!


	75. Episode 61: Edge Of Glory

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _Take my love, take my land  
>  Take me where I cannot stand  
> I don't care, I'm still free  
> You can't take the sky from me._

Osiris. White Sun.

Osiris was a planet of cities. Sprawling meccas of commerce that intertwined and blended together into towering steel and concrete vistas that stretched from horizon to horizon, this center of business and trade throughout the 'Verse was the undisputed true power behind the Alliance. All of the major corporations, from Blue Sun to Iskellian to Weyland-Yutani, and most of the smaller ones as well, maintained a presence there, if not their main headquarters. Londinium might be the capital of the Alliance, and Sihnon the cultural center, but the politicians that made up the Parliament knew where their power really came from. While each and every parliamentarian called Londinium their home, they all had offices and staff on Osiris as well.

The sprawling megapolis also served as the primary shipyards for commercial shipping. Giant orbiting stations handled both repairs and construction of the behemoth transports used within the Core, while the smaller yards on the surface were able to handle any modification or repair of smaller vessels, oftentimes for a steep price of course. This was the Core, after all.

Each day thousands of transports, yachts, couriers, and military vessels traveled through Osiris's atmo, going about their business or perhaps interfering with others. The vast expanse of docking yards in the upper levels of the cities were for the major corporations and the elite, clean and highly secure. Down below, however, were the docks that were far less scrupulous about their dealings. Far from the eyes of dignitaries and the upper-class existed a thriving black market community, though such elite folk often had their fingers delicately dipped into these matters over the course of their normal business practices.

Tucked away in one of these seedier areas of Osiris was a smaller commercial enterprise, a scrapyard by trade but also serving as a repair facility. The owner, a genial and burly former Browncoat mechanic, was reputed to be able to handle most modifications, legal or otherwise, and could get his hands on just about any piece of desired shipboard tech there was.

A decent part of his success could be attributed to the crew of the dilapidated Firefly transport now sitting in his yard, undergoing perhaps the most daring conversion he'd ever attempted.

"Pretty gorram proud of the way it turned out, Dani-girl," Tom beamed as he stood with his hands on his hips, surveying the work his people had just finished up. Barely visible under the chin of the aged transport was a stubby cylinder. Upon closer inspection, it appeared to be the business end of a railgun, a technically legal electromagnetic cannon that could fire a ball of scrap fast enough through the vacuum of space to make a decent dent or even hole in the hull of any unarmored vessel foolish enough to tangle with the ship.

It would take some serious digging in the internal systems of the ship, or sticking your head down said cylinder, to discover that even that assumption was wrong. Hidden inside the tube was a chaingun that would propel incendiary, armor-piercing rounds into an opposing vessel. No mere dent, it could tear through an unarmored ship and even cause severe problems for a military one. Fire and oxygen do not mix well on a starship.

Needless to say, the illegality of such weaponry was almost a given.

"Tom, I'm more'n pleased," Dani replied solemnly, standing next to her former flight crewman and gazing up at her beloved Firefly. The idea of strapping a gun onto her ship, her home, had grown on her over the past month and a half since they had been on Aberdeen. She was now wholly comfortable with the idea, though she was cognizant of the fact they now needed to be far more picky about where they berthed on deliveries.

Her baby now had some significant teeth.

"An' yer sure I can't give ya anythin' fer the outfittin'?" the lanky captain murmured.

"Done been over this 'fore," Tom grunted good-naturedly. "T'was my pleasure, really. Almost willin' ta pay you myself just ta get ta play around with th' idea."

Dani snickered in response. "Well, I'll just take my usual discount on the other maintence and we'll call it even, yeah?"

Tom turned to her with a grin. "That's a deal, Dani-girl. I'm gonna check on my people, see how much longer fer the systems flush, shouldn't be more'n a few more hours I'm guessin'."

"Works fer me," the brunette replied cheerily as she waved goodbye. "Got an early mornin' launch window, yeah?" she called out to his retreating back. He waved and nodded in reply.

"Dani, you still in the yard?" Keith murmured across the comm unit she wore in her ear.

"Yep, just finished up talkin' with our host," she replied, looking up at the bridge windows.

"Well, we got an incoming job offer from Iskellian. Short window of opportunity, right here on Osiris, for tonight. Something feels off about it, though."

Dani frowned as she began to trot over to the lowered cargo ramp. "On my way."

* * *

 _Fortune's Favour._ Tom's Salvage Yard.

"So here's the details," Keith began at the gathering of their planning group. It included all five of the ground team members as well as Kelly. The latter was scrutinizing something on her handheld. She'd been withdrawn ever since they received the job, focused on some bit of information gathering that she'd been reluctant to discuss the details over.

"We've been hired by our old friends, Iskellian Corp, to steal a piece of certain technology. Though it might be more accurate to call it information, as it's a heavily-encrypted datastick that is located in a vault here on Osiris." Keith paused to glance back down at his handheld unit. "Job specifies that the window of opportunity expires when the business opens in the morning."

"An' where's the location?" Dani asked curiously. "Corporate offices?"

Keith shrugged. "That's one of the things that's unclear. We don't know what the location is, only the address. It's fairly inconspicuous, so it's not obvious who it belongs to. The impression they tried to give us was that it was a rival corporation like Blue Sun, but I'm not buying that."

"It made yer senses tingle?" his sister replied humorously.

"It did what now?" Keith asked.

Dani shook her head, not even able to recall the reference. Some sort of late-night vid from Earth-That-Was, she couldn't even recall when she'd seen it. "Not important. Izzat what yer lookin' up there, Kelly?"

Without glancing up from her handheld, Kelly nodded her head slowly. "I've checked it a few times, and I think I can say with perhaps an eighty-five percent accuracy who it really belongs to."

"So not eighty-six percent, then?" Dani snarked.

Kelly glanced up at her, smirking. "Are you really trying to _qi si wole_ (piss me off) today?" she asked with a wink.

"No more'n usual, girl," Dani laughed. "So who izzit, then?"

Kelly directed her attention back down again. "Politician by the name of Burbank, Richard A. He's a member of Parliament, apparently."

Jess sucked in a quick breath of outrage, while Keith was far less muted in his reaction. " _Qiang bao hou-zi de, qing wa kao de liu mang_ (monkey raping, frog humping son of a bitch)," he snarled angrily.

The rest of the crew blinked at the couple uncertainly. "Um, friend of y'alls?" Lori asked.

"Very much so," Jess replied, glancing over at her husband who was now fuming silently. "He's one of the good guys in Parliament, one of those my husband and I could always turn to. We've known him and his wife socially for quite a few years."

"He always called himself an abnormality," Keith laughed bitterly. "An honest politician."

"So now he's bein' targeted," Dani mused. "By Iskellian? Why them? What izzit he does?"

"His main concerns are corruption," Jess explained. "Not at the corporate level, though, mostly within the Alliance government and military. He's well-liked by most of his peers, aside from the corrupt ones of course."

"You might find this interesting," Kelly interjected. "According to public records, Mr. Burbank has been calling for a full investigation into the Miranda affair. Says he doesn't believe it was all a hoax."

"Well, that is indeed interesting," Jess murmured. "So perhaps someone is working through Iskellian for this?"

"Or mebbe it ain't them at all," Sara spoke up for the first time. "Classic bait an' switch, make it sound like they're comin' from one place when they're really from 'nother."

"Tha's a good idea, _nu'er_ " Dani replied warmly. "Kelly you gots anythin' on that?"

"I can dig some more," the former Agent replied. "There's something more of interest, though. Since this is a politician's office, and a clandestine one at that, any information located there would be highly classified."

"Or at least what Ricky would consider of utmost importance," Keith rumbled disquietly.

"Do we tell 'im?" Lori asked. "Since he's yer friend an' all?"

Jess and Keith glanced at each other and shared a slow shake of their heads. "No, it might scare off whoever really ordered this job," Keith murmured thoughtfully. "Let's dig further, first. Any other contacts we could use?"

Dani sat up and leaned on her elbows. "Might be able ta use the New Resistance folk hereabouts. I know the leader, an' they gots their fingers in a lotta info on Osiris. Might be even them that done put the job out."

Keith nodded firmly. "Let go do that, then, while Kelly digs in further. We have a few hours still where we can Wave back and decline the job without further repercussions."

Dani headed up to the bridge immediately after that to get on the Cortex. She punched in the number she had for Jory, but it blinked for a few seconds before returning with a disconnect message. Frowning, Dani tried the other contact she had from when they did the blockade run job for them, but it returned with the same message.

With a sigh of irritation, Dani tried Tom next, and that went through immediately.

"Really, Dani?" he asked humorously as he saw who was Waving. "Yer wastin' credits on a Wave when ya could just walk on over ta my office?"

"Oh _yao wo_ (bite me)," Dani laughed. "I'm tryin' ta get 'hold of Jory, ain't havin' any luck. I wanted ta make sure my Cortex unit still works. He change his contact info?"

Tom frowned. "Well, no, far as I know. Might wanna just go visit, but don' go showin' up at the last place uninvited. Try a bar down the street here called Homestead, he an' I usually meet up there. I'm runnin' late tonight, but ya might be able to catch 'im still, if'n he ain't been held up from their group meetin' that they gots every week."

"Thanks, Tom," Dani replied before breaking the connection. With a grunt, she got back up and returned to the galley to report on her efforts.

* * *

Homestead. Osiris.

Fifteen minutes later both Dani and Keith were heading down the crowded street, full of those who had gotten off of their day shift and were now looking for some sort of entertainment or nourishment. The bar in question was fairly packed and full of disreputable-looking spacer folk and dock workers. In short, the kind of place where Dani and her crew might easily relax and perhaps find a decent brawl. Unfortunately, though, there wasn't time for such pleasantries, so instead the siblings split up to scour the clientele. It only took another fifteen minutes before they met back by the restrooms.

"No luck?" Dani shouted over the din and the Cortex viewer on the wall directly behind her covering a local sports event.

Keith shook his head. "Not unless he's using a disguise," he shouted back. "I don't know him well enough to recognize him if he were."

Further conversation from the pair, as well as the rest of the bar, was halted as the Cortex unit played a string of high-pitched notes, and the words 'Special Broadcast' appeared. The banner dissipated to reveal one of the plastic-faced Alliance news shills.

"Today the glorious Alliance achieved a stunning victory over the so-called New Resistance terrorists here on Osiris," the man began pleasantly as if he were discussing the weather. "Valiant Alliance troops stormed the hidden cells of the malcontents, dealing a killing blow to these deadly criminals and stamping them out."

Dani looked over at Keith, startled, before lunging out of the bar. Her brother was hot on her heels.

"Home, come in Home," Dani whispered harshly into her comm. Her voice, even low as it was, was laced with panic.

"Go ahead, Two," Rain's voice answered.

"Lock the ship down, now," she hissed. "And open a channel to Tom's office. I need ta talk to 'im, right away!"

"On it," she replied tersely. There was a brief hiss of static and then Tom's voice came back over.

"Dani, that you girl?"

"Tom, didya hear that broadcast?" Keith had caught up to her by that point and stuck to her side closely, scanning the street around them with an intense glare that made most of the foot traffic shy away from them.

"Yeah, I did," Tom replied. "Explains why they dropped off the radar."

"Are you in danger?" the lanky captain asked next. Her unasked question, of course, was how much of this would trace back to her and the _Favour_.

"Nope," he replied confidently. "Kept myself outta the group just fer this reason. Only helped 'em peripheral-like, 'specially since we found out 'bout the leaks inside. Jory an' I scrubbed me outta their records."

Dani exhaled in relief. "What about the cells on other planets? Any way ta reach 'em?"

There was a moment's silence. "Dani-girl, mebbe ya didn' stick 'round none fer the whole broadcast. Weren't just on Osiris, this was 'Verse-wide. All the cells I know of, they all gots themselves wiped out."

Dani stopped in her tracks, bringing Keith to a halt as well. He looked at his sister inquiringly, but she just shook her head, eyebrows furrowed.

"What's this do fer the movement?" Dani asked quietly. "I mean, izzat all of 'em?"

"Mebbe not alla th' Independent-minded folk, but fer this particular movement? Yeah, it's pretty gorram likely. Hang on Dani-girl... there's a follow-up broadcast fer the local media... Yeah, settin' the New Resistance movement back decades, blah blah... Oh, _cao_."

"Tom?"

"Yeah, they just hadda sheet of the leaders they killed. Jory's face was onnit."

* * *

 _Fortune's Favour._ Tom's Salvage Yard.

They returned to the ship to pass along the news. Dani sat solemnly at the table, holding Lori's hand as she absorbed the events of that day. Her friend Jory was dead, and the movement he had headed up on Osiris was shattered. Independent sentiments would not be so easily dismissed, of course, but the cause that he was rallying for was certainly set back. _Mebbe Mikki an' Dev knew somethin' after all_ , she mused thoughtfully. _Or they were just smart enuff ta see the writin' on the wall._

"Any more on the job?" Keith asked as he settled into his chair.

"Not yet," Kelly sighed in frustration. "I can't track this any further, but I can tell for certain that the job did not originate from Iskellian, it just passed through them."

"So they're not even involved," Jess mused.

Dani looked up and cleared her throat. "I don' like this none at all. The timin's too coincidental. Alla the New Resistance folk get wiped out, an' now we're bein' asked ta steal from an honest politician? One who's askin' 'bout the same things that Jory and his folk were?" She shook her head resolutely. "It stinks, the whole mess. I say we turn the job down."

Keith nodded, as did the others around the table.

"Alright then," Kelly stated. "I'll decline it on the job board."

* * *

Londinium. White Sun.

Jarvis entered his superior's office once invited to do so. The elegantly suited man was standing in front of his monitors, hands clasped behind his back, but there was no concealing the pleasure and satisfaction radiating off of him.

"This has gone better than expected," Cavendish murmured as his assistant walked up. "We caught just about all of the cells we wanted. Almost a ninety-two percent capture or kill rate. Excellent." He frowned slightly as an item scrolled past. "Pity about the Sihnon cell, though. They seem to have gone to ground, we only caught half of their roster."

The other man cleared his throat. "Sir, we received word from Osiris. The _Fortune's Favour_ crew declined the job at the last minute."

Turning slowly, Cavendish adjusted his cuffs, a sure sign of irritation. "Declined?" he murmured incredulously.

"Yes, sir."

" _Bendans_ (idiots)," he muttered, exasperatedly. "They were part of the New Resistance after all."

"Sir? How do you come to that conclusion?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Cavendish stalked back to his desk, anger and disappointment in his every footstep. "They heard about the terrorist cell eliminations. Now they're running in fear. Only the guilty run."

"Sir," Jarvis replied noncommittally.

"We'll deal the proper punishment to their group later," the suited man remarked calmly. "For now, we still need to obtain the package." He sat in his seat and steepled his fingers in front of his face. "Notify my daughter. Have her assemble a third-party team and extract what we need tonight."

"Yes, sir," the subordinate replied, turning to leave.

"And Jarvis? Do remind her that this package is critical to my plans. While I can obtain it later, it would benefit me greatly to get it earlier rather than later." He quirked an eyebrow. "Discretion is, as always, of utmost importance."

* * *

Osiris.

Dani sat on the bridge, itching to get back into the Black. If she could have lifted by now, she would have. Unfortunately, it wasn't as easy as that in the Core. If you had a timeslot but then lifted ahead of schedule, you got noticed and were assumed to be a smuggler or other criminal. _Well, s'pose we are criminals of a sort,_ Dani mused humorously, glancing over her shoulder at the newly-installed gunnery console. _No need ta call 'tention to ourselves, though._

Her musings were interrupted by Kelly's voice over the intercom. "Ground team to the galley please," she instructed tensely.

The lanky brunette immediately launched herself out of her chair and hurried down the passageway, meeting Keith and Jess and they climbed out of their bunk. Everyone else was there by the time they entered.

"I got a ping," the blonde announced without preamble. "Same job, they hired on a small independent contractor team. Here's the difference, though." She scrolled through her display before pausing at a section, her expression becoming grim. "It mandates that the team is to meet with a contact, but the terminology used here is 'independent governmental specialist'."

"Okaaay," Lori drawled. "So what does that mean?"

Keith was staring at Kelly, his face a stony mask but enough fury leaking through to worry Dani. Fortunately, Kelly didn't leave them hanging for long.

"That's code for a Parliamentary Operative."

The crew sat in stunned silence as the ramifications ran through their head. "So the government's gonna do a snatch an' grab on one of their own folk?" Sara asked incredulously.

"Someone in the government, yes," Jess muttered. "So what now?"

Keith turned to Dani, his eyes blazing with anger. "We need to stop them."

Dani blinked a few times. She opened her mouth to question his reasoning, but then stopped as her thoughts progressed further. This target was one of the people who thought along the same lines as the New Resistance did. All he wanted to do was shine a light on the Alliance's dirty little secret of Miranda. And if they could cover this up as they did everything else, silence him as easily as they did with the entire Resistance movement, then all that _Serenity_ had done was for nothing.

This was their chance, finally. The chance to, however indirectly, help with what _Serenity_ had started. Keep the signal flowing, keep the truth out there and keep people demanding to have this truth revealed.

"Right," Dani nodded, grinning as relief flooded Keith's expression.

Keith turned back to Kelly. "We need a feed on that office. Need to know when they're going to hit it, if at all possible, and a layout. I don't know if we can beat them there at this point, and it might be best if we don't. Might be better if we catch them in the act." He looked around at the assembled team. "Full loadouts and armor. Let's be ready to move out with a moment's notice. The office will take a few hours to get to, but I don't want to be out in the open for too long."

"Still no idea on who made the job offer?" Jess interjected, directing her question back at Kelly.

The blonde shook her head, still intently working on her handheld and yet fervently missing her old one. "No, nothing yet. I'll get what we need together for the mission and then keep looking."

"Alright then," Dani murmured, rising from her chair. "Let's get busy. We gots jobs ta do, so get doin'."

* * *

Parliamentary courier. Inbound to Osiris.

Less than an hour out from landing at a private and secluded docking pad on Osiris, the Operative sat on the bridge of her one-person courier ship. It was pitch black and sleek, a fast transport but not one for intercepting other ships. As such, she usually only used it when speed was of the essence, as was the case now.

A quiet pinging diverted her attention from her flying. She pulled up the readout to a screen in front of her, eyebrows furrowed slightly as she received the report.

The routine she had left in place concerning the Burbank mission was reporting an intrusion into the target location's systems other than her own. She traced the attack back to the source with quick, deft fingers, and smiled grimly, brushing her black bangs away from her face.

"I see you, Agent Thirty," she murmured to herself. "And where you are, the rest of the _Fortune's Favour_ crew follows." She closed the screen and went back to her piloting, but her mind was still whirling with the newfound information. "Why would you be hacking into that building if you had already rejected the job and were running into a hole somewhere?"

She let an almost anticipatory grin, however slight, creep over her face since she was alone. "Now you head into treasonous territory. And I thought this mission might be boring."

She plotted her entry vector, not bothering to request a landing as her transponder automatically got her clearance, and wondered idly if she might actually get to go up against the group that she'd been tasked with evaluating recently.

A small part of her, buried deep down for so long, was looking forward to the possibility.

* * *

Governmental offices. Osiris.

The ground team finally got word of the timing for the attack and raced ahead in their Mule to make it to the target as soon as possible after the entry time. Lori was dropped off a block early, and she raced up the stairs of an apartment building across the street. She was to take up her usual overwatch position there in order to deny any reinforcements, though none were anticipated.

They parked the Mule directly in front of the building that Lori was to be perched on top of, waiting on her report.

"Five, in position," she finally said over the comm, breathlessly. "No opposition, scope is clear."

"Roger that," Keith replied. "Blue?"

"I'm in," Kelly replied. "Disabled the street cameras already. Some of the cameras in the building have been disabled by other parties, but I can see that the opposition has already inserted. You're only a few minutes behind them."

"Any rear guard?" Jess asked as they disembarked. The group looked around to make sure they were unobserved before crossing the street.

"Negative Three, none that I can tell. There's a chance of a response team from the security company, but there hasn't been an alarm raised yet."

"Thanks, Blue. Keep an eye on us," Keith replied as they paused at the front door. The large glass panels were partially open, just a crack really, but enough for Keith to wedge his fingers inside and pull one side open. Sara immediately slipped inside to reconnoiter the lobby.

"Four, clear," she whispered over the comm after only a few seconds.

The others filed in, guns out and searching. There were three bodies stacked up behind the reception desk, but otherwise, there was nothing out of the ordinary other than the lights being out. Directly behind the desk were three elevators, but their target was on the ground floor, down a hallway to the right. The only other entrance was a door to the left which Sara reported was locked.

"Let's move," Keith whispered. "Two, hold the rear."

"Roger that," Dani replied. She followed them over to the hallway but stopped there, her shotgun poking around the corner and her eyes trained on the street. She heard Keith, Jess, and Sara move stealthily behind her towards their main objective.

"Five, how do you read?" Dani asked tensely.

"Still clear, Two," her wife replied with just as much stress lacing her voice. "You got a bad feelin' 'bout this too?"

"I dunno, hon," Dani murmured. "Seems too easy so far."

Lori laughed lightly. "Yeah, don' often-"

Her words were cut off by a static hiss that hurt Dani's ear.

"Five?" she asked, her voice just above a murmur but below normal conversational level. "One? Anyone?"

"They can't hear you," a soft melodious voice said from across the lobby.

Startled, Dani pulled the comm unit from her ear before searching out her target. She couldn't see anyone in the dim light and tried to move further out into the lobby, her shotgun leading the way. The lanky woman was reluctant to activate her light on the forearm of her gun as it would likely just make her a bigger target.

She needn't have bothered, though, as three steps in she stopped when she felt the prick of a blade against her throat.

"Drop your guns on the floor, Captain," the soft voice ordered.

Dani complied, raising her hands up and turning to face her opponent. Her eyes widened as she made out the features of a heart-shaped face framed by short black hair and with deep black eyes that seemed to soak up what little light there was. "Neela?" she whispered incredulously.

"Mmmm, no, not exactly," the other woman murmured with the barest hint of a smile tugging at the corners of her lips. "That's not my real name, but you don't need to know any more than that."

Dani took a wary step back but noticed the confident way that the woman wearing the same unadorned blue jumpsuit as before held her blade. It reminded her, unnervingly, of her middle daughter.

"I wasn't expecting to see you guarding the rear," the woman continued. "But this is fortunate, for me anyway."

" _Go tsao de wang ba_ (dog fucking son of a bitch)," Dani breathed, the pieces belatedly clicking into place. "Yer a gorram Operative, ain't you?"

"Very good," she replied with false sincerity. "We knew you were a smart one. You hold your crew together through sheer personality alone, don't you." She held her blade up, letting it reflect the streetlights from outside. "Without the head, the others would be more pliable and less honor-bound to follow what is left of the New Resistance. Perhaps they might still be of use to us."

Ignoring the cold wash of fear that flooded her veins, Dani gritted out, "Really don' know my family at all, do ya?"

"Well, I suppose we'll find out, won't we?" the Operative calmly replied, taking a step forward.

Before Dani could even think of trying to retreat or dodge the blow she knew to be coming, a knife whistled out of the dark towards the back of the other woman. The Operative whirled, batting the throwing blade away and moving further back into the center of the room, crouched and ready for combat.

From the hallway behind Dani, her daughter entered the lobby with a stalking motion like that of a predator. "Get the fuck away from my _Kaasan_ ," Sara snarled.

Dani's initial relief was replaced by worry for her _nu'er_. " _Baobei_ , she's an Operative, ya gotta be careful..."

"I gots this, _Kaasan_ ," Sara replied calmly as the two women circled each other. "Go help th' others."

"Sweetie-"

" _Kaasan_ , go. Yer just a distraction now, an' I don' wanna hafta worry 'bout ya none." She looked at Dani with a dark smile. "Trust me."

Dani sighed but nodded, scooping her sidearm and shotgun up and running back down the hallway to where the muffled sound of gunfire was coming from.

"Well, Sara," the Operative commented nonchalantly. "I've been looking forward to this meeting for some time. I know what you're capable of." She let a smile spread across her face, but it looked forced and unnatural. "I know you. I was just like you at your age, before I grew out of trying to be normal."

Sara grinned back and gave an evil chuckle, her voice dripping with violence and bloodshed. "You think y'know me?" she asked, something dark moving behind her eyes. "Let's show you the real me, _biao zi_ (bitch)."

She sprang forward, kicking off of the reception desk to come in high at the older woman. The Operative got her blade up and pulled another one out from behind her back, but she was unprepared for the sheer ferocity of the smaller girl's attack. If it weren't for her blade-resistant armor she surely would have been disemboweled within the first two seconds.

Sara kept circling, her shivs and limbs whirling about in a frenzy. The Operative managed to block most of them, getting only a small nick on her chin. Fortunately for her, she had another advantage over her diminutive opponent besides the armor.

She dodged under Sara's next attack and sliced one of her blades across the other's torso. The extra-sharp blade cut through Sara's underbody armor as if it were cloth, causing her to gasp in surprise. If the Operative thought that would slow her down, however, she was gravely mistaken. Sara didn't let up in the slightest, if anything her attacks increased in their speed, until the other woman was forced into a slow but steady retreat.

Desperate to not be pinned against a wall, the raven-haired woman spun low, sweeping Sara's feet out from under her. In response, Sara merely bounced right back up and lunged into the attack once more, not even missing a beat.

The dark-haired woman managed to give the other girl a slice across her forearm, receiving another cut on her face in response, this one on her cheek.

She whirled about to deliver a roundhouse kick to the head but was easily blocked and had to back up again. She didn't have any opportunity to go on the offense really, most of her movements were in reaction to her opponent as she tried to keep the blades away from her exposed face.

The shivs in Sara's hands were almost an extension of her arms, like the claws of a predator. For the first time in the Operative's life, she felt the tendrils of fear run through her. She was completely unprepared to handle the fierce animalistic woman spinning like a whirlwind of blades in front of her.

Finally, she spotted an opening and lunged forward to slice across her ribcage once more. Belatedly she realized that she'd been drawn in as Sara hooked a blade upwards, slicing off one of the Operative's thumbs and causing her to drop a blade.

Instead of pressing her advantage, however, Sara dropped and rolled away to spring back into a crouch.

In her right hand was the blade the Operative had lost.

It took all of a microsecond for the Operative to come to the conclusion that her position here was completely untenable. There was no way for her to pursue this any further with only one blade.

She edged her way back towards the previously locked side door that she had entered the lobby from. Her bleeding hand was pressed into her side to try and keep pressure on it. Sara didn't pursue, just watched her with glittering eyes, both of her hands still held at the ready.

Pausing at the doorway, the woman looked over at her opponent. "We'll meet again soon," she promised.

"Lookin' forward to it," Sara replied calmly.

With that, the Operative spun on her heels and, for the first time in her life, fled from a fight.

With a sigh of relief, Sara sagged to the floor on her knees, dropping her blades and clutching her sides where she was bleeding. She fumbled for the comm unit that she had pulled off once it had gone staticky, indicating that their communications were being jammed. She had immediately realized that her _Kaasan_ would be in danger and had sped heedlessly back, just in time as it turned out.

" _Ta ma de diyu_ (fucking hell), this hurts," she hissed. She was glad that the Operative had called it quits when she did, as she didn't think she could have continued much longer with the pain she was in, even more so now that the adrenaline was wearing off.

Finally getting her unit in her ear, she overheard the reports from the others as they finished cleaning up with the other team.

"Four reporting," she whispered painfully. "Clear, but I could use some help here, if'n y'all get the chance."

"Four, are you okay?" Lori asked urgently.

"Oh sure, I'm shiny, Five," she replied with subdued cheer. "Bleedin' a bit. Well, mebbe a bunch. Anyways, a bandage'r two would not go amiss right 'bout now."

"On our way, Four," Keith came back.

Sara sighed again and flopped the rest of the way to the floor on her back. She was feeling a little bit dizzy from the blood loss, but at least she didn't have to worry about trying to get Shrike under control again. _Seems there's some benefit in bein' one wholesome person 'gain,_ was her last conscious thought before she let the darkness overtake her.

* * *

 _Fortune's Favour_. Outbound from Osiris.

The team had quickly gotten Sara medical attention and then sped her back to the ship. Fortunately, the cuts were shallow enough that she'd be fine in short order. Kelly worked rapidly to stitch her up and get her a unit of blood to replenish what she'd lost. While the team recovered from their ordeal, Dani had Rain take off from Tom's yard. At this point, she was willing to risk the extra exposure of an early lift as she was still a little shaken by the encounter with the Operative.

While they lifted, Dani was examining the knife that Sara had captured. It had unusual markings on the blade and hilt, some sort of script with numbers that they thought might be significant in identifying their opponent for certain.

She took a scan of it and then sent a Wave to the foremost experts on weaponry that she knew in all the 'Verse.

"Girlfriend, what have you got going on," Dev said as soon as they connected. "You look like shit."

"Thanks, love, 'bout how I feel," Dani replied tiredly. "Just got off an op, an' it went sorta sideways on us. Took a blade off ofa woman, wondered if'n y'all c'n tell us 'bout it mebbe?" Keith had cautioned her not to reveal right away what they knew, as it might be better to receive independent confirmation. He was sitting tensely on the bridge at the newly installed gunnery station's seat behind Rain and listening in.

Dev sat patiently as the scan came through, but immediately furrowed his mascaraed brows. "Mikki, do you see what I see?" he asked in a deadly serious voice.

The stream of violent Mandarin cussing from offscreen did nothing to reassure the siblings.

"I'm going to give it to you straight, Dani, because we don't have much time," Dev started speaking rapidly. All trace of humor was gone from his voice. "You are all in some serious shit right now. This is going to be the last time you contact us until you and we are completely sure this has blown over."

Dani blinked, a cold feeling of dread once again creeping up her spine. "Go ahead, Dev," she said quietly.

As Dev continued, she could hear Mikki offscreen, still maintaining a steady stream of Mandarin but also typing furiously on a keyboard. "What you have there is the blade of an Alliance Parliamentary Operative. If you're on their radar, there's no chance of escape. If they decide you are a threat, they will get to you. They will get to you and those you love. Clean-sweep operations are their specialty." He glanced offscreen for a second before returning his gaze forward. "We're bugging out, I'm sorry we can't do much for you. The only advice I can give is, run. Run very far and very fast, and make sure everyone you've ever known does the same."

With that, the transmission ended abruptly.

Dani sat back, the dread now fully enveloping her body as she contemplated what they had done. It didn't take her long to realize the number of people they'd endangered, everyone who'd been on the ship or had sheltered them in the past. The enormity of it all crashed down on her and she uttered a rare but heartfelt prayer.

" _Ji du_ (Christ) help them all..."

* * *

Londinium. White Sun.

"Report," Cavendish ordered as he received the Wave from his daughter.

"Mission was a failure, sir," the Operative began. "The team was intercepted by the crew of the _Fortune's Favour_ and capture of the package prevented. The contractor team was eliminated, and I received injuries that prevented me from intervening further."

They sat there for almost a full minute, staring into each other's eyes. Nimona with a carefully neutral expression on her bandaged face, while her father with one of carefully suppressed fury.

"Are you telling me," Cavendish finally said, each word carefully pronounced, "that this crew is now actively opposing my interests?"

"Affirmative, sir."

The suited man blinked slowly before getting his emotions further under control. "That's a pity," he remarked. "For as much expense and effort as I put into them, I expected better. But I suppose this confrontation might have been unavoidable after the Miranda debacle."

He leaned back in his chair, lacing his fingers in front of his stomach. "Very well. Enact Alpha protocol."

"Alpha protocol?" she repeated carefully, a faint trace of eagerness in her voice.

Cavendish nodded, somewhat wearily. "That's correct. Run them into the ground." He sighed, looking away from the camera. "Captain Grant is the type of person who could easily become a rallying point for this New Resistance, those we haven't stamped out yet. A hero."

His steely gaze snapped back to focus on the attentive Operative. "Let's not give her the chance. Better a martyr at this point. Make it happen."

"Yes, sir!" she replied with a certain relish that was not lost upon her father.

"And, Nimona," he chided gently before leaning forward to end the transmission, "try not to enjoy yourself too much."

He sat back in his chair again and rubbed his forehead, sighing wearily.

"What a gorram waste."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title track, _The Edge of Glory_ , is by Lady Gaga. Told y'all I had eclectic music tastes...
> 
> This episode does synch up with the comic series, _Serenity: Leaves On The Wind_ , as might be noticed by the elimination of the New Resistance cells.
> 
> Interesting how a chain of misinterpretations can lead to a certain outcome. I've heard it said before that assumptions are the mother of all fuckups.
> 
> Next up is the Endgame, the final episode. If y'all thought it was bumpy before, best strap yerselves in... I hope to post it in a week, but it might take a bit longer to proofread as it's a tad lengthier than my usual episodes. Like, double the length.
> 
> Stay shiny!


	76. Episode 62: Endgame

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _Take me out to the black  
>  Tell them I ain't comin' back  
> Burn the land and boil the sea  
> You can't take the sky from me._

_Fortune's Favour._ Outbound from Osiris.

Danielle Grant sat in the captain's seat on the bridge of her ship, trying to absorb the revelation that her family and friends, anyone who had flown with her or sheltered them, might now be targeted by a deadly governmental assassin.

She dimly registered her eldest daughter stir in the pilot's chair before speaking. " _Kaasan_ , we reached the outer markers," the pixie-haired brunette whispered, as if fearful to break the silence hovering so thickly over the bridge. "Where am I goin'?"

"Out there," Dani whispered back. "Just... Just head into the Black."

Rain nodded worriedly. "Alright, I'll set a course for an empty bit of space."

" _Jiejie_ , we need to act," a baritone voice sounded quietly from her right.

Turning slightly in her seat, still feeling dazed, Dani nodded to her brother. "Right."

She inhaled deeply, and on the exhale, she banished any more paralyzing thoughts. Now was not the time to fall apart.

With an abrupt motion, she leapt to her feet and began pacing furiously in the small space between the consoles. Rain kept an anxious eye on her while plotting their course, while Keith looked on calmly, his eyes filled with confidence in his captain and older sister.

After only a few seconds the lanky captain whirled around with a determined look. "We gotta get in touch with ev'ryone. Anyone who's ever sheltered us'r helped us out. All our family, ev'ryone who's been on board... All of 'em. Get 'em to go ta ground an' hide out somehow."

Keith nodded firmly and got up to change seats over to the console at the nav station. "I'm on it."

"I just hope we ain't too late..." Rain whispered again, this time with threads of fear lacing her words.

* * *

Jiangyin.

Mike Wilson was fairly satisfied with his life. He leaned up against the railing on the porch of his in-laws as he puffed on one of his obnoxiously smelly cigars and looked up into the star-filled night sky. Fairly satisfied, of course, except for the simple fact that he badly wished to take back the actions that led him to leave the _Fortune's Favour_ and his family still on there.

Yes, his wife Julie was fairly adamant about leaving. She didn't feel safe on there, not after the possibility of being branded an outlaw ship was made real. In hindsight, of course, no such thing happened, and his sister-in-law Dani had managed to keep them a step ahead of any repercussions from the incident on Ariel.

 _Incident_. He snorted to himself in disgust. That's what Julie called it, but it was simply a rescue of Dani's daughter Sara. Sure, she did some terrible things to get her back, but what wouldn't he or Julie do if it were Em or Kacy in that position?

His reasoning had fallen on deaf ears, and now he was left to have another thing to reflect back on with regret. He hadn't felt so involved, so alive, since the day he stepped off of that ship.

"Mike, you out here boy?" a gravelly voice called out.

He stirred slightly and turned his head. "Yeah, over here Pops," he replied genially as he reached up to scratch his bushy grey beard. He didn't mind his father-in-law too terribly, but it got to be a bit of a headache spending much time with his mother-in-law. Or rather, when his wife and her mother got together. They were far too alike and tended to butt heads more often than not.

Hank Edwards limped over and leaned against the same railing, groaning slightly. His leg had been acting up, and since his wife had taken ill he'd been sore-pressed to care for her by himself. Hence the frequent visits by the Wilsons.

"That there's one _chou maniao_ (stinking horse piss) ofa cigar, son," the old man grunted.

"That it is," Mike grinned around it unrepentantly. He was about to reply further when he caught the slight gleam of metal off to his right. He turned, cautiously bringing his hand down to the old Moses Brother's revolver he kept strapped to his hip. "Pops, you expectin' company?"

Those were his last words as his world exploded and sharp pain lanced through his chest. He barely registered the report of the gunfire as he toppled onto his back, but he did hear the second shot and dimly noted the body that slumped to the ground next to him.

Mike could hardly maintain a coherent thought as he felt the life drain out of him and onto the rickety porch. Booted feet shook him as they ran by, and there were crashes and screams from inside the house before silence dropped over the night once more, broken only by the wheezing breath rattling in the hefty man's chest.

And then there was a shadow looming over him remorselessly. He desperately tried to reach for his gun again, but his mutinous limbs refused to listen. Instead, he watched with an odd sense of calm as the shadow raised a pistol to line up with his forehead.

 _Dani-girl, you best watch over my Em_ , was his last thought before everlasting darkness overtook him.

* * *

Beaumonde.

The row of abandoned warehouses looked deceptively vacant as usual, but the normalcy was shattered by the revving of engines from down the street. A pair of military ground trucks pulled up by an alleyway with a screech of brakes. Several soldiers in Alliance-issued blast armor filed out, the dim light glinting dully off of their purple-hued shells. They moved with precision and speed, quickly hauling a false dumpster out of the way to reveal a hidden reinforced door. With nimble, efficient movements, one of the soldiers unrolled a tube of explosives around the frame and inserted a detonator. The team stood back as it was set off and the door fell out with a dull _clang_.

They quickly rushed into the uncovered chamber as the officer in charge monitored their progress from inside one of the assault vehicles.

"First squad, guard the door and provide backup. Second squad, get the elevator open and rappel down," the officer ordered into the comm unit. "Move it people, they know we're here."

After a few tense minutes, he started to get reports back.

"First squad here, the room is empty. Targets have fled."

"Say again?" the officer asked incredulously. The area was under satellite surveillance, there was no way their quarry could have slipped away from them.

"I say again, sir, no sign of the targets. Room has been emptied, looks like they were in a hurry. No sign of how they got out."

The Alliance officer let out an irritated growl. His superiors were going to have a field day with this.

* * *

Osiris.

Tom sat in his darkened office, one eye on the camera monitors for the perimeter of his yard and the other on the progress bar for the file downloads. The former Browncoat ship's mechanic had been forewarned by the crew of the _Fortune's Favour_ and had already gotten his wife and young child off to safety. Now he was trying to salvage what he could of his business, retrieving important data on both his financials and his activities with the New Resistance.

He tore his gaze away to once more check on his old but reliable Browncoat Service Pistol lying on top of his desk. He was hoping to get some advance notice of intruders, but if they did catch him unawares, he'd give them one _diyu_ of a fight.

With about five minutes left on the downloading, he cocked his head to the side as he heard the approaching whine of repulsorlifts. Frowning, he grabbed his sidearm and walked over to the window. There shouldn't be any further arrivals today, and all of his personnel should already have cleared out by now...

Pulling aside the dirty curtain, he saw an ASREV hovering directly outside, pointing its nose straight at the office.

" _Ai ya, huai le_ (shit on my head)," he murmured, just before the entire building blew up in a spectacular flash of heat and smoke.

* * *

Aberdeen.

It was late evening on Aberdeen, and most of the village surrounding O'Toole's Pub was darkened as the residents slept peacefully. That peace was about to be broken as several squads of Alliance soldiers rapidly spread out from the landing field.

They went from house to house, surrounding each target location but waiting until all were assembled and in position. Sergeant Sean Campbell led his squad towards their main objective, the large family pub located in the middle of the small community.

After a brief pause, they received their orders and made their entry into the building, spreading out to search for targets. They were able to quickly ascertain, however, that the large building was empty of any occupants.

"Squad Seven reporting. No sign of any targets," Campbell reported into his comm. He stood by attentively as further negative reports came in from the other squads, until there was finally one successful hit.

"Squad Three," he heard over the comm. "Objective secure, three targets eliminated. Couple and small child."

Campbell closed his eyes briefly. This was one part of the job he hated with a passion, but it was the job he signed up for.

"Sarge, look here," interjected the corporal on the squad. The Alliance sergeant shook himself and walked back over to the front door, where a hand-printed sign had been tacked up. It indicated that the pub was closed indefinitely while they visited family off-planet.

Sergeant Campbell's mouth twitched in what might have been a smile, quickly suppressed. "Take the sign, report to command. We'll be right behind you."

"Sarge, we burning the place?" asked an overeager young private.

"Are you a special kind of _bendan_ (idiot), Rogers?" the sergeant barked. The corporal grinned and headed out while he administered his dressing down. "Do you know what a fire here could do to the entire community?"

"But, Sarge, they're just a bunch of dumb _xiang ba lao_ ([derogatory] hick/bumpkin) miners," protested the private, with more guts than he'd given him credit for. _Just about the right amount of brains as I expected, though._

"Look into my eyes, Rogers. Did we get an order to burn the place down?"

"No, Sarge."

"Then, _chwen_ (dumbass), should we be burning the place down?"

"Um, no, Sarge."

"Double-time it back to the landing field, Private. I want two laps around the perimeter, and if you're not done by the time we lift you will gorram well find another ride off-planet. Am I clear?"

"Yes, Sarge, crystal!" the unfortunate private replied before setting off at a jog.

The other two privates chuckled as they exited the pub behind Rogers. "He'll get it sooner or later, Sarge," laughed the more experienced of the two.

"That or get his gorram head blown off," Campbell grumbled.

Before following his squad out, he turned and briefly reminisced upon a childhood spent in this very pub before he had left Aberdeen to join the Alliance military.

"I hope you stay in the clear, Robert O'Toole," he murmured before turning and walking through the doorway. After only a moment's hesitation, he turned once more to close the door securely behind him and then jogged back towards his waiting transport.

On a hill overlooking the town, three men lay in the darkness, sharing a single set of light-enhancing binoculars.

"Looks like they're moving out," Jacob O'Donnel commented, passing them along to his brother.

John took a look and nodded before handing them to the last of the three men. "Robert, I'm awful sorry 'bout Betty."

The elder O'Toole accepted the binoculars from his son-in-law and shook his head sadly. The trio of shots had rung out loud and clear through the stillness of the night. "She always had trouble making sense of what was plain in front of her face." He sighed, peering down at his pub, noting with relief that it seemed to be intact still. "At least we got everyone else into the caves back in the hills here."

"How long do we plan on waiting it out?" Jacob asked curiously.

"As long as it takes," Robert replied. "Until we hear from my Lori otherwise." He glanced over at his son-in-law John. "Don't be worrying about Feather, she's as safe as she can be on that ship. I know Danielle Grant, she'll move the 'Verse to protect any of her family."

John nodded as he scooted back down the hill before standing up. "I know, Robert. Still, my prayers are going out to them all."

"Me as well, John," Robert replied softly as he followed the brothers back to where his clan was waiting, hidden away in a vast cavernous system left behind when the mines there had played out. "Me as well."

* * *

Hera.

Alexis sighed to herself with an uncharacteristic trace of self-pity, staring up at the seemingly insurmountable obstacle in front of her. Normally she didn't mind living on the second floor of her apartment building, but after today she was about ready to just lay down at the foot of the steps and sleep right there.

"Gorram double-shifts," she grumbled to herself, slipping one shoe off to rub a sore and aching foot. She'd not gotten but an hour's reprieve in between, either. One waitress had called in sick, and another had quit in order to head back home to the family farm.

Sighing again, this time in resignation, she took her other shoe off and started up the steps barefoot, holding her footwear in her hand. What seemed like an hour actually only took a matter of minutes, but Alexis was counting the steps she would take until her head could hit her pillow.

 _Mmmm, I could really use a back rub 'bout now... or mebbe other kinds o' rubs..._ The buxom blonde giggled to herself at the thought of the two women who had somehow snuck their way into her usually carefree heart. She'd not even taken on any other lovers since she realized that she was thinking on the two of them all the time now. Redhead and brunette, the mix made her feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

Right now, though, all she could do was miss them. She unlocked her door and stepped wearily into her kitchen, flinging her purse forward onto the small table there. After she closed and locked the door behind her, she only took another step in before she heard a strange _click_.

She furrowed her brows, listening for the sound to repeat.

Five seconds later her existence ended in an explosion of fire that took out the entire apartment building.

* * *

Bernadette.

"We need to replace the motivator on this old hovercar," Cory Bilkes noted absentmindedly.

"We have the credits," his wife Maribelle replied. "Why don't we get a new one that's, oh, I don't know, younger than our children?"

Cory snorted with amusement. "I like this one. It's broken in. Besides, there's no reason to replace it when I can keep it running just fine."

The blonde rolled her eyes. "Engineers," she snorted.

"We could get a shiny red one," L.T. piped up from the back of the vehicle.

"How about an aircar?" Junior asked excitedly next to his brother.

"See what you started?" Cory murmured.

Maribelle grinned at her husband. "I wouldn't mind an aircar."

Cory shook his head in exasperation and concentrated on the drive home. The family had just gotten back from a vacation over on the other side of the continent where Maribelle, Mike, and Beth had grown up. They had a pleasant time there as Maribelle revisited old haunts, some of them bittersweet with the memory of her deceased sister.

They were three blocks from their house, a moderate affair for the Core but on a decent-sized parcel of land, when the blonde doctor frowned, an itch forming in the back of her head. "Cory..." she began hesitantly.

"Hmm?" her husband inquired, making a left-hand turn onto their road.

"Cory, pull over," she suddenly said, urgently.

"What? Sweetie-"

"No, pull over, now!"

Cory did so, ignoring the sounds of blaring horns by those impatiently following them. They sat on the side of the road for a full minute, in sight of their house, while Maribelle stared off into the distance, becoming more and more agitated.

"It's all wrong," she finally whispered. "We have to go..."

"Go home? That's where we were heading," the redheaded engineer replied confusedly.

"No, we need to go away from here," Maribelle clarified. "Let's just... Let's go get something to eat, okay?"

Cory had spent a good number of years married to the woman sitting next to him and had learned early on not to ignore her when she got this way. "Alright, hon," he said agreeably and started to pull out to reverse their direction.

Before they could merge back onto the street, their house blew up.

* * *

Santo.

Evienne O'Toole was no stranger to suspicious circumstances. The towering, muscular blonde had been a merc for about ten years now and had gotten pretty gorram good at what she did. Specializing primarily in bodyguard assignments, she'd gathered a profitable list of clientele who actively requested her services, enough so that she could pick and choose who to work for at any given time.

If anybody noticed that the majority of those were related to, or perhaps were themselves, high-ranking Alliance military or political officials, it wasn't commented upon.

She walked a very fine line, doing her duties without fault while still keeping her eyes and ears discreetly open. She'd foiled two bombings, four kidnappings, and seven assassination attempts in her short career. She'd also gathered significant intel on Alliance operations, back-door dealings, and military movements, as well as a whole closetful of buried secrets.

Closely tied into several Independent cells, including some of the New Resistance variety, she was the perfect mole. Bodyguards were meant to be inconspicuous and yet ever-present. It did, however, cause her to keep a high degree of vigilance, perhaps even bordering on paranoia.

So when her usual crew of two other merc bodyguards on her shift suddenly changed personnel in the middle of a week-long job, her suspicions were immediately aroused.

The Amazonian merc walked in the middle and slightly ahead of the pair assigned to her shift, as was her usual position when she was serving in a supervisory capacity. So while she wasn't able to keep her eyes on them, her ears were listening intently for any sudden changes.

As the three mercs entered the hallway leading towards the job site, Evienne clearly heard the soft twin whisks of metal against leather signaling the drawing of their sidearms. She quickly pulled out a pair of razor-sharp stilettos from the sheaths on her vest and thrust them directly behind and slightly upward, skewering them both through the throat.

As the would-be assassins slumped to the ground, gurgling their last breath, she whirled around, searching for more targets. Finding none, the blonde crouched down and quickly cleaned off her blades before sheathing them and then drawing her own Ares sidearm. That done, she reached down to pull back the clothing of the nearest merc.

"Alliance-issued blast armor," she murmured to herself, unsurprised. _Well, that's it then, I'm humped._

Fifteen minutes later saw her back on her small personal cutter-class ship. She sealed the hatchway behind her and began the engine startup sequence. While that was warming up, she entered the cockpit and reached below the console to remove the transponder there, replacing it with another one reserved for just such an occurrence.

Once she got green lights, she immediately blasted off of the landing pad at a slightly higher velocity than would be considered proper, much less safe. She broke atmo without further ado and set a course for the Rim. Her next action was to activate her Cortex unit to send off a Wave to the woman who had recruited her for their cause a few years ago.

"This is Evie, I've been targeted. And before you say it, yes you were right Bea, it was only a matter of time. Last I heard from the rumor mill you were embedded with _Serenity._ You think the famous Malcolm Reynolds could use an extra gun? Get back to me."

* * *

 _Fortune's Favour._ Empty space. White Sun.

The crew of the _Favour_ , save for their captain, clustered quietly around the dinner table, the silence only broken by the sounds of muted sobs and the rhythmic twirling of a butterfly knife. The ship was drifting in the Black, outside the normal shipping lanes but just close enough to reach a satellite for Cortex communications. Several of them had taken shifts in trying to reach people, and now they were waiting for word on events from that day. All they could do at this point was reflect somberly on both what they knew and what they didn't know.

Emily sat sniffling next to Kelly, the latter rubbing her back comfortingly. They had last gotten word about Mike and Julie, and Emily was despondent about the news of her parents' death. Lori as well was quietly weeping from hearing about her sister Betty.

Rain reached over to give her a reassuring yet awkward pat on the arm. The redhead looked up and smiled gratefully, but then looked down again, shaking her head. "Just can't believe none that she got her stubborn self kilt, along with her gorram husband an' baby."

Dani walked in shortly thereafter and sat down subduedly at the head of the table. Her eyes brimmed with unshed tears, and she had to clear her throat past the lump of emotion there to begin. "Some good news an' a bunch more bad news. Heard from the Bilkes, they're safe." A sigh of relief went around the table at the news. "Maribelle says they're stayin' with Cory's parents, they're ex-Alliance Navy, should be able to shelter 'em. I don' have a way to contact 'em again, told 'em it'd be safer that way fer now. Badger's on the run too, like a rat scurryin' down the sewers, an' he's none too pleased with us. We ain't likely to receive the likes of any help from 'im. Other news is from our old friend Patience back on Whitefall. Says a group of fishy-lookin' _hundans_ came 'round askin' 'bout Rachel Adams. No idea how they'd gotten her name, but she sent 'em packin' and has Rachel an' 'er mom hidden away safe." She paused a beat. "But, they got Tom, destroyed his yard in the process. His wife and lil' one're safe, but that's yet 'nother haven closed to us."

She glanced around before taking her wife's hand and giving it a squeeze, holding on tightly. " _Wo de ai_ , got word offa the Cortex local from Hera. Lexi's apartment got blown up. She ain't been seen."

Lori bowed her head and shuddered, fresh tears trickling down her cheeks to match those on Dani's.

The lanky captain wiped her face with the sleeve on her free arm. _Ain't the time now. Mourn later._ She resolutely turned towards the other end of the table while still clinging to her wife's hand like an anchor. "Kelly?"

"Jess and I were able to get in before most of our funds were frozen. I moved them to one main account of mine from an identity I never used previously." The former Agent looked around apologetically. "I couldn't get all of them. Sara and Emily, yours were locked up already, I'm sorry. I can't get them now, as hacking in would lead the trail back to us, but we'll do so later, alright? Once we can be sure it can't be backtraced."

Emily nodded slightly, still sniffling, while Sara didn't react at all. She sat in her seat, her chair pushed back slightly from the table, and continued to twirl her butterfly knife idly, an unreadable expression on her face.

"Sara?" Dani asked perceptively. "What's on yer mind, _baobei_?"

The diminutive brunette sighed and flipped her knife shut. "I shoulda killed 'er when I had the chance."

Dani shook her head firmly. "No use in recriminatin' yerself none. What's past is past, an' ya barely escaped from that fight alive." She paused, looking around the table again before standing up and leaning heavily against it. "We have to deal with what's in front of us, now."

"Are we goin' after the _hundan_ (bastard) who did this?" came the question, demand really, from a totally unexpected source.

Dani looked up into Cali's determined and furious eyes, bloodshot from crying over the loss of her mentor and uncle. _Never seen 'er so riled up 'fore_. "Do we even know who that is?"

Kelly leaned forward. "I think we can figure it out."

"Okay," Dani replied, leaning forward as well. "Let's work out way back, then. There's gotta be clues in the past jobs we've done."

"Connect the dots together," Jess murmured.

"We could start with the last job on Aberdeen, saving the O'Donnel's," Kelly began slowly. "That Alliance representative, what was her name?"

"Um, Neela," Jess replied, racking her brain. "Neela Connor."

"I recognized something with her," the former Agent continued musingly. "The way she moved and held herself... She was more than just a liaison, I'm sure of it."

"No, that was her!" Dani interrupted. "Neela! She was the Operative back there on Osiris!"

" _Wo cao_ ," Lori breathed.

Sara nodded in agreement. "Knew she felt familiar. So she wuz there onna ground fer Aberdeen..."

"Could be how the O'Toole's were all targeted there," Keith interjected quietly.

Kelly nodded. "Right. It's known that Aberdeen is a frequent port of call for us, but we're still registered on Osiris, correct? So there had to be some way to tie us closely into those folk."

Keith cleared his throat as Kelly finished. "I've got one. The Jungle Run, and our mysterious benefactor. We never did get an identity, but that could have gathered significant knowledge of us."

"That's still buggin' ya, huh _didi_?" Dani snorted.

"It is," her brother replied firmly. "And my instincts are telling me something else. The whole setup? It was a test."

"Seriously? A test?" Sara inquired skeptically.

"To see how we worked," Lori mused, her bloodshot eyes finally dry as she pondered the situation with the rest. "Mebbe gear us up fer 'nother, bigger job?"

"Like the last one," Dani said softly. "Targetin' a member of Parliament. An' we declined it, but then when we tried ta stop it, that Neela woman shows up ta complete the job."

They collectively sat back again, contemplating the tangled web of circumstances and information assembled so far.

"Hey, here's 'nother one," Sara spoke up. "Back on Beaumonde, the first time when Kelly an' Em an' me went off-ship. The vid of us, well me really, gettin' inta that fight. It got copied an' then erased somehow, right?"

"Right," Kelly murmured. "Before I could get ahold of it. And the signature could easily been that of an Operative."

"Speaking of files," Keith rumbled. "What about the one that fried your handheld?"

Kelly nodded, the pieces beginning to fall into place in her head. "Again, yes, right when it got to the Parliamentary involvement, it self-destructed." She paused a beat. "I think we can be fairly sure at this point that we're dealing with a member of Parliament itself, not just some faceless bureaucrat. Someone very powerful. All the evidence points to that fact."

"Small things that add up," Rain commented quietly.

"Powerful..." Dani mused, her brows furrowed. Suddenly she sat up, startled. " _Tai-kong suo-yo duh shing-chiou sai-jin wuh duh pee-goo_ (shove all the planets in the universe up my ass)!"

" _Kaasan_?" Sara asked worriedly.

Dani looked around at the others. "Martina."

"Oh, that _hun dan gou niang yang de_ (bastard son of a bitch)," Lori breathed. "She talked 'bout 'er mysterious an' powerful lover who was targetin' 'er..."

Her wife nodded firmly. "I'll betcha that's when we landed on 'is radar," she said angrily.

Keith grunted in frustration. "We still don't have a name."

Emily finally spoke up. "When I talked with Kacy back on Hera, she said she'd been forced inta speakin' to some Alliance Intel officer, name of Cavendish, 'bout the crew. Thought mebbe it was just another background check. That mean anythin'?"

"Did you say Cavendish?" Kelly asked searchingly.

"Right, that's the name she said."

"I know that name," Jess said quietly, staring off into space. "Look him up, he's a member of parliament, just like we suspected."

"So, what, he's got a son or brother or somethin' in the Alliance Navy?" Dani asked as Kelly typed away furiously.

"Well, I recognize the name as well," Keith said, his eyebrows furrowed. "Thought he was an up-and-coming member, though, not all that powerful. At least, as of a few years ago."

"That seems to have changed," Kelly broke in, her voice strained. "He's much more powerful than that. In fact, he's been consolidating his power base." She tapped a few more keys. "He's sponsoring a bill to restructure the Parliament itself into a taller organizational structure."

"Taller?" Dani asked curiously.

Keith sighed and sat back, crossing his arms. "Right, Parliament is pretty flat right now as it's a voting body, most of the members are equal in influence and power. Taller would mean fewer people with more power over the rest. How much do you want to bet that he wants to be at the top of the new structure?"

"Does it say there?" Jess directed towards Kelly.

The blonde shook her head. "Not directly, no. But he seems to have been working behind the scenes more. His name is attached to numerous bills that have benefitted other people, that's how I can tell he's consolidating his support. I think when this bill goes through, and he wouldn't have put it through if he weren't assured of the votes, then that's when he'll make his play."

"It's still a lotta conjecture," Dani mused. "We ain't gots anythin' solid."

Kelly smiled broadly as she tapped some more keys. "Well, how about this then. Parliamentarian Cavendish does indeed have a son in the Alliance Navy, but he also has a daughter who dropped out of sight many years ago, vanishing from all records." She looked up. "Just like an Operative who, once they join, no longer exist."

"Gettin' there," Dani replied optimistically. "Now, if'n we had somethin'..."

"...Like a pic?" Kelly grinned, turning her handheld around. On it was a family portrait from perhaps fifteen years ago, showing an older couple with their two children, one boy and one girl. The woman was a statuesque blonde with piercing blue eyes, but the two children more closely resembled their father, with jet-black hair and matching eyes.

" _Cao ni zuzong shiba dai_ (fuck your ancestors to the eighteenth generation)," Dani snarled at the girl in the pic. "Tha's her. Tha's Neela, or whatever 'er name is."

"Well, according to the pic, her real name is Nimona," Kelly said smugly.

"Not bad, Blue," Keith rumbled humorously.

"Eh, I still miss my old handheld," she replied modestly, "but I make do with what I have."

"Alright," Dani stated firmly, standing up. Her eyes roved around the table, picking out each of her crew members. Her brother Keith, steadfast and, she wasn't too proud to admit, the source of most of her strength and confidence. The former Spec Forces trooper was able to bring all of his quite significant tactical skills and experience to their group, keeping them alive and successful. His wife Jess, elegant and poised, the brains behind their transportation venture, keeping them in the black financially and able to find a cargo or job from the most obscure places, as well as a deadly asset to the ground team.

Emily smiled over at her confidently, her earlier bereavement passed now that they had a course of action to plan. Her niece had done wonders for her _nu'er_ and was a valuable addition to any intended endeavor, lending a voice of reason and oftentimes unusual viewpoint. Kelly, one of her oldest friends before becoming an enemy and then back to her friend again after her redemption. Getting caught on a Core world would be a likely death sentence for her, but her eyes were full of acceptance, almost eagerness to carry out whatever plan they decided on.

Seated together as was their usual, Feather had clasped hands with Rain. They were obviously communicating with each other, lending comfort and support, but both seemed resolute. The auburn-haired mechanic had been a joy to have aboard and gave her eldest daughter an injection of confidence and buoyancy that surprised her at times, while Rain had evolved into a capable and skilled pilot.

Cali, of course, was Cali. Still acting like a flighty teenager at times, her careless exterior hid a sharp though labyrinthian mind that had a natural talent for mechanics and a way of dissecting situations in ways that others might overlook. Sitting next to her, Sara was flipping her butterfly knife idly again, seemingly indifferent to their predicament, but Dani knew she was far from such. She hid her inner turmoil and focused it into an anger that she would eventually unleash, finally having resolved the conflict between her dual personalities into something lethal but controlled when called upon.

And then there was her Lori. The woman who, amazingly enough, stood by her side with unwavering loyalty and love, and lifted her up to aspire to be the kind of person she saw her to be.

Dani was proud beyond measure not just of her girls, but of all her crew, for what they had accomplished together and what they had aspired to since becoming part of the _Favour._

"We're an outlaw ship, now." Dani finally said quietly. "They started this. We c'n finish it. Let's start actin' like outlaws."

She glanced around the table once more to meet each person's gaze, the fierce blaze of anger in her eyes matching that from every member of her crew. "We end this. Now." She was acknowledged by silent nods all around.

"What do you have in mind?" Keith rumbled quietly, his arm still wrapped around his wife.

"We take the fight to the one who started it," Jess replied for her in a whisper.

Dani smiled wickedly. "Exactly. Let's go after the _hundan_ who's fault this all is. An' mebbe," she glanced over at her middle daughter. "Just mebbe we'll get a shot at 'is Operative as well." Sara returned the smile with one of her own, filled with dark anticipation.

"So where should we hit him?" Kelly asked. 'His home is a closely-guarded secret, as are all Parliamentarians. Plus, it's likely to be in an apartment or condominium building, lots of opportunity for collateral damage..."

"We could hit him en route, to or from work," Keith mused.

"Nope," Dani said cheerily, popping the end consonant of the word. "Ain't goin' after 'im anywhere else but at 'is office."

"His office," Emily stated flatly. "You mean Parliament. As in, the seat of government for the Alliance."

Dani looked back smugly without answering as the other members of the crew exchanged dubious glances.

"Well... it'd be unexpected," Keith murmured.

"Dangerous," Jess added.

"It'd be that, yeah," Dani said confidently. "An' it'd take the whole of the crew ta pull it off, but I gots an idea of how we could do it. An' yer right, not a soul would expect it."

"That's 'cause it's _feng li_ (crazy)," Feather muttered.

"Well, _shen jing bing_ (insanity) seems ta be a specialty of ours," Rain commented offhandedly.

"Look, ain't gonna lie none, it's gonna be all this an' more," Dani said firmly. "I want y'all ta be sure 'bout this, 'cause there's a chance we might not all make it out alive."

"Well, wouldn't be a _Favour_ mission otherwise," Keith said dryly.

"Seems to give us our best chance of success, having impending doom hanging over our heads," Jess said, matching her husband's dry tone.

Feather and Rain glanced at each other, quickly communicating mentally before coming to an agreement. "Y'know we're with ya, _Kaasan_ ," Feather spoke up.

"Ain't nothin' in the 'Verse we'd rather do," Rain smirked.

"Well, I c'n think ofa few," Cali protested mildly, "but 'long as I gets ta do somethin' an' not just sit on the ship, I'm in."

"Me too," Emily stated. "I needs ta pay some _piyans_ (assholes) back fer my folks."

"With interest," Sara added darkly.

Kelly sighed humorously. "Well, you know I'm in, no matter what."

Dani glanced over Lori, who had not spoken yet, but received an irritated huff in reply. "Ya really gots ta ask me?" her freckled wife snarked.

The brunette smiled slightly in response before facing forward again. "Ain't plannin' on this bein' _zu sha zhu yi_ (suicide), but make no mistake, it's gonna be dangerous as all get out," Dani said sternly. "I gots the feelin' the gorram Jungle Run was a cakewalk compared ta what we're gonna go up 'gainst."

"Then we make a plan, and a gorram good one," Kelly said calmly.

"I think, between the lot of us," Keith interjected, "that we can manage anything."

The lanky captain smiled more widely, then looked down at the table, gathering her thoughts. "Right. First off, we'll have several teams. Ground team, we're gonna be th' insertion as usual. Kelly c'n monitor an' control things from the _Favour_ -"

"No."

Dani looked up, startled at the interruption. Her eldest daughter had stood up with her arms crossed in front of her and with as resolute an expression as she'd ever seen on her. "What?" she asked intelligently.

"I said, Aunt Kelly ain't gonna be in charge of the _Favour_ none, 'cause she's gonna be with you."

Dani looked at her a bit askance. "Arya planning this op fer us now?"

Rain gave a little growl in the back of her throat. "You said it yerself, this's gonna be dangerous, an' mebbe some folk're gonna die. You take Aunt Kelly with ya so's it won't be you."

"Gorram right," Cali piped up, standing as well, an identical look of determination on her face. Without hesitation, Sara stood wordlessly in support of her sisters, giving Dani a nod.

The lanky captain stared over at Rain, a fierce feeling of pride almost overwhelming her. She rested her hip against the table's edge, blinking back tears. "Alright then, Third Officer. The ship'll be yers." She walked over to give her a tight hug. "An' ya best return it in the same condition I left 'er with ya."

"Only if'n you promise to come back, Capt'n," Rain whispered, returning the hug just as tightly.

The ten members of the _Favour_ 's crew spent the next few hours hammering out a plan. It started out as a nebulous thing, pounded roughly onto the anvil of Keith and Kelly's combined experience and doused with all of their collective and oftentimes unique input. Eventually, they had something solid and spent another hour working to make it a thing of finesse and deadly beauty.

Dani finished off her twelfth cup of tea (not that she'd been counting) and set it down firmly. "Alright, we gots what we needs ta do. Let's start makin' preparations, an' I wanna make sure we all gets the chance to double-check each other, yeah? Make sure we're solid on this, on what our jobs're gonna be."

She stood up to carry her cup over to the sink but paused when she heard Feather clear her throat as the young mechanic stood up from her place next to Rain.

"'Fore we do any more, Capt'n, I gots a request."

Rain looked up at the auburn-haired beauty in surprise. "Arya blockin' me?" she asked quizzically.

Feather grinned back. "Blockin' somethin' fierce, an' it's givin' me a headache, so lemme talk." She gave Rain a wink, and then looked back at Dani, her head held high.

"I want ya to marry me an' Rain 'fore we do this."

Rain blinked, completely caught off-guard. She recovered quickly enough and turned to Dani with a smile. "Well, we are engaged an' all."

Dani laughed, the tension from earlier evaporating with her humor. "Alright then, we're gonna have a weddin' first, an' then we all get to be bad guys."

* * *

 _Fortune's Favour_ cargo bay.

It was an ancient tradition, dating far back into the history of Earth-That-Was, where the captain of a vessel had the authority to marry a consenting couple. It wasn't performed often, but the tradition was there. And it was one that the current captain of the old Firefly transport never imagined she'd be exercising.

Dani wished that captains had some sort of manual that came with the job, that way she'd have some sort of idea on what to say. Kelly had looked a few things up for her beforehand, but the lanky woman decided in the end that this was her daughter, and the best action to take, as her first wife had always advised her, was to follow her heart and do the speaking from there.

She stood with her back to the cargo doors and waited for the couple to be ready. Lori and Keith flanked the hatchway from the workshop, where the couple would be entering from by way of the lounge. Lori was asked to give Feather away as her only blood relative, while Keith agreed to do the same for Rain.

Eventually, the pair entered and took the arms of Dani's brother and her wife. The pixie-haired brunette was dressed in one of the few dresses she owned, the same simple but nice short black dress with long flowy sleeves and low heels that she wore to her birthday party back on Aberdeen. Dani quietly reflected on how close the two had become since Feather boarded her ship a little over a year and a half ago.

For her part, the auburn-haired mechanic wore a beautiful mid-calf sheath dress in an emerald green. She had been worried that she didn't have shoes that matched when Rain had humorously suggested she just go barefoot. Feather had liked the idea well enough that she did just that.

They didn't have any music playing and had just decided to keep it simple. That didn't stop Emily from quietly humming the old tune for a wedding march until Dani shot her a mock glare. Her niece just beamed back an innocent smile.

Feather was followed by Cali, who was bouncing along in excitement at being her maiden of honor. She had dressed nicely enough in a clean brown skirt that Dani didn't even know she owned, as well as a nice blouse, but spoiled the effect slightly with the ever-present panda hat. Sara served Rain in the same capacity and her eyes glowed with happiness for her sister as she followed her wearing the simple yellow sundress from Dani and Lori's wedding.

The procession halted and Lori and Keith each leaned down to plant a kiss on the cheek of the ones they had escorted down. At some unseen signal, they swapped and did the same for the other of the pair, which made Feather giggle. Smiling, they stepped back to join the rest of the crew, while Cali and Sara slid in to take their places.

Dani smiled warmly at the couple and cleared her throat. _Hope you c'n see this Beth._ She blinked her eyes rapidly to dispel the shine gathering there. _Ain't gonna get 'motional none yet, keep it t'gether..._ "Love is a beautiful thing," she began quietly. "It brings t'gether family, an' it makes new families. Love 'tween two folks, well that there is the most special of them all. If'n ya have each other, an' ya keep yer love alive an' thrivin', well, ain't nothin' in the 'Verse c'n stand 'gainst ya."

She glanced over at her wife, who was quietly weeping. In fact, Keith seemed to have the only dry eyes in the hold that day. "I been lucky enuff ta find myself two loves in my lifetime. Figured I was the luckiest girl alive up til now, but I think mebbe today I'm even luckier. I gets to see my eldest _nu'er_ marry the woman she loves, an' I gets to marry another wonderful woman into my family, right where she belongs."

' _Kay, I gots ta wrap this up 'fore I start bawlin'._ "Feather Michelle O'Donnel, d'ya take this woman here ta be yer wife?"

"I do," Feather whispered, her lips trembling.

"An' Rain Carol Grant, d'ya take this woman ta be yer wife as well?"

"I do," Rain replied firmly, a look of pure bliss on her tear-streaked face.

"Well then, by the power invested in me by, well, me, I hereby pronounce y'all ta be married. Now get with the kissin', already."

The couple gave an identical snort of laughter before melding their lips together and wrapping their arms around each other. Applause and cheers erupted throughout the hold, and even Cali was ecstatically jumping up and down for joy.

Rain and Feather separated, grinning, and then turned to envelop Dani in a hug as well. She returned it while laughing happily. "We'll work somethin' out fer yer honeymoon," she murmured to the pair. "It's on me, alright?"

"Well, I happen ta know this really great transport service," Rain laughed as they stood back.

Dani smiled at the two as they walked over to be swamped by the rest of the crew.

_Here's hopin' the next twenty-four hours go well enuff I c'n keep my word._

* * *

Parliamentary Backup Generator Compound.  
Londinium. White Sun.

Samuel Clements was used to spot inspections. Being the head technician for a government-run facility in the Core, he lived and breathed the bureaucracy that such inspections were born from. This evening, though, he was surprised by the pair of inspectors, a dirty blonde and a brunette, that showed up in his office, and not just by the unusual lateness of the hour.

"Yeah, I know it's late," chattered the one small woman holding a clipboard. Her brown pigtailed braids flopped down behind her back, reaching her waist from under the uniform cap, as she strode through the generator complex, her steps rapid enough that Samuel had to scurry to keep up. "Ain't nothin' doin' onnit, though. Ruttin' data-pushers done double-booked us, so now we gots ta work overtime." She glanced over at the huffing technician. "Sorry 'bout keepin' ya later'n yer used to."

"Oh, it's no bother, really," Samuel panted. "Um, could we perhaps slow down a bit?"

"Sorry, _huoban_ (buddy)!" she replied, slowing down only minutely. "Ferget folks can't keep up with me none when I gets excited." She raised her voice slightly. "Still with us, assistant?"

" _Shi a_ (yes, affirmative), boss," gasped the smaller but curvier woman who was trailing them. The short-haired woman with dark blond hair was lugging along a tool bag for entering into ducts if it were needed.

"So, I don't usually see inspectors this, well, young," the man began hesitantly.

"Oh sure, seems that way, but we been doin' this fer years now," the brunette replied carelessly. "Usually out onna Rim, but gots assigned here just a month ago. Seems a mite stricter hereabouts though." She looked over her shoulder, eyebrows raised. "Y'all c'n be a mite uptight in the Core, y'know?"

"I've heard that, yes," Samuel murmured. The brunette was rather cute and perky, an unusual sight at his place of work. "Um, I'd like to think I'm not so much. Uptight, that is."

"Well, good fer you!" she said cheerily as they entered into the control room. "So, where's all the folk who work here?"

"Oh, well, it's between shifts," he explained. "We monitor things remotely, but this room won't be occupied for another ten minutes or so."

"Perfect!" the young inspector cheered. "Give us the time ta be lookin' 'round so's they ain't gettin' underfoot. Now, assistant, you gots the control panels there, an' make sure ya check the wirin' this time, ya gots me?"

" _Shi a_ , boss," the other woman replied again meekly as she set her toolbag down next to the center console.

"Now then, let's take a look up inna rafters, yeah? Here, gimme a boost," she instructed as she stood under the ceiling access panel.

"Oh, certainly," Samuel replied. He carefully neglected to mention the nearby ladder, preferring to make himself useful instead. He bent down with his hands cupped for the diminutive woman to step in and then stood up high when she did so.

He tried not to sweat unduly at the close proximity of the attractive woman. "Um, so, I didn't catch your name..."

"Oh, I didn' tell ya?" the pigtailed woman replied casually, her voice muffled by virtue of it being stuck up inside the ceiling. "Sorry 'bout that. It's, um, Sara."

Samuel smiled. _Sara, what a pretty name_. He turned slightly at a noise that sounded suspiciously like a snort of amusement from behind the control panel but shrugged when it didn't repeat.

"So, Sara, do you have another appointment after this one? Or are you, er, perhaps free for the evening?"

He could have sworn there was another snort of laughter from behind the panel, louder this time, but it was covered up by an abrupt yelp as Sara banged her head from inside the access panel. She quickly withdrew, closing the panel behind her before jumping back down.

"Um, what wazzat?" she asked. Her cheeks had smudges of dirt on them, making her even more adorable in his eyes.

"I was, um... I was wondering if you were... were free after... this?" he stammered out.

Sara opened and closed her mouth wordlessly, her eyes wide and incredulous. Her assistant chose that time to extract from the panel and walk up, her eyes twinkling with humor and her face red from suppressed laughter.

"So, she's real flattered an' all, but she's already gots a date tonight," the assistant interjected.

"Oh," Samuel replied dejectedly, looking down at the floor. Sara smiled at her assistant gladly.

"Though mebbe y'all could exchange numbers, an' then mebbe she'll call ya later," the blonde amended mischievously.

"Really? Okay, yes that's great, come on down to my office and I'll give you a card..."

He didn't see behind his back how Sara's face dissolved into a fierce scowl, nor that she mouthed "I will hurt you," to her assistant. The latter just winked at her, unperturbed.

They managed to finish up the inspection, going over the schematics of the facility with only a superficial thoroughness, before the two women bid him goodnight.

On their way out, the brunette started to growl like a ferocious kitten. "I can't believe ya did that ta me none," Cali complained. "Yer my cousin, s'posed ta be lookin' out fer me."

Emily laughed heartedly. "Oh I'm sorry _baobei_ , that was just too funny... the look on 'is face, he wuz all moonstruck an' all..."

Cali sighed. "Yeah, okay, s'pose it wuz kinda funny."

"And you!" Emily exclaimed. "Sara? Really?"

"I panicked!" Cali protested as they climbed into their van, stolen from the inspector general maintenance lot after hours. "I fergot what it was s'posed ta be!"

Emily just laughed even harder as she slid into the passenger seat.

Cali chuckled back as she strapped in, then fished her comm unit out of her pocket and slipped it into her ear. "This is Six," she said. "Confirm deploy." She turned towards Emily and giggled. "I feel so ruttin' _huaidan_ (badass) sayin' that."

"I know, right?" Emily giggled back.

She received a response from Rain after a brief pause. "Roger that, Six. En route, get your _pigus_ to the rendezvous."

Cali rolled her eyes good-naturedly. "Yes, _jiejie,_ on our way."

She pulled the groundvan out onto the road, heading towards the spaceport in the fading light.

* * *

 _Fortune's Favour_. Inbound to Lake Londinium Landing Field.

Rain sat on the bridge of the _Favour_ , having timed their approach to begin with Cali's call. _Arya ready fer this,_ wo de ai _?_

_Ready an' waitin', Capt'n._

_Ain't Capt'n, I'm Third Officer._

_Nope,_ Feather replied cheerfully from her post in the engine room. _Yer rankin' officer, that makes ya Capt'n, since ya been left in charge._

_Don' s'pose that means yer gonna follow my orders none?_

_Mmmm... nope._

_Figured._

Finally ready to head in, Rain pulled the comm unit down. "Lake Londinium Landing Field Control, this's Firefly transport _Gideon Brown_ requestin' clearance fer a spot onna south pads."

"Confirm request, Firefly transport. Please transmit authorization."

Sighing irritably at the unnecessary red tape, Rain punched a few keys to send their forged authorization for the specific landing field area they needed, rather than a randomly assigned pad.

"Authorization received. Landing beacon is Delta Eighty-Niner, repeat Delta Eight Zero Niner."

"Confirm beacon Delta Eight Zero Niner," Rain replied, adjusting her course accordingly. "Thanks fer the help, Control."

_Alright, Feather-bear. Ready ta start with the random cuts in th' engine?_

_All set, I gots my hand on the regulator._

_Right, give it a go._

Immediately the ship began to dip slightly only to rise back up again. It made her insides a little queasy at first before the gravity would kick back in, but she clenched her teeth resolutely and began to jink her path slightly in time with the dips.

"Firefly transport _Gideon Brown_ , this is Lake Londinium Control. Your course had deviated."

Grinning, Rain picked the mike back up. "Roger that, Control, apologies but our thrusters are actin' a mite wonky on us. Our mechanic is workin' onnit, should be set 'fore we land."

 _Wonky?_ Feather laughed in her head. _Izzat the technical term fer it?_

 _Oh_ bi zui _. I'm tryin' ta be convincin' here._

With another nudge, she had the ship's course directly over where it needed to be, just outside what her original vector was but not enough to attract undue attention. Now their target area was directly in their path.

' _Member, love, ya only gets one shot at this,_ Feather cautioned. _Gotta make it work an' get it on target._

' _Course I'm on target. I made the calculations, an' my calculations-_

_Are always right._

_-are always right. Yeah, thanks, smartass._ The sounds of both of their giggles carried clearly across their mental bond.

_Yer so sexy when yer gettin' all serious, wife o' mine._

Rain laughed out loud. _Keep it up, hot stuff, an' yer gonna get it fer sure tonight._

_Oooohh, promise?_

She snickered, but then sobered as she spied the timer counting down. Within a few seconds, they were upon their target, and Rain quickly hit the switch to deploy an EMP mine from their rear launcher.

The large silvery object only had to fall a hundred meters, too close to the ground to show up on the radar. It plunged downward to crash through the roof of the central power plant for the block of the Parliament building.

They had set it to activate by timer and eleven seconds after drop, which was one second after it hit the roof, it did so. All of the power on the block went out suddenly as the controls and unshielded electronics throughout the plant, easily within the electromagnetic blast radius, were irreparably fried.

* * *

Outside Parliament Building Two. Londinium.

Parliament actually consisted of two separate buildings. Parliament One was a massive dome that housed all of the representatives when it came time for discussions or voting. It was highly secure, with numerous checkpoints to keep the common rabble from interrupting those who had the Alliance's best interests at heart, or so they claimed.

The second building, Parliament Two, was a towering structure, slim against the skyline of Londinium like a jutting needle. Offices were arranged by seniority of service in Parliament. And as the members typically had lifelong terms, the shuffle towards the top was usually a slow affair.

The ground team was huddled together in the back of an unmarked delivery hovertruck across the street from the Parliamentary offices, save for Keith who sat casually in the driver's seat. "Standby," he murmured over his shoulder.

"See anythin' yet?" Dani asked tensely.

"If I saw anything, I wouldn't have told you to standby," Keith retorted humorously. "I would have said, let's go."

His sister snorted. "Yer sucha _chwen_ (dumbass)," she muttered.

" _Yao wo_ (bite me)," he laughed in return.

" _Piyan_ (asshole)."

"Okay, seriously, stop," Sara snickered. "Ya'll are terrible."

"He started it," Dani mumbled.

"Did not."

"Did too."

" _Ta ma de yuangu_ (for fucks sake)," Jess laughed.

Their banter was halted by the sight through the windshield of the traffic light ahead as it went dark along with the streetlights. Traffic around them ground to a halt, and one by one the buildings around them started to blink out as well.

"Parliament blacked out?" Jess asked tensely.

"For now..." Keith murmured. "Okay, they just flickered on again, backup generator online." He held up a small black remote, smirking. "And now back offline," he amended as he pressed the button.

Several kilometers away in the backup power plant complex, the thermal bomb that Emily planted behind the control panel did its job, incinerating the electronics and shorting out the entire system. The plant would go into emergency mode, but unfortunately, the sprinkler system had been disabled by Cali up above in the ceiling, and the fire burned out the entire control room.

The Parliament building lost all power for good, save for battery-powered emergency lighting.

"Showtime," Keith grinned, gunning the engine and throwing it into gear.

The hovertruck sailed across the street, winding through the stopped vehicles until it reached the front of the Parliament building. With a roar, it continued forward to crash straight into the lobby through the large glass front doors.

Immediately the side door was thrown open and Dani and Jess leaped out. The lanky brunette had her Ares pistol out in a classic firing stance, while the raven-haired beauty had her hands filled with her Beretta pistols. They quickly opened fire on the stunned security personnel that had been in the lobby, dropping all five of them.

"Clear!" Dani shouted, stepping forward to move away from the van.

The rest of the team filed out. Keith took point, covering the lobby, while Jess and Dani holstered their sidearms. Lori handed their long guns to them and then shouldered her own Callahan rifle, as Sara joined Keith with her custom Nova held at the ready.

Last out of the van was Kelly. The former Agent had a pair of black bags with her, and she walked over to the reception desk and placed them on the floor before crouching to unzip them. Working with sure hands she pulled out several pistols, submachine guns, magazine reloads, and micro-grenades, and set them arrayed out on the counter.

"Alright, Seven, you've got the exit," Keith rumbled.

"Roger that, One, I'll keep the back door open." The small blonde woman picked up one of the submachine guns, a Skorpion model from Keith's collection, and racked the slide before placing it down. She lovingly picked up another one, longer but still compact. "I like this one," she grinned.

"That's my SIG Black Mamba," Keith retorted. "Be nice to it."

"Oh, I will," the former Agent smirked. "Promise I'll be gentle."

Keith grinned back as the others laughed, breaking up their nervousness. "I still want them all back when I return."

Kelly laughed and rolled her eyes. "Yes, One, I'll give you your toys back when I'm done."

The group of five headed down past the useless elevators to the sole stairwell in the slim tower. At one time there might have been some sort of fire code that would require multiple emergency exits, and such could be found throughout the Border and Rim, but here on the Core? The possibility of completely losing power was unheard-of. Until now, of course.

Keith shouldered the door open and poked his rifle upwards, searching for targets in the dim emergency lighting. "Clear," he whispered.

The others filed inside, starting up the stairs. Sara had the lead, followed by Dani and Keith, and then Lori and Jess bringing up the rear.

"This was the part I weren't lookin' forward to none," Dani grumbled.

"Sez the woman who planned the whole gorram thing," Lori snarked quietly.

"Heard that."

"Weren't tryin' ta be subtle-like none, _wo de ai_."

" _Wen wo de pigu_ (kiss my ass)."

"If'n ya'd slow down a bit I could..."

"Just once," Keith sighed dramatically, sighting along his assault rifle up into the gloom ahead. "Just gorram once I'd like to have some sort of operational integrity once we actually started on an operation. You know, finesse. Just. Once."

"Hey now, I ruttin' bleed finesse," Dani snarked.

They had made it up three flights so far, and any comeback was derailed by the soldiers who barged into the stairwell from the next floor above them. The pair in front of the procession froze as they spied the armed and armored individuals heading their way, the ones behind them piling up with noises of complaint.

Their protests changed to panicked shouts as Sara quickly shot the first ones through the throat. Both Dani and Keith were but a split second behind her in opening fire as well.

The burly former Spec Forces trooper sent highly accurate short bursts of fire into the ranks of soldiers as they desperately tried to retreat back out of the stairwell. The armor-piercing bullets cleaved through their purple-hued armor as if it were aluminum siding on a rickety house.

Dani had loaded her Ares Devastator auto shotgun with AP slugs, and they tore horrific holes into the soldiers. A few of them passed right through to hit the ones behind them.

In short order, there were bodies strewn along the stairs, and quiet again filled the vertical passageway.

"Let's move!" Keith barked, the need for further stealth discarded.

They rapidly but carefully picked their way past the previous slaughter and headed up another two flights. Soldiers would occasionally poke their heads out, searching for the source of the commotion, only to have fire rain up or down on their heads. Eventually, their luck would run out, but for the time being the response was still disorganized.

That changed by the time they reached the eighth floor.

The door two flights down banged open and a mix of security personnel and armored soldiers filled the stairway, rapidly firing their assault rifles and handguns.

Jess and Lori were ready for them and answered the incoming fire with that of their own. They backed up as quickly as possible to follow behind the others, but it was impossible for them to completely avoid all of the bullets filling the area.

One spread found its mark, ripping into Jess. A trio of hits stabbed through her thigh and calf, others ricocheting off of her torso armor and the wall behind her as she moved along a landing in between levels.

Jess let out a scream of pain and collapsed against the wall, slumping to the floor and leaving a bloody smear behind her. " _Ta ma de tyen-shia suoyo de run di gai sai_ (fuck everybody in the universe to death)!" she hissed out between clenched teeth as she dropped her Callahan and clutched her wounded leg with both hands.

Keith was quickly by her side as Lori and Dani took up flanking positions. The redheaded sniper sent bursts of highly accurate fire down to take out those incautious enough to poke their heads out into the stairwell, while Dani bent down to pull Jess's Callahan rifle back in. She abandoned her efforts after she noticed the rifle had taken several hits as well, shattering the magazine receiver and damaging the grenade launcher attachment as well as leaving a noticeable dent in the barrel.

Working with quick but sure hands, Keith had his wife bandaged up in no time. He pulled a smoother out of the first aid kit and gave her a hit of it, enough to dull the pain but not her senses overly.

"Five, stay with Three, alright?" Keith asked rather than ordered.

Lori nodded determinedly. "I'll take care of 'er, One," she promised firmly.

Dani sent another pair of rounds from her shotgun down the stairwell, the slugs catching one soldier in the shoulder and making him scream in pain while the second one smashed through another's helmet, killing him instantly. They were her last shells, and she was out of reloads, so she set it down next to the ruined Callahan and pulled out her Ares pistol. Scooting back, she turned to her wife and planted a fierce kiss on her lips. "No heroics, right?"

Lori grinned back. "Ain't a concern, _wo de ai_. 'Sides, it's you I gotta worry 'bout."

The lanky brunette gave a look of mock offense. "Hey, it's me!" With that, she scurried up the steps to join Sara who was patiently guarding the door by the next level.

"Exactly," Lori sighed, setting up with her rifle to cover the stairway below them.

Keith leaned in to grab Jess in a tight but careful hug, nonetheless causing her to wince in pain. He gently placed his assault rifle in her hands along with all of his remaining clips.

"You come back alive to me, you hear?" she whispered fiercely, refusing to let the tears fall from her eyes. "We've still got to make ourselves a baby."

Keith grinned at her, full of confidence. "Nothing in the 'Verse will keep me from you, love," he replied warmly.

With a last kiss on her lips, he jumped back up and hurried after the other two.

* * *

Twelfth Floor Lobby.  
Parliament Building Two. Londinium.

Fifteen sweating and nervous armed men waited in the lobby outside the stairwell. They were security guards, normally a nice plumb position as they rarely had to secure much there in the seat of political power for the Alliance. Today, though, they were earning their pay.

Or at least, they would have, were they not mere obstacles in the way of a set of very determined folk with a mind for violence tonight.

The door from the stairwell banged open suddenly and all of the men began rapidly firing their pistols, filling the space with a deadly barrage of bullets as they emptied their magazines, some letting out panicked yells. Had anyone actually been standing in the doorway, they would have been quite perforated.

Instead, a dull metal oblong canister came rolling out from around the corner and into the center of the mass of bodies, igniting with a brilliant flash. The concussive charge sent men flying backward, some into each other, and the elegant furniture and artwork into shattered pieces.

On the heels of the explosion, three figures slipped into the room. While the larger two had their handguns out, quickly placing precise bullets into the brainpans of any security personnel left alive, the smaller of the trio had a pair of knives out that she used with deadly efficiency. After a mere fifteen seconds, the room was cleared.

"That the last of 'em?" Dani asked warily.

"Seems ta be," Sara replied, searching through the rubble and bodies.

Keith grunted, checking his pistol. "I've got three shots left. You?"

"Oh I'm out," Sara replied cheerfully, patting her pistol in its holster. "Ran dry some time ago."

"I've got... one in the chamber still," Dani commented as she slid her empty magazine out and then back in again with a snort of disgust. "Hopefully not too many in the next antechamber."

Keith sighed. "Should have taken a few more grenades from Kelly," he grumbled.

"Don' be like that," Dani smirked. "Ya know she's puttin' them ta good use. Should we pick up some of these _gou se_ pistols?"

"Not yet, likely all empty now in any case," Keith said. "Let's see what we have left before we resort to leftovers."

The three stepped forward to flank the set of double-doors in front of them, cautiously pushing them open. Inside was a large, extravagantly-furnished waiting room. Besides numerous couches lining the walls, there was a large reception desk to the right, currently abandoned. In fact, the room was disturbingly empty.

They carefully crept forward into the room which rivaled the _Favour_ 's cargo hold in size. "This seem a mite too easy fer y'all?" Dani murmured cautiously.

All three whirled about as a side door opened. Out strode the Operative, still in her plain blue jumpsuit but a look of fierce determination in her eyes.

"Ya hadta say somethin'," Sara snarked out of the corner of her mouth.

" _W'rin bu lai_ (things never go smooth)," Dani sighed. "'Course, wouldn't be us none if'n it did," she amended thoughtfully.

"I've been awaiting our rematch, Sara," the woman practically purred. She slipped her right hand out from behind her, and it was holding another razor-sharp blade in her hand. Sara noted that she seemed to have already had a thumb graft attached.

"Yep, wonders of Core medtech," Sara snickered. "Still hurt like a _biao zi_ (bitch) I 'magine, yeah?"

The Operative didn't reply, but her good mood evaporated. "None of you will make it out of here alive. I guarantee it."

"Sorry, um, Nimona, was it?" Dani grinned roguishly. "We're kinda hard ta kill, if'n ya ain't noticed yet. Might take some effort."

The use of her real name caused the Operative to flinch, her eye ticking with the effort not to snarl and lunge to the attack immediately.

"Oooh, struck a nerve there _Kaasan_ ," Sara noted humorously.

"I will kill you first, Sara," the woman gritted out through clenched teeth. "And after you have watched me do so, I will eliminate the rest of you like the vermin you are."

"Vermin, huh?" Dani tried to stay nonchalant, but glanced worriedly at Sara, knowing she was still recovering from her earlier wounds. "Y'know, ya don' have to fight fair none."

Sara grinned wickedly. "Weren't plannin' on it." She turned her gaze over towards Keith. "Shall we?"

Keith returned her grin with a dark one of his own. "Why, _wai sheng nu_ , it'd be my genuine pleasure."

Taking that as her cue, Dani turned and sprinted towards the door to the rear of the antechamber. Both Sara and Keith moved to separate from each other, but the Operative's first strike wasn't directed at either of them. Instead, her left hand whipped forward to send a throwing knife hurtling at the lanky captain.

It hit her in the back of her left thigh with a meaty _thunk_. Dani grunted in pain but kept moving forward, shouldering into the door to lurch through and quickly closing it behind her.

"Shouldn'ta done that, _biao zi_ ," Sara snarled. "Now I'm gonna make this hurt."

The Operative smiled slowly, perhaps a little maniacally. "I'm not going to underestimate you again. Let's do this."

* * *

Stairwell.  
Parliament Building Two. Londinium.

Lori sighted down her rifle. Towards the bottom of the stairwell, there were a few incautious reinforcements making their way forward. And they needed a proper introduction to the current party in progress.

Her Callahan barked four times, echoing through the column of steel and concrete. The redheaded sniper quickly pulled back, and sure enough, the soldiers on the next level down decided to try their luck again. Jess, flat on her belly next to her, was ready and waiting.

The raven-haired woman lay down a barrage of automatic fire from her husband's assault rifle, adroitly breaking up the attempted rush, the soldiers falling over themselves and their dead comrades to retreat back towards cover.

As Lori slapped a fresh magazine home, a silver cylinder shot upwards from the level below. Thinking quickly, she reached out with her left hand and swatted it mid-air to reverse its direction, then crouched back against the wall again.

After the flash grenade went off below them, bathing the pair of women in bright light and inflicting upon them a harsh ringing in their ears, Lori poked the snout of her rifle over once more. Her gun barked another three times before she swung back again.

"How many does that make for you?" Jess asked with forced casualness once the ringing subsided, her shallow breathing sounding slightly raspy from her position.

"Fourteen. You?"

"Twenty-one."

Lori snorted. "Gimme time, I'll catch up."

Jess gave a painful but subdued groan and set the assault rifle to the side so that she could stretch her wounded leg out. The grenade launcher attachment showed a steady red status light, as she'd exhausted its supply some time ago. "This is Three, anybody copy?" Their communications had been sporadic in the stairwell, and they had completely lost contact with the others who went further ahead.

There was a harsh screeching noise that came through before they could just barely hear Kelly's voice. "...here. How-" _static hiss_ "-doing?"

"Hanging tight," Jess replied nonchalantly. "You going to have takeout ready for us when we get back, Seven?"

"Oh-" _static hiss_ "-out a doubt. How-" _static hiss_ "-bout sushi?"

"Sounds good. Hey, how many are you up to?"

There was no further response, though Jess repeated her question twice more. She sighed and gave up the effort for now.

Lori heard the faint scrape of a boot and scooted over a meter to the left before leaning back over. Shots whizzed past her previous position, but her rifle barked four more times before she ducked back again.

"Sixteen," she commented with an air of indifference.

"With four shots?" Jess asked curiously.

"Double tap," the redhead smirked.

Jess rolled her eyes and grinned wanly, pulling the rifle back towards her as she scooted into position again. Neither woman commented on the slight red stain she left on the floor. She was as bandaged as she could be without cutting off the circulation to her leg or becoming completely immobile.

There were a few seconds of silence as the pair waited for the next rush. "Y'know they're gonna come back, right?" Lori queried softly.

"Oh, I know it," Jess replied just as quietly, inserting another fresh magazine into her husband's carbine. "The one thing we can always count on, as crazy as it gets, us _Favour_ crew always come back."

"Right," Lori affirmed.

The two women lifted their rifles again as the sound of pounding boots reached their ears. Neither one voiced their concern that perhaps they were trying just as hard to convince themselves of that fact.

* * *

Twelfth Floor Lobby.  
Parliament Building Two. Londinium.

Keith and Sara stood somewhat apart but within lunging range of the Operative. Each eyed the other, waiting for a twitch or eye movement to indicate an impending action.

The burly former trooper moved first, swinging his Ares pistol up in what he thought was blinding speed. Of course, for an Operative, it was almost languid. She took a quick step to the side, out of reach from a strike from Sara, and spun to knock his gun out of his hand with a stinging kick to his wrist. She quickly spun back, pulling another knife into her left hand as she did so, and ended up in a wary crouch. Sara had attempted to follow through but pulled up at the last second to crouch defensively herself.

Keith briefly glanced over towards the couch that his gun had slid beneath, shaking his hand out, before shrugging and pulling his own combat knife out from behind his back. "Well, so much for the easy way," he smirked. Unlike the other two women, he stood with his left arm extended to ward off attacks and his knife hand close to his chest, his torso pivoted so that his right side was slightly away from his target.

The standoff ended as both Sara and Nimona launched simultaneously into deadly action, with a speed that Keith had difficulty tracking. It took him all of three seconds to realize he was in far over his head. The best he could hope for was to provide a useful distraction for Sara to get in closer, but if that was what it took, Keith resolved to do so.

He took a sidestep to try and flank the Operative, but the woman sent a flying kick out which staggered him back again. Sara spun low in front of him, trying to sweep her feet out. Keith managed to recover quickly and lunged forward to keep the other woman off balance.

The raven-haired woman leaped over Sara's leg and somersaulted backwards, slashing out with her blades. One of them barely whisked over Sara's hair while the other hit Keith's blade, sending a jolt through his arm and a sound of ringing metal through their impromptu combat arena.

The Operative landed gracefully, stabbing downwards where the small brunette had been, though she'd already started to tumble out of the way. Her roll coincidentally put her in a better flanking position, and Keith moved in close again to keep her occupied so that his niece could get a clear strike. Nimona slashed outwards without even looking, causing him to lean back slightly to avoid the slash, having already been warned by Sara about the armor-slicing capabilities of her blades.

He turned the action into a low spin, attempting to duplicate Sara's earlier foot-sweep. He'd done it a thousand times in sparring practice, not to mention actual hand-to-hand fighting. It was a close combat maneuver that was ingrained into him.

Unfortunately, that was a weakness when going up against the deadly woman he was fighting.

She countered the move by hooking her own leg back and knocking him off-balance while still swinging her blades to intercept Sara's dual slices. Keith was momentarily stunned as he lay on his back, allowing Nimona to focus all of her attention on the other girl.

Were Sara in her peak form she could have given the Operative a decent fight, as was evidenced by the earlier altercation back on Osiris. Having an extra-sharp blade of her own would have somewhat tipped the balance in her favor. Now, however, she was still recovering from her wounds in that previous fight, and Nimona's sharp senses had already detected her slower movements, the way she favored her sides, and the slight tang of blood on the air that might have been from wounds beginning to reopen.

The Operative struck out rapidly, batting Sara's whirling blades away until she could plant a solid kick into her side. Just as Keith staggered to his feet, Sara went sailing backwards to skid to a halt on the floor, unmoving.

Keith's eyes widened, but he didn't have the time to even react as he found himself under a furious assault. The best he could do was continue to back up out of the range of those deadly blades while evading them, but he ran out of room in short order as his back hit the wall.

The raven-haired woman easily slipped inside Keith's defenses, thrusting upwards with a deft motion to impale Keith's right forearm against the panel behind him. He let out a snarl of pain as his fingers involuntarily flexed open, dropping his knife to the floor. Before he could twist his body any further or bring his other arm to bear, she had her other blade up and held between them. With a quick jerk, she pushed it into his chest, stopping only millimeters from his heart.

Keith stilled immediately, as the cold wash of fear spread through his veins like ice, pushing aside the pain for now. He could hardly dare to breathe with the blade so close to ending his life. His left hand was wrapped around the Operative's surprisingly strong arm that held the knife, though he didn't try to divert it. She had the angle and the leverage and could easily push it the rest of the way if he even flinched, and they both knew it.

"Well, Sergeant Major," Nimona said in a low mocking voice, less than a meter separating them, "I suppose I'll just have to take your life first then, won't I?"

Keith had any number of witty responses on the tip of his tongue, though unfortunately none of them really seemed relevant at that point. When he noticed a slight movement out of the corner of his eye he instead just smirked in the traditional Grant fashion.

Her eyebrows furrowed and she opened her mouth to speak again, but it was cut off with a breathy squeak. Her dark eyes got wide, and her grip on both blades loosened until her arms dropped to her sides. She staggered back a step before falling to her knees limply.

Standing behind her, looking like a fierce but ragged angel of death, was Sara.

Keith sighed in relief as the blade slipped out of his chest, and reached over to tug the other one out of his forearm. He sagged down to sit at the base of the wall, letting the knife fall to the floor as he yanked open his chest armor and then fumbled for medical patches.

The blade that Sara had taken from the Operative back on Osiris had cut through the rear of the woman's armor like it was flimsi. It entered just to the left of her spine, the fourth lumbar down. With a slight twist, she ripped to the side and through it, causing Nimona to cough up a small rivulet of blood.

The brunette leaned over with one hand on the Operative's shoulder and brushed the woman's ear with her lips. "Abdominal aorta, my favorite spot," Sara purred, as the life slowly went out of Nimona's dark eyes. "Such a gusher."

Sara pulled the knife out the rest of the way and let the corpse fall gracelessly to the side.

Keith had managed to extract a sterile bandage from his pouch and slapped it over his oozing chest wound with his left hand, sealing it up tight and keeping pressure on it while staring numbly at his right forearm. It was dripping blood onto the floor steadily.

"I gots ya," Sara said gently, slipping another pair out of his first aid kit. She wrapped them around his forearm and pressed them together, earning an involuntary wince.

Keith glanced over at Sara's torso. Both sides were bleeding where the stitches had torn, but the one side that the Operative had landed the kick upon had a bloody patch in the shape of a footprint. "Need to get to you as well," he grunted.

"I c'n keep," she murmured. "Fer a few tics. Let's get yer bleedin' stopped first, yeah?"

Keith nodded wearily, and leaned his head back against the wall, closing his eyes and breathing deeply.

"That was close," he rumbled quietly.

"It was," she replied nonchalantly.

"Owe you my life, _wai sheng nu_ (niece, sister's daughter)."

"Nah ya don' none. Ain't any more'n ya'd done fer me. S'what family's fer, right _jiu jiu_ (uncle, mother's brother)?"

"That it is. Still." He opened his eyes then, looking right into hers. "Thank you, Sara."

The young woman smiled back. "Yer welcome, Uncle Keith. Why doncha thank me proper-like now an' get me patched up while we wait fer _Kaasan_ ta get back."

* * *

Representative Cavendish's Office.  
Parliament Building Two. Londinium.

Dani staggered down the hallway and through the next antechamber until she reached the pretentiously gilded office doors. With a grunt of effort she pushed the door open with her shoulder, peering inside. So far as she could make out, there was only one individual inside. He was silhouetted against the large floor-to-ceiling windows where distant lights provided the only illumination.

She limped further in as her eyes adjusted. She could make out the impeccably tailored suit that the man wore, even though his back was to her as he stared out across the night sky.

"It's even more beautiful with all the lights out," she heard him murmur.

Turning, he regarded Dani with black, empty eyes. "So we finally meet, Captain Grant. You know, it didn't have to be like this."

Dani barked out a laugh as she stopped in the middle of the office and yanked the blade out of the back of her leg, letting it fall to the carpet. "What, I s'pose this is where you tell me yer motivation, how all this's fer the greater good of th' Alliance? Try an' sway me to yer side with flowery words, appeal to my sense of nobility'r honor?"

As he opened his mouth to reply, she quickly drew her reliable Ares pistol and shot him clean through the right eye with her last round, causing a spray of blood to splatter against the window behind him. She looked on dispassionately as he slumped across his desk, blood seeping out to cover the surface.

"This ain't the vids," she said grimly as she holstered her sidearm. _An' that's fer Lexi an' Mike an' all th' others, you ruttin'_ wang ba _(son of a bitch)_.

Nodding to herself in satisfaction, she pulled out an EMP grenade she had reserved for this very purpose, set the timer for fifteen seconds, turned and limped back out, tossing the grenade behind her to roll under the desk and fry the electronics there once she departed. "Two here. It's done. Ready for extract."

* * *

Twelfth Floor Lobby.  
Parliament Building Two. Londinium.

Dani had limped back to where Sara and Keith were huddled against each other, sitting upright but with the wall behind them for support. She grinned as she staggered over to them. "Willya lookit the lazy crew I done gots."

Sara glared up at her incredulously. "Lazy? Really _Kaasan_ , ya wanna get started with me here?"

"Don't go too hard on her, _baobei_ ," Keith rumbled humorously. "She's always had a few screws loose in her accelerator core."

"Hey now, I resemble that comment," Dani said cheerfully as she slumped to the ground on the other side of her brother. "Spare a bandage fer yer _xiong jiao_ (handsome hero) capt'n?"

Sara snorted out a laugh. "Yer inna good mood," she commented as she tossed a sterile patch from her medkit across Keith's torso.

Dani neatly snagged it out of the air. "Yep. Been a good end to a bad couple'a days. Be even better if'n we c'n collect ev'ryone an' hightail it outta here." She slid the foot of her wounded leg towards her so that her knee was in the air and then used her own knife to widen the hole behind her thigh. Once done, she sealed her wound up, not bothering to put pressure on it. If it leaked, well then, it leaked. She had places to be.

"Alright," Keith groaned as he lurched to his feet. "For the record, though, I have a hole in my chest."

"Really?" Dani asked curiously, her eyes glinting with humor. "S'pose it matches the one in yer head then, yeah?"

"Just for that you can get up on your own," Keith grumbled, reaching over for Sara with his good arm. His niece grinned up at him gratefully as she bounced to her feet, grimacing in pain afterward at the sudden movement.

"Ya wound me, _didi_ ," the lanky captain snarked, rolling onto her knees and then staggering to her feet to follow the other two into the stairwell.

They quickly called down to make sure the others were still alive and to prevent them from getting shot at. Lori, by this point, had several grazes as well as a few holes from shrapnel, which Jess shared, but nothing serious. They were all patched up, and by the time the trio reached them, were ready and waiting to hike down the rest of they way.

It was a long and painful journey.

They had to practically climb over a few walls of corpses, but the less-wounded of the group pulled and pushed enough to clear a path for the rest. No more reinforcements arrived, and nobody else impeded their progress, almost as if the fight had completely gone out of them. They did have one frightened bureaucrat poke his head out into the stairwell as they reached that level, and it was only the extreme exhaustion of the ground team that prevented him from getting his head reflexively blown off. As it was, he simply let out a startled squawk and ducked back in, slamming the door closed.

"Seven, you copy?" Keith asked into the comm. They'd rigged up a sling for him to prevent his right arm from moving around and start bleeding all over the place again, though he could feel a trickle of blood leaking from his chest wound.

"Roger that, One, back door still open."

"We're almost to the bottom, don't shoot us when we exit. Got enough holes as it is."

With that, Lori pushed her shoulder into the door and opened it. She was supporting Jess with one arm, and once through turned to allow Dani to take her other arm. Sara followed close behind, holding her arms around her chest tenderly, wincing in pain with each step. Keith came through last, careful not to hit his wounded arm against the doorframe.

The group stopped and looked at the scene in front of them incredulously.

Kelly was standing behind the reception desk still. The piles of bodies were stacked up past the level of the countertop, spilling out to fill and block the entire front of the lobby. The number of corpses was immeasurable, but the former Agent stood there calmly with a pistol in her hand pointed up at the ceiling, not a scratch on her as evidenced by the rotating blue and white lights from the military response team vehicles outside.

"Well," Jess finally commented weakly. "Good thing we're not going out the way we came."

"Wasn't too worried about blocking the front door," Kelly agreed. She slipped the pistol behind her back, bent down, and grabbed the handles of the two bags, considerably lighter now with the expenditure of most of the armaments. Standing back up, she gave them all a very Grant-like smirk. "Let's go, people."

"Yep, time ta be makin' tracks fer home," Dani grinned back.

They exited towards the rear of the building, through a door into the alleyway secured from entry after business hours. Kelly led the way as they walked, or limped, around the Parliament building and crossed the street behind to where their Mule was left in a normal parking space along the side of the road.

Lori leaned over as they reached their getaway vehicle. "Hey, looks like our time expired. We gots a ticket."

It started out as a giggle, but quickly dissolved into uproarious laughter as the stress from the last hour or so finally caught up to them. They managed to secure themselves and their belongings before Lori started the engine up, sailing off into the pitch-black night towards the starport and their home.

* * *

 _IAV Endeavor._ En route to Athens. Georgia.

Petty Officer Kacy Wilson sat numbly on the edge of her bunk bed. Her eyes were red from the tears she'd been shedding, having reviewed the Wave from her sister yet again, informing her of their parent's demise. That, and of who was responsible.

"Cavendish," she muttered angrily under her breath, wiping away her tears furiously.

The main _hundan_ (bastard) who orchestrated everything was dead by her _gu ma_ 's (aunt, father's sister) hand, his _biao zi_ (bitch) progeny by her _tang mei_ 's (younger female cousin, father's side).

All that was left was Commander Cavendish of the Alliance Navy, untouchable by the crew of the _Fortune's Favour_.

"But not by me," she whispered to herself with a grim smile. "You need to know what happens when you _ta ma de gen women_ (fuck with us), Commander."

Kacy was a comptech within the Alliance Navy, trained with government funding, but she'd picked up quite a bit more than that under the tutelage of certain less-than-scrupulous supervisors. While she wasn't nearly at the competency level of Kelly, she was a decent hacker in her own right.

She stood up to wash her face and then change into fresh service coveralls. Placing her cap firmly on her head, she irrevocably erased the message and then strode confidently through the maze of corridors towards her duty station.

It took her a good fifteen minutes to get to the monitoring room, but as always she was slightly early. The midshipman she was due to replace was waiting eagerly and hopped up as she strode in, relinquishing his chair for her.

As Kacy sat down, an olive-skinned brunette next to her glanced over in concern. "What are you doing?" she whispered.

"It's my shift, Jenny," Kacy whispered back as she logged into the system.

"But..." Jenny paused, glancing around. "Your parents..."

"I need to be doing something," the blonde woman replied firmly. "Not just sitting around."

Jenny nodded sympathetically and gave her another look of concern before turning back to her own console.

It took Kacy all of a few minutes of work for Commander Cavendish of the Alliance Naval Intelligence Group to now become a Browncoat sympathizer, according to new information gleaned from the raids on the New Resistance cells. Apparently, he was a traitor as well, planning on turning over Alliance munitions to the Independence movement. With a little creative effort, his career was now officially ruined, and he would likely end up before a firing squad to boot.

And, since it was all done within the Alliance military network, it took only a little extra effort to make the work done completely untraceable.

The blonde cracked her neck to each side and flexed her fingers. She pulled up her usual working screen to troubleshoot an annoying problem with the port regulators on the massive cruiser. It was fairly benign, but the power fluctuations were traced back to a software problem. Perusing what had been done already by her coworkers allowed her mind to wander.

She'd never been a firm believer in the Alliance. She was raised as a child of a former Browncoat and had plenty of family members who had similar leanings. She'd managed to get into the Academy on her skills and potential alone, though her upbringing would always bar her from being an officer.

Kacy also knew there were others within the Alliance Navy, right on her cruiser in fact, who felt the same way. They glanced over their shoulders to make sure there were no officers in hearing range, sure, but they were just as bitterly despondent about the methods the Alliance used as any member of the New Resistance might have been. Especially after the Miranda incident. And speaking of other crew members of a like mind...

"Hey, Jenny," she whispered.

"Mmm?" the brunette petty officer responded quietly.

"You free after shift?"

The woman next to her gave an anticipatory and sultry grin. "Your bunk or mine?"

* * *

Outbound from Londinium. White Sun.

The crew had managed to rendezvous back with the _Favour_ and get airborne again without further difficulty. Dani limped her way onto the bridge after getting Kelly to do a decent patch job on her leg. She'd made sure to first give Rain the order to lift, as she didn't want to wait for a planet-wide lockdown once their activities were discovered.

Once she was up there she eased her way into the chair with a grateful sigh. Rain looked over at her concernedly. "Ya get hurt, _Kaasan_?"

"Nothin' I can't handle none," the lanky captain grunted. "Seems we all took a beatin', 'xept fer Kelly o' course." She looked over her console, making sure their scanners were clear. "Tell ya what, plot us a course towards Kalidasa, but a roundabout way. We're in no hurry, an' I wanna stay outside the normal shipping lanes, yeah?"

"Gotcha," Rain replied, her eyebrows furrowed in concentration as she worked.

"An' then you an' Feather get some rack time. I gots first shift."

"Ya sure?" Rain asked, looking up after their course was set in.

"Yep," Dani replied softly. "I just wanna lil' time with my girl here."

"Alright, _Kaasan_ ," Rain murmured. She rose and leaned over to plant a kiss on her forehead before heading off of the bridge. Dani could overhear her conversation with Sara out in the hallway as she came back from getting herself patched up as well. The small brunette was telling her _jiejie_ about the set of three knives she now owned, especially sharp and notably marked on the blades. Eventually, she heard murmurs of goodnight from her three children and her daughter-in-law and answered them in turn as they all headed down and closed their bunks behind them.

"Caliii," Sara's voice called out over the intercom from her bunk not two minutes later. "Why am I gettin' a Wave from some fella called Samuel, an' why izze askin' me fer a date? This's yer fault, ain't it?"

"I gots no idea, honest!" Cali's protestation of innocence was spoiled somewhat by the giggles that she could not contain.

"Caliope Grant, you get yer _pigu_ over here an' 'xplain yerself!" Sara barked out. "Don' make me haul my wounded self over inta yer room, yer gonna regret it if'n I hafta!"

Dani reached up to flip a switch on the intercom. "Sara."

"Yeah, _Kaasan_?"

"Go to sleep. That goes fer ev'ryone, all of y'all get some rack time. We earned it today."

She didn't get any response, though she expected none. She had already sent Lori off to bed and was pretty sure she'd started snoring the second her face hit the pillow. Keith and Jess were spending the night in the infirmary, as Jess's leg was too injured to lower her into the bunk just yet, and Keith needed to stay immobile to let his chest wound heal properly. Kelly would check in on the couple in a few hours, but Dani had told her and Emily to get some sleep as soon as they finished tending to the others.

After perhaps another twenty minutes there was a soft beep on the console indicating they were now moving away from the outbound Londinium shipping lanes. The scope was still clear, so there was nobody to see them slip away into the Black.

Relieved, she sat back to muse on the ramifications of the day's activities. For good or worse, they'd removed a major player in keeping the Alliance stable. She wasn't sure how she felt about that, as far as the big picture went. Was stability worth it if the one controlling things was the type of man Cavendish had been?

Dani snorted to herself. Obviously not, and in any case, she was better off not trying to suss out the machinations of governments and planets. She was still flying, and that was the important part. For all she knew, war might be even closer on the horizon because of the recent leak of the Miranda disaster to the populace of the Alliance.

After only another minute's introspection, she decided she was okay with that idea. Perhaps a little change was in order. There was a war fought a little over eight years ago on that very notion, and the idea had just as much merit now as it did then, perhaps even more so.

She sighed again, leaning her head back against her seat. For the time being, they needed to stay away from the Core and stick to the Rim worlds for jobs. Who knew how actively they were being searched for? She made a mental note to ask Kelly and Keith to do some checking into that, it'd be nice to know how lightly they still needed to step. Also to know whether or not they could return to Aberdeen anytime soon.

Dani didn't want to change the name on the side of her ship as it felt almost like an affront on their home. Still, they might need to do so in the short run in case someone on a landing pad got a close look. She had an unused set of transponders to carefully manage, they should suffice to slip them in and out of ports without undue notice.

She smiled slightly to herself, resolving to stick with their current transponder that they used to escape from Londinium. She thought the name attached to it, _Vengeance,_ was quite apt for the time being.

 _Though mebbe_ Remembrance _might be a better fit..._

Tears started to fill her eyes as she finally allowed herself to grieve for those who had been lost, now that the mission was over. Alexis, Mike and Julie, Tom, even Betty and her family. The shock of losing so many people who were close to her, so close together, left her emotions raw and ragged, and she spent the next half hour sobbing on the bridge until she had purged herself.

_Yer crew's safe. Yer still flyin'. Ain't much more ta ask fer outta life at the moment._

She sniffled a few times and wiped her face with the hem of her shirt. Pausing, she sniffed suspiciously at it and realized she hadn't changed since returning from the mission. In fact, she was pretty gorram grungy and smelled like she'd dragged herself through the engine room of a Trans-U.

Hearing a soft noise from behind her, Dani turned to spy Rain walking onto the bridge, a soft smile on her face and dressed in clean shipboard clothes. Her black tee shirt read ' _Sarcasm: Just Another Service I Offer_.'

" _Kaasan_ , go get ta bed," the pixie-haired murmured.

"I gots this, ya need yer sleep as well-"

"An' we got a good nap," Rain interrupted firmly as she sat in her usual chair. "We've been through a whole lot less than y'all have." She looked over at her console, somewhat embarrassed as she fiddled with the controls. "'Sides, I've been listenin' to ya, an' I know yer even more exhausted now. So, go get with yer wife, it'll make ya feel better."

Dani smiled at her eldest daughter, not ashamed in the slightest that her mourning had been overheard in a fashion. "An' what about yer own wife?"

"Present!" a cheery voice called out from the doorway. Feather entered, dressed in fresh shorts and tee shirt, her hands filled with a pair of mugs of what smelled like hot cocoa. The auburn-haired woman handed both of them to Rain before turning towards Dani and taking hold of her arm. "C'mon, _Kaasan_ , let's get ya to yer bunk."

"Alright, _baobei_ ," Dani conceded, allowing her to pull her upright and steer her off of the bridge. Truth be told, she was feeling pretty well tuckered out and wasn't as young as she'd been when she could fly back-to-back missions with hardly a rest in between.

She paused at the doorway, putting her weight on her good leg. "Thanks, Rain. Love you."

"Love you too, _Kaasan_ ," her _nu'er_ smiled gently.

At the hatch to her room, she sat down at the edge of it, similar to how she had done with her brother a few months back when she'd imbued far too much potent whiskey. "Hey, Feather," she murmured, feeling somewhat reminiscent.

"Hmm?" the woman in question murmured, leaning up against the bulkhead with her arms crossed, again in almost the same position as Keith had taken.

Dani paused, searching for the right words to express what she was feeling. "One of the best things that ever happened on this ship was yer joinin' it. Thanks, _baobei_ , fer becomin' part of the family."

Feather gave a quiet but happy laugh as her face beamed with pleasure, though a few tears threatened to escape from the corners of her sky-blue eyes. "I'm th' one who should be thankin' ya," she whispered, leaning over to envelop her captain in a warm hug.

Without further ado, she helped Dani down the ladder and closed the hatch behind her to return to her new wife up on the bridge.

The lanky brunette stood at the bottom of the ladder, holding onto it for support as she took the weight off of her wounded leg again. She glanced over at the bed, and her heart fluttered a bit at the sight.

Usually, when Lori went to bed before her, she ended up sprawled across the width of it on her stomach. Dani imagined that's just how she used to sleep when she'd been on her own.

Now, however, Lori was fast asleep but on her side and with her back to the wall, as if waiting for Dani to join her.

She smiled gently and began to strip her filthy clothes off of her, leaving them in the same pile as her wife's. Limping over towards the bed, she noted the numerous small bandages across her wife's freckled arms and face from the earlier fight. With a grateful sigh, she carefully lay down and eased herself back into Lori's soft and very naked body.

Her beautiful redheaded lover murmured something incoherent and wrapped her warm arms around her, enveloping her in a cocoon of love and safety.

 _Now I'm home_ , Dani thought to herself, already starting to drift towards sleep.

And there was nowhere in the 'Verse she'd rather be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So that's it, our story finally draws to a close. Almost a half-million words, three and a half years worth of story (since the _Fortune's Favour_ was purchased), and 62 Episodes (71 chapters worth including intermissions) later, and it's time to bid them a bittersweet farewell. I love you all for sticking with me on this adventure. Hopefully, I sent the crew of the _Favour_ off with a bang worthy of their history. I might, if the notion takes me, write another one-shot or few in the future, but for now we'll say goodbye to Dani and the rest of her family.
> 
> Easter eggs abound in the last episode, but I'm not going to pick them out. I'll let y'all do so on your own, some are obvious, others not so much. Well, okay, maybe some hints? Look for some dialogue borrowed from or alluding to _Resident Evil_ (the Red Queen), _Star Wars_ (Han), and the _Riddick_ series (from Richard B. Muthafuckin' Riddick himself, naturally).
> 
> I can imagine there might be some who would question why the _Favour's_ new gun didn't really come into play. Now, I'm not saying I'm devious enough to introduce an entire plot contrivance as a red herring to keep folk guessing as to how the last episode might proceed... implying, yes, but not outright saying...
> 
> Much love and endearment to my Betas for being awesome and putting up with my chaotic publishing schedule: **Silvana_Crowe** , **CaliopeGrant** , and **KellyConnely**.
> 
> Many thanks to those of my family who let me play with their likeness (whether or not I actually got permission). And for those I killed off, it's nothing personal, I swear. Honest!
> 
> And finally, my heartfelt love and appreciation to the great Joss Whedon. I know I've said it throughout, but I cannot adequately express the joy I've gotten from the ability to play within this wonderful 'Verse that you created for all of us. I eagerly await whatever new venture you decide to pursue.
> 
> I've updated this story on AO3 from my original published work over on Fanfiction.net; as I write this, I've pretty much moved on from the Firefly fandom and into the RWBY 'verse. Still, though this was my first real fanfic, I'm proud of the way it turned out. The crew of the _Favour_ will always hold a special place in my heart.
> 
> Stay shiny, and thanks for taking this journey through the 'Verse with me!


	77. One-Shot: Panda Power

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A day in the life of Caliope Grant, the panda-loving mechanic with braided pigtails from the _Fortune's Favour_. Need more be said?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was originally the sixth and final one-shot I'd written. Consider it an epilogue.

Inbound to Persephone.

Caliope Grant blinked her eyes, coming awake slowly to the tune of high-pitched and rapid-beat music. One of the genres of ancient Earth-That-Was tunes involved such renditions of otherwise normal music, often in a language similar to Mandarin but different enough to render the lyrics incomprehensible. Cali was the only one aboard the _Fortune's Favour_ who could tolerate it, much less enjoy it, so it was relegated to her personal unit now propped up on her endtable and used as an alarm clock.

She sat up, looking around blearily, before slapping her unit to silence it. She stretched with her arms above her head and yawned hugely before settling her eyes on her pride and joy, a meter-and-a-half tall stuffed panda bear. "Mornin' Mr. Pickles!" she said with subdued cheer.

After the mushroom incident, she had realized that she had neglected to name most of her pandas, be they stuffed or posterized or other such forms. She resolved to rectify that immediately, though she'd known right away what her favorite one would be called.

As she woke up fully, she swung her bare legs onto the ground, wincing at the cold metal deck. One of these days she was going to get a carpet or mat or something of the sort. She'd always forget all about it as soon as her feet were shod. _Mebbe I need ta get a notebook or somethin', keep it nearby ta take notes on. Help me 'member stuff._

She was immensely pleased with herself for such a _jingcai_ (brilliant) idea, forgetting that she'd had the same notion several times in the past.

Cali stood and held up the hem of her tee shirt, cautiously giving it a sniff. _Yep, needs washed._ Slipping it off and tossing it into the pile across the room, she gave herself a sniff as well. _Nope, I'm good fer 'nother day_.

Humming contentedly to herself she grabbed a fresh baggy white tee shirt from her clean pile, noting that pile was getting significantly smaller than the dirty one. _Laundry time, soon enuff. Gotta 'member to get that done today._ She frowned to herself, standing with her hands on her hips. _How am I gonna 'member that fer sure?_ Grinning at her sudden flash of ingenuity, she scooped up the dirty pile and tossed it on her bed. _There, now I ain't gonna be able ta get ta bed none without washin' 'em._

She dug around her bunk to find a relatively decent pair of coveralls. Her beloved panda-patched dark brown ones were rather crusty and caked in weeks-old grease. Her _Kaasan_ had forbidden her to wear it again until it was cleaned, claiming that the stench was overpowering everyone at the dinner table. _Weren't that bad, else Feather'd complain._ She cocked her head to the side. _Hmm. Wonder if'n that's why she wuz holdin 'er nose last time with me in th' engine room? Thought mebbe she'd let out a stinky one or somethin'. Wait, what was I doin'? Oh, right! Gettin' dressed. Don' go getting distracted none, gotta big day today!_

She hummed to herself contentedly again as she continued her search. Today was her _Kaasan_ 's birthday, and the _Favour_ was grounding on Persephone. All of the younger girls, her two sisters as well as Rain's wife Feather and her cousin Em, were all going out to the marketplace on the far edge of Eavesdown Docks. They were making an excursion of it and she was almost giddy with excitement at the prospect.

She gave an exultant shout as she finally found her pair of tan coveralls hiding under the bed. She tugged mightily and finally freed it from its prison of old tools, broken-down electronics, and miscellaneous panda accessories.

If a person were to enter Cali's bunk and mistake it for a mad scientist's robotic panda workshop, they would likely be forgiven.

_Coveralls on, panda hat on, workboots secured... Wait, this don' feel right none. Right, socks!_

Another few minutes later and Cali was finally ready to scamper up the ladder from her bunk. As soon as she emerged she could hear music coming from the bridge. What lyrics she could make out had something to do with drinking whiskey and dancing by a lake all summer long in someplace called Alabama. _Musta been some fancy shindig nation back on Earth-That-Was._

She craned her neck around the corner to see if she'd have the opportunity to see her _Kaasan_ dancing as was her wont, but she was pleasantly surprised. Not only was she spinning across the deck with wild abandon, she had her wife Lori in her arms as well. The two were giggling like teenagers as they held on to each other tightly and tried not to bump into the consoles.

Cali snickered to herself, withdrawing towards the galley. It made her heart glad to see the two having fun. Her _Kaasan_ had been through such a hard time of it since her Mom died. She still got a funny feeling in her chest whenever she thought of Mom. She missed her, always, missed the way she cooked and laughed and always had fun stuff for her and Rain to do. Crafts and art projects and strange experiments that often involved kitchen ingredients used in odd ways.

It had been a long time since she lost Mom. But she knew she was still around, watching over them. And she knew her Mom still lived on in both her and Rain, even Em who everyone said looked just like Mom did at that age.

But more than anything, she remembered her Mom fondly when she heard _Kaasan_ laugh. It reminded her of good times past, both far and recent. And that's when she really knew her Mom was still around, in the laughter of her family.

It made her all warm and fuzzy inside, thinking of how lucky they all were to have Lori come along.

She was almost to the galley when she heard the music cut off abruptly and her _Kaasan_ speaking in a somewhat breathless voice.

"Sorry Control, almost missed th' outer marker, weren't payin' attention none. This's Firefly transport _Mermaid's Song_ requestin' clearance ta land at Eavesdown Docks."

Cali hesitated, frowning. _Mermaid's Song_? "Oh, right, we're disguisin' ourselves nowadays," she reminded herself. Since their activities on Osiris, of which she'd played an integral and completely _huaidan_ (badass) part, thank you very much, they were using different transponders to keep a low profile. Especially this close to the Core.

She skipped onward into the galley to see what was on for breakfast. Her sisters Rain and Sara were present, along with Feather and Aunt Kelly, munching on what looked to be some sort of crunchy cereal. She halted and peered over Sara's shoulder. "Um, what's that?"

"Mornin' to you too, _meimei_ ," the petite brunette smirked. "It's called granola. Pretty good, actually."

"Looks like rabbit food," the diminutive mechanic declared skeptically.

Rain raised her spoon up. "Wanna taste?"

Cali leaned over and sniffed the spoonful. "Eww. No. I'm good."

The auburn-haired woman who shared the engine room with her snorted amusedly. "Yer loss. I'm takin' yer share."

"Be my guest," she replied generously. She wandered over towards the kitchen area. "What else we gots fer breakfast?"

"This's it, _meimei_ ," her pixie-haired sister replied, smiling.

"What? Who's turn wazzit ta make breakfast?"

"Well, _baobei_ , last night you said you would take care of it," Kelly replied, her eyes twinkling in amusement.

"I did?" Cali looked up at the ceiling thoughtfully. "Nope, ain't ringin' a bell none. If'n I did, I'm sure I had a better notion than rabbit food, though."

"Well, we ain't gots the time now," Emily declared as she walked into the galley. The small but curvy blonde woman was wearing shorts for a change and a tight halter top that showed off her waistline, trim and lean after many months of _tai chi_ workouts with most of the other women on the ship. Cali always thought about joining them, but it was just too gorram early for that sort of _shen jing bing_ (insanity). It'd be nice to be in better shape, though. _Wait, what were we talkin' 'bout? Think back, Em walked in an' said..._

"What ain't we gots the time fer?" Cali asked.

"Breakfast, hon," Emily said patiently. "Ship's gonna land soon, an' we needs ta get goin'!"

"Right!" she cheered. "We gots an adventure today!"

"An' yer gonna stick with us, right, squit?" Rain warned.

Cali looked at her, affronted. "'Course I am. We're gonna all have fun t'gether!"

Fifteen minutes later the _Favour_ , or _Mermaid's Song_ as it went by for now, was securely landed and awaiting her cargo. Everyone but the five younger women would be staying aboard the ship, though _Kaasan_ warned them all to stay in touch.

"Yer such a worrier, Dani," her redheaded wife chuckled as the pair saw them all off from the cargo bay ramp. "They'll be fine."

"'Course we will!" Cali said cheerily over her shoulder. "We're a buncha _niubi_ (fucking awesome) gals, ain't nobody gonna mess with us none!"

The five laughing women headed out across the docks in high spirits. They only made a few stops right at the edge of the ship berths, as the merchandise was generally both of higher quality and cheaper price further into the warrens that made up Eavesdown Docks. Cali did persuade them to make a quick detour to pick up some sort of sugary pastry to fill her stomach, that was being peddled by a streetside stand.

"Can't figure out none how ya c'n eat that _gou se_ (shit)," Rain sighed as they walked along.

" _Yao wo_ (bite me)!" Cali replied, powdered sugar spraying from her mouth as she spoke. "This's delicious!"

"For the love of Buddha, Cali, chew yer food 'fore ya talk!" Sara protested, shielding herself from the sugary onslaught. "What arya, ten or somethin'?"

"She insulted my deliciousness," Cali grumbled, taking another large bite.

The women walked along, enjoying the sights and smells and colors of the streetside vendors. Cali finally finished up her pastry, licking the sugar off of her fingers. "Know who else woulda 'preciated that? Lori. She gets me an' my food."

"Well, ya gots a point there," Feather mused. "Aunt Lori's gotta sweet tooth almost as bad as yers."

"Ain't nobody gots as bad a sweet tooth as my _meimei_ ," Rain snickered.

"Got that right," Sara agreed.

Cali snorted, blowing some leftover sugar from her lips into the air. "What is this, pick on Cali day?"

"Every day is pick on Cali day," Rain snarked, looping her arm around her sister's neck. "'Cause yer just so gorram adorable."

"Ew! Ain't adorable none!" Cali protested, trying vainly to extract herself from the sisterly hug. "You take that back! I'mma ferocious _huaidan_ (badass), y'hear?"

The other four women laughed heartedly as Rain released the youngest of their little group. "Sure y'are, _meimei_ ," Sara chuckled. "'Specially with a wrench in yer hands."

"Gorram right," Cali said, trying to gather her dignity around her while adjusting her panda hat back on her head.

Before long they finally found themselves within the bustling marketplace. It seemed to Cali as if half the population of Persephone was there. She could barely see over the shoulders of most of the people. She looked at the others, smirking slightly. Only Rain and Feather were taller than her. Both Sara and Em would have an even worse time.

"Gorramit," Em complained as if hearing her thoughts. "This's gonna suck _chou maniao_ (stinking horse piss)."

"Just stick t'gether an' we'll move 'tween the stalls," Rain said, her hand grasping her wife's firmly. Cali looked at their interjoining hands bemusedly. It still took her some time to remember that her _jiejie_ was a married woman now. She never figured her for the marrying type, as much as she hated getting close to other folk. _Gotta admit, though, her an' Feather make a good couple._ She firmly pushed to the side the notion that there was somebody out there for everybody. She was most certainly not, as much as Sara tried to insinuate, a romantic. She just liked seeing people happy. And so what if they just happened to be couples that made each other the happiest.

"'Sides, I ain't gotta worry none 'bout findin' anyone," she snickered to herself as she trailed behind the others. "Already found my best companion, an' that's me. I'm _niubi_ (fucking awesome) all by myself."

"You say somethin' _meimei_?" Sara called out over her shoulder.

"Nah, just musin' out loud," Cali chuckled. Sara nodded and turned back, but Cali caught sight of something over her older sister's shoulder that looked really colorful and sparkly.

"Oooh, shiny!" she exclaimed, cutting through the crowd. It was difficult to even move the few meters across as the crowds were getting more dense by the minute. Finally, though, she squeezed between one very portly gentleman wearing a fancy suit entirely too warm for the day and another woman dressed in clothing that was entirely too skimpy to be out in public. _Must be one a' those fancy women who sells themselves. Ain't gonna ever figure that out. Why'd someone wanna sell their bodies fer sex?_ The whole idea of sex was, quite frankly, revolting to the teenager. She paused for a second, realizing that in a few short months she'd be turning twenty and at that point no longer able to call herself a teenager.

Eventually, Cali gave herself a shake. "What was I doin'?" She turned around in a circle before spying the stall with the sparkly cloth. "Right! Shinies! Guys, check this out, think _Kaasan_ 'd like any of this?"

She turned in a circle again before she realized the other four women were nowhere to be seen. "Gorram irresponsible," she huffed irritably. "How am I s'posed ta protect 'em if'n they walk off like that?"

She sorely missed having a communicator. Uncle Keith didn't allow her to carry one anymore after she'd lost the last two. _Ain't my fault fer th' one on Osiris, we were busy bein'_ xiong jiaos _(handsome heroes). An' the last one, I still think he never done gave it to me. Prolly just lost track of it an' fergot he never gave it to me._

"Well, now what," she grumped. Upon closer examination, the cloths in front of her seemed to be spools of material, not shiny scarves or clothing like she thought, so those wouldn't do.

"Guess I'll keep lookin', and hope th' others catch on up t' me," she decided. She was tired of fighting crowds, however, and thought perhaps the going might be easier down some of the side streets.

Twenty minutes later, Cali was definitely out of the crowds. Problem being, she was no longer in the marketplace, either.

"Now how d'ya figure that," the pigtailed girl exclaimed. "Why they gotta make a marketplace so easy ta lose?"

She looked to both sides, hoping for some sort of inspiration, before her eyes landed on a small storefront just up the street. She quickened her pace once it became obvious what the storefront in question was.

"A metalshop!" she squealed happily. She pressed her nose up against the window pane where there were all sort of trinkets and sculptures, as well as the more practical fixtures and tools and such things.

She was in nirvana.

Skipping cheerfully, she entered the shop and headed towards the front counter. It was more of a workbench, really, with a wizened old man hunched behind it, working on some sort of clockwork mechanical contraption. Along the wall next to him and behind him were various tools, both large and small. Some of them were obviously well-used, likely by him, and others were for display or for sale. She eyed a particularly large wrench with admiration. _Betcha I could make a dent in some Reaver's head with that lil' beaut!_

"Hi, mister!" the diminutive mechanic piped up.

The man jerked upright, startled. "Oh, sorry, miss, didn't see you come in! My name's Don, an' this's my humble shop. Welcome!"

"My name's Cali, an' I'mma ship's mechanic!" she replied cheerfully. "I'm lookin' fer a gift, my _Kaasan_ 's birthday is today. C'n I look 'round, or d'ya gots anythin' in particular I could get her?"

"Hmm, well lessee..." the old man mused as he got up from his stool, groaning slightly. "What izzit yer _Kaasan_ does?"

"She's the Capt'n!" Cali replied, pacing alongside the man as they headed into the depths of the shop. There were racks and racks of various items, many of which she'd never seen before, and some of them she couldn't even fathom a use for. And that in itself was a remarkable fact. She was loving this shop more and more. "Oh, an' she's a pilot, too. Useta fly in the War, y'know."

"Did she now..." He stopped at one rack that was filled with miniature figurines. "These are some of my older works, but see if'n they might be of use."

"Hmm. Ain't sure 'bout this one, or this... Nah, she'd think that was silly... Oh! Hey, is this...?"

Don picked the small metal sculpture up and examined the bottom. It was quite intricate, fitted metal parts of such small size that it almost seemed as if it were the real thing, just shrunk down enough to hold in one's palm. "Here, see if'n you c'n read it, my eyes ain't what the used to be..."

Cali leaned in, squinting, and then let out a cheer which almost made Don drop the item. "Oh, sorry mister Don. Yep, this's perfect! She's gonna be pleased as pie!"

As they walked back towards the front, Cali noticed one particular item she'd missed previously. She laughed and snatched it off of the shelf. "An' this one's gonna be fer me!"

Don led her up to the counter and began to wrap the items up in thick brown paper. Cali counted out the platinum coins into his hands, pleased with the inexpensive price, all things considered.

She stayed for a few minutes to chat with the old man about working with metal. She was fairly proficient with the tools in the workshop that was nestled within the _Favour_ 's hold, but this man was truly a master craftsman, and she wished she could stay all day and perhaps pick up a few pointers.

Their conversation was interrupted when four young men walked in. Don looked up at them nervously and leaned over towards Cali. "Listen, little miss, you should get goin', I need ta deal with these here folk."

"Nothin' doin', we ain't finished talkin' shop yet!" Cali protested. "Here, I'll just look 'round yer shop some more, mebbe I'll find some more gifts fer my family."

The man looked as if he might protest, but Cali had already wandered off. He turned towards the four tough-looking men as they loomed menacingly over his workbench.

"You missed yer payment again," the bigger one stated.

"I know, I'm sorry," the old man replied meekly. "I ain't had enuff left over. Business has been slow."

"If'n ya want protection, ya needs ta pay up. Y'know how it works."

By this point, Cali had wandered back over as she'd been listening in to the conversation. The four toughs noticed her interest and turned to encompass her in their threatening circle.

"So what's yer deal, then, _ni zi_ (little girl)?" the leader sneered.

"I wantcha ta leave this nice old man alone," she replied calmly.

The four gang members broke out in raucous laughter. "Izzat so?" one of the others snorted. "An' who's gonna make us, huh?"

"You ain't even armed, lil' _biao zi_ (bitch)," the leader grinned, looking around at his friends who were all sharing in his condescending humor. "Whatcha gonna do?"

" _Deng yi miao_ (hold on a sec)," she replied cheerfully, walking over towards the wall next to the workbench. "D'ya mind?" she asked Don.

"Um, sure, whatever you want," the old man replied nervously.

Grinning widely, Cali snatched the large wrench she'd been eyeing before, whirled around with it, and slammed it up against the leader's head.

The thug's eyes rolled back and he toppled backward, felled like a tree.

The other three stared at her incredulously. One of them finally reacted, reaching into his waistband to pull out a concealed pistol. Cali didn't give him the chance as she swung the wrench around again, slamming it into his forearm. The sound of his snapping bone was audible to all of them, and he staggered back cursing. She took another step towards him and swung low this time, hitting him square in the knee. He collapsed, howling in pain, to land right on top of the leader.

The other pair by this point were eyeing the diminutive braided and pigtailed girl as if she were a demon from the ancient tales, come to life before their eyes.

"Take yer _huobans_ (buddies) an' _qu nide_ (fuck off)!" she yelled over the noise of the fallen man's screaming.

The other two wasted no time in complying, grabbing their wounded comrades and hauling them quickly outside, scurrying down the street just as fast as they could.

Cali walked outside the shop to make sure they were on their way. "Ya don' _ta ma de gen_ (fuck with) the Panda Queen none!" she declared in a ringing voice, the wrench hoisted overhead like an avenging sword.

Snickering to herself, she headed back inside and carefully replaced the wrench back on the wall. "Sorry 'bout that. My sisters an' I, well, we just don' like bullies none." She turned towards the proprietor who was staring at her still, mouth agape. "C'n ya tell me which way's the ships from here?"

The old man nodded slowly and pointed down the street, the same path the gang members had taken.

"Right, thanks, mister! Hope y'have a shiny day!" she chirped as she headed on her way.

She'd not gone five minutes down the street before she heard a voice speak up from her elbow. "Noticed some beat-up _hundans_ (bastards) that I passed, was that yer doin'?"

Cali glanced over. "Sara! Ya finally caught up ta me! Did y'all get yer shoppin' done?"

Sara smiled patiently, carefully concealing her relief at finding her wayward younger sister. "Yeah, we did, _meimei_. You?"

"Yep, good ta go!"

"An' what 'bout those _hundans_?"

Cali blinked her eyes. "What _hundans_?"

Sara laughed softly. "Never you mind none." She held her hand up to her ear. "This's Four, I gots Six. We're on our way home."

"Who's Six?"

"That's you, silly."

"Oh, right! Does that mean we're onna mission?"

Sara chuckled as she slipped her arm through Cali's. "Yep, it's called Rescue the Panda Girl."

"That's Panda Queen, if'n ya please, _jiejie_ ," she replied loftily.

That evening the entire family gathered around the dinner table to enjoy a scrumptious cake that Jess and Keith had put together. It was all sorts of chocolatey gooey goodness and Cali was drooling at the sight of it. Lori was right there with her.

"Didya ever see anythin' so beautiful?" Cali asked wonderingly.

"Never ever," Lori breathed.

"Careful there _lian ren_ (sweetheart), yer gonna make me jealous," Dani snickered as she cut into the decadent mountain of chocolate cake. Soon enough all had a large piece of cake and were happily stuffing their faces with the rare treat. Lori kept playfully trying to steal forkfuls off of Cali's plate, who in turn threatened to use her own fork in a way certainly not intended for it at the dinner table. Dani had to separate the two, laughing at their antics.

After cake were the presents. Dani received several articles of clothing, including one from her wife that made her blush and which she refused to fully pull out of the bag, as well as a couple of actual printed books. Rain, amazingly enough, had found a datastick with a collection of old Earth-That-Was songs on it, some of which they hadn't heard before.

Eventually, Emily gave Cali a nudge on the shoulder. "Hey, where's yer present?"

"Oh, right!" Cali exclaimed. "I fergot, it's still in my pocket!"

She fished it out, careful to leave the one for herself in there. Eventually, she handed it over with a grin. "Hope ya like it, _Kaasan_!"

Dani carefully unwrapped it on the table. Once it was fully uncovered she gave a gasp.

It was a small but highly detailed model of a Firefly Mark I.

" _Baobei_ , how didya 'member I flew one of these in the war?" she asked quietly, unable to take her eyes off of the miniature ship model now resting in the palm of her hand.

Cali laughed unconcernedly. "I 'member stuff, _Kaasan_. Ain't always everythin', but I 'member th' 'portant stuff. That was the last ship ya flew in, was yer favorite. Ya called it after Mom."

Dani nodded, her eyes filling with tears. "The _Bonnie Bethany_." She carefully set it down and turned to gather her _nu'er_ (daughter) up in a tight hug. "It's so, so very thoughtful. I love it, an' I love you, _baobei_."

"Love ya too, _Kaasan_ ," Cali smiled happily, returning the hug.

Later that night, back in her bunk, Cali took out the sculpture she bought for herself. It was, of course, that of a panda. It was munching on a shoot of bamboo and sitting happily on its haunches.

She placed it up on a shelf in between a ceramic panda and one carved out of wood.

"I think I'll call ya... Bernie. Yep, yer a Bernie."

She smiled to herself and got ready for bed, brushing her teeth and making use of the combination washbasin and toilet there in her bunk.

She looked around the bunk for her sleepshirt, spying it in a pile on her bed. "Now how'd that get there?" she pondered, looking at the large pile of clothes. "Ain't gonna be able ta sleep like that none."

She pulled her sleep shirt over her head and then dumped the clothes on the floor where they belonged.

Smiling contentedly to herself, she snuggled under her covers and thought about the _niubi_ family she had.

 _Life is pretty gorram good_ , she thought to herself sleepily.

Before long she was snoring softly, looked over protectively by a whole herd of pandas, including the new addition of Bernie.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed the awesomeness that is the Panda Girl (excuse me, Queen)! This tale has the stamp of approval by **PandaAnimeLover** , who Cali is based on.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [When it Rains](https://archiveofourown.org/works/8973163) by [Silvana_Crowe](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Silvana_Crowe/pseuds/Silvana_Crowe)




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